My Da Vinci Coda
If you are like me, and I'm sorry if you are, you've been receiving a deluge of e-mail from Christians expressing everything from concern to to anger to outright panic regarding The Da Vinci Code, both the film and the book. I have not yet seen or read either, but I've read a good deal about the premise. Having had enough of the "doomsday-ish" characterization of this work, I responded to a mass e-mailing with the following.
It seems that Dan Brown has released a modern myth, a reworking of old heresy, that caters to our culture's lust to debunk all things that are accepted as history, all things that are generally held as reliable and authoritative. This state of our culture is demonstrated in the fact that this book has become the best-selling fictional hard-back of all time. But although it (ironically) sets itself up as authoritative, let us not forget where this book is found - squarely in the fiction aisle.
A similar ruckus was raised at the release of The Last Temptation of Christ, now hard to find in most video stores, using at least parts of the misinformation used in the Da Vinci Code. It shouldn't surprise anyone that mankind perpetually tries to free itself of any responsibility to a perfect God by trying to deny and/or belittle His existance through the arts. The real tragedy is not that these books/movies get made and released with massive promotional budgets (telling mankind "what their itching ears want to hear"), but that we who claim to be believers in Christ are completely unable to engage in rational conversations on the topic because we are woefully uneducated ourselves about the history of our faith. I offer for your consideration this imbedded lecture on the matter by N.T. Wright, the Bishop of Durham, a renowned historian and Christian apologist. Scholars who know anything about the history of the church will tell you that Mr. Brown's novel does not hold water as an accurate representation of history.
But read the lecture before continuing.
There are two pieces of really good news in this. First, the truth of our sovreign God will stand on it's own, regardless of how He is attacked. One day every knee will bow and every tongue will bear witness to this. Secondly, our God is a redeemer in everything He does. He is always using things that were meant for evil to accopmlish good. Suddenly our spiritually passive culture finds fascination with the prime question of life: "Who was Jesus, really?" What a great oportunity awaits those of us who are willing and ABLE to point to the true Christ! This is a challenge for all who claim the name of Christ, to know why we believe the way we do, and to BE READY in season and out to bear witness to the hope we have. I am doing everything I can to be ready to answer the questions that are coming in the wake of this pop-culture phenomenon, and I hope you will endeavor to do the same.
In the mean time, I'm not worried about the film - I may even see it, as Mr. Hanks and Mr. Howard are both exceptional at what they do, and I believe their gifts are from God - but that's another topic.
Peace be with you (relax).
It seems that Dan Brown has released a modern myth, a reworking of old heresy, that caters to our culture's lust to debunk all things that are accepted as history, all things that are generally held as reliable and authoritative. This state of our culture is demonstrated in the fact that this book has become the best-selling fictional hard-back of all time. But although it (ironically) sets itself up as authoritative, let us not forget where this book is found - squarely in the fiction aisle.
A similar ruckus was raised at the release of The Last Temptation of Christ, now hard to find in most video stores, using at least parts of the misinformation used in the Da Vinci Code. It shouldn't surprise anyone that mankind perpetually tries to free itself of any responsibility to a perfect God by trying to deny and/or belittle His existance through the arts. The real tragedy is not that these books/movies get made and released with massive promotional budgets (telling mankind "what their itching ears want to hear"), but that we who claim to be believers in Christ are completely unable to engage in rational conversations on the topic because we are woefully uneducated ourselves about the history of our faith. I offer for your consideration this imbedded lecture on the matter by N.T. Wright, the Bishop of Durham, a renowned historian and Christian apologist. Scholars who know anything about the history of the church will tell you that Mr. Brown's novel does not hold water as an accurate representation of history.
But read the lecture before continuing.
There are two pieces of really good news in this. First, the truth of our sovreign God will stand on it's own, regardless of how He is attacked. One day every knee will bow and every tongue will bear witness to this. Secondly, our God is a redeemer in everything He does. He is always using things that were meant for evil to accopmlish good. Suddenly our spiritually passive culture finds fascination with the prime question of life: "Who was Jesus, really?" What a great oportunity awaits those of us who are willing and ABLE to point to the true Christ! This is a challenge for all who claim the name of Christ, to know why we believe the way we do, and to BE READY in season and out to bear witness to the hope we have. I am doing everything I can to be ready to answer the questions that are coming in the wake of this pop-culture phenomenon, and I hope you will endeavor to do the same.
In the mean time, I'm not worried about the film - I may even see it, as Mr. Hanks and Mr. Howard are both exceptional at what they do, and I believe their gifts are from God - but that's another topic.
Peace be with you (relax).
posted by Chris at 5:28 AM
3 Comments:
Anyone happen to see SNL last night? Tom Hanks hosted and they parodied the controversy during his monologue. If the secular crowd can take things with a grain of salt, why can't we do the same?
I agree, Chris. We all just need to relax. Maybe save the drama for something really worth going to war over.
Let's also not forget the breakthroughs in mainstreaming of blatantly spiritual themes, like we saw with the success of the Chronicles of Narnia and the Passion of the Christ.
Pop some popcorn (you can borrow some of Chris' if you've run out) and watch what you feel you want or need to! (Jen, feel free to fix the wording on this sentence. I think I have a dangling participle or something!)
Thanks for the great post Chris. I wrote about it also with sort of an "eh" attitude. I think it will just pass over (religious pun intended).
When secular historians are lining up with Christian scholars to call something bunk, you can pretty much bet there's not too much fact in there.
Thanks, guys.
I think the most troubling thing of all is not the outrage I continue to hear spouted, but the people I've spoken with whose faith has been genuinely shaken by the posits of the story. And if we can be honest with ourselves as the body of Christ, it's not "Shame on you, Mr. Howard, Mr. Hanks", it's shame on us. How can we be so unfounded as to be so easily fooled? And I must further ask; how am I taking for granted the depth of MY faith?
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