Posted on 05/19/2006 2:23:10 AM PDT by leadpenny
STEUBENVILLE — There’s been a stir of excitement and debate among scholars and historians ever since the release of Dan Brown’s novel, ‘‘The Da Vinci Code.’’
But with the release of the movie version today, that stir has accelerated into a frenzy over the controversy that some scholars fear will influence the faith people have in Christianity.
‘‘It presents a distorted picture of Jesus and the Catholic church and other Catholic organizations,’’ said Alan Schreck, professor of theology at Franciscan University in Steubenville.
The novel alleges that the lost Gnostic gospels portray Jesus as an average person who falls in love and marries Mary Magdalene. According to the novel, Magdalene is the “Holy Grail” who carries the blood of Christ in her womb by way of bearing a child, and that is a secret the Catholic church has been trying to hide for almost 2,000 years.
‘‘It’s not even such a matter that this is false that Jesus was married as it is the way the book portrays Christians and the Catholic church as being an institution that is investing in covering things up. If this were taken as an expose, I think that would be the greatest cause for concern. Brown’s implication is that we don’t really know the truth about Jesus from the church. Instead, what’s really true about Jesus is in these hidden Gnostic gospels,’’ Schreck said.
Schreck said that scholars have been aware of the Gnostic gospels for centuries but have discredited them as being false.
‘‘Nobody who seriously looked at these sources for 2,000 years believed that Jesus was married,’’ Schreck said. ‘‘Why believe it now?’’
One reason Schreck said that people would probably go see the movie or read the book is because of the culture’s fascination with wanting to be let in on secrets. Schreck fears that because people get caught up in the novel, they will want to take it seriously.
‘‘The average person who doesn’t know the facts is going to begin to think that the Catholic church is shrouded in these mysteries when the purpose of the church is not to cover up things about Jesus, but to uncover and tell the truth about Jesus against these false views that have been around for about as long as the church has,’’ Schreck said.
One positive effect that Schreck hopes the movie will bring is an occasion for people who want to know the truth about Christianity to discuss it and learn more.
Although the debate over whether or not the movie should be boycotted persists, Schreck believes that it is a decision everyone must make on their own.
‘‘In perspective, five or 10 years from now no one is going to remember ‘The Da Vinci Code.’ But the gospel of Jesus Christ is going to last until the end of time,’’ Schreck said.
I too am totally amazed and the amount of free publicity that this thing is getting. Groups are screaming it should be protested against. The History Channel, Discovery Channel and others have been playing documentaries about the Knights Templar, Opus Dei, Leonardo DiVinci, the Masons, the Priory of Scion and others all week. I watched part of the one on the Masons and was rolling with laughter at parts of it. The most preposterous claim was that this country was an experiment by the Masonic order and even the streets in Washington formed a giant pentagram with particular landmarks. How crazy!!! Even if the movie does bomb, the media in it's loud mouthed way is helping them all the way to the bank, most probably.
"I wish that you were either hot or cold..." --Jesus
I say, "you go sister!"
;->
Can I borrow that?
Forever?
True. The Gnostics were mostly even less sympatico with women than the "orthodox" church.
Actually, the sex worship promoted by this book isn't even old classical Greek/Roman paganism, it's a fantasy of ignorant modern day people of what ancient paganism should have been like.
Insecurity takes many forms......
maybe if we compared DaVinci to the "protocols of the elders of zion"...
I submit to you that those who have never read the Bible already have a distorted foundational knowledge of God ... this movie won't change that.
Even if the movie does bomb, the media in it's loud mouthed way is helping them all the way to the bank, most probably.
It's a free country. People can protest whatever they want.
Sure they can. It was a plea for sanity, not a demand.
Then why have they made Mary the 'Queen of Heaven'?
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