Da Vinci Code: the debate rages

Da Vinci code has spawned off a whole set of spin-off positioned for or against the book.

BY A CORRESPONDENT

4 April 2006
MUMBAI, INDIA

Dan Brown's best-seller has come out in paperback three years after its release, and so have several other spin-offs, for or against the claims made in the book, centered around the controversial questions raised in the book. The book that sold 40 million copies may not have made Jesus turn in his grave, but has managed to resurrect historical works on Christianity from their collective graves.

Some will be asking: is this the twenty-first century? Why are we talking religion? And what happened to secularism? Why does it matter whether Christ lived to a ripe old age or died on the cross with sufficient dripping of blood and gore? Don't we scoff when the Shiv Sena puts up posters of the new-age muscular Ram toting his dhanush like an AK-47?

It seems, for once, the East aping West storyline has been reversed. Evangelical America is increasingly resembling chhati-thumping, lathi-wielding Ram-bhakts in its zeal to make a grand spectacle of denouncing perceived slurs on the Pope's version of what happened to Christ.

The May 19 release of the movie is being preceded by Michael Baigent's "The Jesus Papers," which suggests that Jesus lived for many years, and did not actually die on the cross. Baigent, who had sued Brown, has written a previous book which suggested that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had been married and had children.

In addition, according to a Reuters report, Ehud Sperling, publisher of Inner Traditions, is raking in bundles as Brown had credited several of the publisher's books as sources, which led to huge sales of unlikely titles. Most prominent among these was "The Gospel of Mary Magdalene," which sold over 100,000 copies.

Meanwhile, Evangelical Christian publisher Tyndale, has launched a campaign titled "Da Vinci Didn't Convince Me." The campaign reads Brown's book as an attack on the Christian faith and asks the Church to arm itself against it. To that end, Erwin Lutzer's "The Da Vinci Deception," selling around 300,000 copies, finds itself profitably placed. Lutzer is also preparing discussion packages for churches. He doesn't seem to care that a movie he clearly disapproves of may make bundles in the ongoing controversy, saying everybody should watch it. The battle, he seems to say, ideological – watch it, so you can comprehensively dismiss it.

Christian fiction writer, Karen Kingsbury says, "There's different ways you can go after reading 'The Da Vinci Code.' You can just take it as entertainment and walk away or you may say 'I need to learn more about the history." She adds, according to the Reuters report, "But maybe even bigger is going to be that our society has a very strong curiosity about Mary Magdalene."

Amy Welborn, the Catholic author of "De-Coding Da Vinci," felt, "What 'The Da Vinci Code' says about Jesus and Mary Magdalene is silly."

"Peter, Paul and Mary Magdalene," author Bart Ehrman said he wasn't interested in defending Christianity, saying, "That wasn't my concern at all. I'm just interested in the historical issues that 'The Da Vinci Code' raised." He too was critical of the book however, adding, "There's not a single scholar on the face of the Earth who buys any of it."