The Da Vinci Code
The belief in Jesus' marriage has been around for centuries. However, not until recently had the idea spread so quickly. Dan Brown's popular novel “The Da Vinci Code” is partially to blame. It is a story that follows Robert Langdon, a symbologist, and Sophie Neveu who investigate a murder at the Louvre in France. The murder eventually leads them to find a conflict between Opus Dei and the Priory of Sion over the fact that Jesus may have been married to Mary Magdalene. The novel is not presented as non-fiction though Brown cleverly uses both fact and fiction to weave an intricate mystery. So cleverly, that this book has sparked a huge interest in the Holy Grail/Holy Bloodline conspiracy. Brown can be so convincing that some people didn’t realize that it was a work of fiction. Many who did realize its fictitious nature still clung to some aspects of the conspiracy.
The Da Vinci Code examined paintings such as The Last Supper and harshly analyzed them. In the Last Supper, above, the novel suggested that Mary Magdalene is sitting to Jesus' right, instead of John the Apostle. If she is moved and positioned to the left of Jesus, her head is resting on his shoulder, showing endearment and love for him. This is one of the ways Brown attempts to persuade readers that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married. The book goes on to suggest the two had a child and the sacred bloodline continued on after Jesus' crucifixion on the cross.
Brown's theory continues on, explaining that the bloodline moved to France. The descendants of the child born from Jesus and Mary Magdalene became the Merovingian kings of France. The novel explains that the bloodline was kept a secret for more than 2,000 years because of their belief that the power a sacred feminine was Satanic. An order was set up to protect the secret bloodline and continued to for centuries, until Robert Langdon, the protagonist, stumbles upon clues from the Da Vinci paintings and identifies the bloodline.
Here are some examples of Dan Brown twisting fact and fiction to his advantage.
1. Dan Brown uses examples from the bible to make his case about Mary. The thing is, there are several Mary’s in the good book. Dan Brown may or may not have known it, but in Luke 7 he confuses Mary Magdalene with the sinful woman who washes Jesus’ feet with her tears and then anointed them with ointment. He also mistakes Mary Magdalene with Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. Dan Brown assumes all these woman are the same, perhaps for the sake of a compelling read.
2. The character Teabing claims that Jewish men were almost always married. So if the gospels did not explicitly say otherwise they we can assume that he was. This is not necessarily correct. In 1 Corinthians 7-a disciple of Jesus’, Paul, states that he had not married, and it would be advantageous for some not to in the face of spiritual responsibilities.
3. The Priory of Sion in the book a murderous sect of conservative Catholics whose motives are to hide the fact that Jesus had married. Brown claims that there are documents in the Bibliotheque Nationale that would provide evidence of the Priory of Sion. However these documents were actually forgeries placed in the Bibliotheque by Pierre Plantard, an anti-Semitic supporter of the Vichy government.
The three misrepresentations of the Bible listed above were sourced from articles written by Catholics. According to the conspiracy the Catholic Church hid the fact that Jesus had an heir to protect it’s own interests. The fact that a Catholic would have motive to hide evidence does not automatically negate these article’s claims but it is worth noting.
There was a survey of British readers of “The Da Vinci Code” in 2006 that determined that reading the novel actually caused people to believe it over the Bible. In a poll of more than 1000 adults, 60 percent believed that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. This was three years after the book came out. This is a startling number considering the novel falls under the category “fiction”. The article these figures derive from does not say whether or not the readers had read the Bible before reading the book, if at all. The percentage of the Christian population in the United Kingdom has had a downward trend according to the British Social Attitudes Survey from 1983 to 2009. However the percentage of people without religion has been increasing. The British attitude towards Christianity is increasingly negative which would indicate why the readers were so quick to believe a work of fiction. Perhaps they were inclined from the beginning to believe in a conspiracy that would undermine the Catholicism. As we have learned in class, people’s perception of the world and events only serves to verify their beliefs. http://www.wnd.com/2006/05/36206/
Brown's theory continues on, explaining that the bloodline moved to France. The descendants of the child born from Jesus and Mary Magdalene became the Merovingian kings of France. The novel explains that the bloodline was kept a secret for more than 2,000 years because of their belief that the power a sacred feminine was Satanic. An order was set up to protect the secret bloodline and continued to for centuries, until Robert Langdon, the protagonist, stumbles upon clues from the Da Vinci paintings and identifies the bloodline.
Here are some examples of Dan Brown twisting fact and fiction to his advantage.
1. Dan Brown uses examples from the bible to make his case about Mary. The thing is, there are several Mary’s in the good book. Dan Brown may or may not have known it, but in Luke 7 he confuses Mary Magdalene with the sinful woman who washes Jesus’ feet with her tears and then anointed them with ointment. He also mistakes Mary Magdalene with Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. Dan Brown assumes all these woman are the same, perhaps for the sake of a compelling read.
2. The character Teabing claims that Jewish men were almost always married. So if the gospels did not explicitly say otherwise they we can assume that he was. This is not necessarily correct. In 1 Corinthians 7-a disciple of Jesus’, Paul, states that he had not married, and it would be advantageous for some not to in the face of spiritual responsibilities.
3. The Priory of Sion in the book a murderous sect of conservative Catholics whose motives are to hide the fact that Jesus had married. Brown claims that there are documents in the Bibliotheque Nationale that would provide evidence of the Priory of Sion. However these documents were actually forgeries placed in the Bibliotheque by Pierre Plantard, an anti-Semitic supporter of the Vichy government.
The three misrepresentations of the Bible listed above were sourced from articles written by Catholics. According to the conspiracy the Catholic Church hid the fact that Jesus had an heir to protect it’s own interests. The fact that a Catholic would have motive to hide evidence does not automatically negate these article’s claims but it is worth noting.
There was a survey of British readers of “The Da Vinci Code” in 2006 that determined that reading the novel actually caused people to believe it over the Bible. In a poll of more than 1000 adults, 60 percent believed that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. This was three years after the book came out. This is a startling number considering the novel falls under the category “fiction”. The article these figures derive from does not say whether or not the readers had read the Bible before reading the book, if at all. The percentage of the Christian population in the United Kingdom has had a downward trend according to the British Social Attitudes Survey from 1983 to 2009. However the percentage of people without religion has been increasing. The British attitude towards Christianity is increasingly negative which would indicate why the readers were so quick to believe a work of fiction. Perhaps they were inclined from the beginning to believe in a conspiracy that would undermine the Catholicism. As we have learned in class, people’s perception of the world and events only serves to verify their beliefs. http://www.wnd.com/2006/05/36206/