The Da Vinci Controversy
Worldwide protests. A boycott called by the Vatican. Mainstream media coverage on all outlets. A book at #2 and #15 on Amazon.com’s Top Selling Books. And maybe the most anticipated film of the year.
Gee, I wish people got this riled up about... I don’t know... human rights or something…
I thought I'd throw my two cents into the debate about The Da Vinci Code, as much to sort out my own thoughts as for anyone else's benefit. If you've any interest, keep reading.
Now, I’m not a religious person. I haven’t been to church since I was about six. As such, I feel like I’ve had the opportunity to get a fairly objective look at religion. I have nothing against organized religion – for those who find something rewarding in their faith, it is a phenomenal and blissful institute. The problem arises when people can’t see beyond their particular faith. There are people who can’t fathom the possibility that they could be wrong, or something might not be exactly as their faith has presented it. I have a friend who got very, very offended and upset during a discussion about Ash Wednesday and Lent, because I brought some form of practicality into the discussion (it also may have been referring to Easter as “Zombie Jesus Day”… I don’t think that went over too well). She is religious, and vehemently defends her religion, but has one up on the people who are all riled up over this book and film: she can identify and separate fiction from fact.
I am all about people’s rights to open voice their concerns about religious freedom and defending their religions. Everyone has the absolute right to believe what they want, and not to allow people to destroy that – one of the reasons I find it amusing that the Catholic Church is so vocal about the offenses in this material, but I’ll get to that later. But what’s happening here is not defensive, because the church is not under attack. Just as the recoveries of the Gnostic Gospels and the newly found Gospel of Judas provide a different look at the time period of the New Testament, The Da Vinci Code provides another side to a familiar story – one people can choose to accept, as they do the New Testament, or ignore. In an age of buffet belief – choose the denomination that most closely represents your personal beliefs – a fiction novel written by someone other than a religious scholar should be completely easy for the church to dismiss. How can the text your faith is based on – The Bible, allegedly a written account of the teachings of your faith’s founder and prophet – be outdone and dethroned by a work of fiction written by a former songwriter and college professor? If this is a significant threat to the church and its doctrine, I would suggest it is less a problem with the novel, and more a problem with the church.
Based on the book’s popularity, there must be something in the stories of the book and film that provides something audiences are missing. The church’s sudden defensive strikes me as an admission that it is something missing from the religious quadrant of life. For that, we’d have to examine what the book has to offer a reader.
I’ve read The Da Vinci Code twice. I’ve also read all three of Dan Brown’s other mystery thrillers at least once. There is more or less one thing Dan Brown has going for him. It’s not the writing, or the characters, or the continuity in plot. It’s the story. Dan Brown is an incredible storyteller. A huge number of the situations Brown presents in The Da Vinci Code (or Angels & Demons, Deception Point or Digital Fortress) are laughable in their believability. They are downright ridiculous. But he tells them in such a way that keeps you reading. You want to know what happens. It’s a natural knack for stringing together events that has gotten Brown as far as he has. And considering that the bases for Catholicism in the modern age are stories… I suppose that is something the Vatican might perceive as threatening.
The church has a long history of squashing opposition, dating back to the assimilation of pagans by the Roman Empire. Some of that is detailed in The Da Vinci Code, which prompts me to be wary of the facts, but this is information found in any history text as well. The only difference is the alleged reason for some of these holy wars and crusades. Given that, steamrolling over a mere book and Hollywood film would be an easy task if they really wanted to. The fact is that the outrage over The Da Vinci Code will do both the book and the church good, and not harm either of them. For the book and film, it’s free publicity and a controversy that will get butts in the seats as people want to find out if it was really worth all the fuss. For the church, it’s a call to arms that serves as a reaffirmation of faith, faith that has been waning due to financial problems in many places (Boston in particular), due in no small part to settlements with the victims of sexual abuse by priests – something else that has reflected poorly on the church and made parishioners question the practices and morals of the ancient organization.
In the end, ironically, it comes down to a matter of faith. If The Da Vinci Code is enough to shake your faith and question something, maybe there’s something to consider there. But don’t look to that work of fiction for answers. Look to yourself and to your church, and if you find questions there that the church cannot answer or that faith cannot satisfy, perhaps it is time for a new direction. On the other hand, if you are strong enough in your faith that you can dismiss this book as fiction – or even better, recognize that the presented ideas have some merit and can assimilate the possibilities into your belief system – do so and move on. I fear the people who are most outraged by these topics are insecure people in the first situation who are not ready to admit that yet.
So go see the film if it strikes your interest. For the rest of you, why ruin our fun? It’s probably not even that good anyway.
Gee, I wish people got this riled up about... I don’t know... human rights or something…
I thought I'd throw my two cents into the debate about The Da Vinci Code, as much to sort out my own thoughts as for anyone else's benefit. If you've any interest, keep reading.
Now, I’m not a religious person. I haven’t been to church since I was about six. As such, I feel like I’ve had the opportunity to get a fairly objective look at religion. I have nothing against organized religion – for those who find something rewarding in their faith, it is a phenomenal and blissful institute. The problem arises when people can’t see beyond their particular faith. There are people who can’t fathom the possibility that they could be wrong, or something might not be exactly as their faith has presented it. I have a friend who got very, very offended and upset during a discussion about Ash Wednesday and Lent, because I brought some form of practicality into the discussion (it also may have been referring to Easter as “Zombie Jesus Day”… I don’t think that went over too well). She is religious, and vehemently defends her religion, but has one up on the people who are all riled up over this book and film: she can identify and separate fiction from fact.
I am all about people’s rights to open voice their concerns about religious freedom and defending their religions. Everyone has the absolute right to believe what they want, and not to allow people to destroy that – one of the reasons I find it amusing that the Catholic Church is so vocal about the offenses in this material, but I’ll get to that later. But what’s happening here is not defensive, because the church is not under attack. Just as the recoveries of the Gnostic Gospels and the newly found Gospel of Judas provide a different look at the time period of the New Testament, The Da Vinci Code provides another side to a familiar story – one people can choose to accept, as they do the New Testament, or ignore. In an age of buffet belief – choose the denomination that most closely represents your personal beliefs – a fiction novel written by someone other than a religious scholar should be completely easy for the church to dismiss. How can the text your faith is based on – The Bible, allegedly a written account of the teachings of your faith’s founder and prophet – be outdone and dethroned by a work of fiction written by a former songwriter and college professor? If this is a significant threat to the church and its doctrine, I would suggest it is less a problem with the novel, and more a problem with the church.
Based on the book’s popularity, there must be something in the stories of the book and film that provides something audiences are missing. The church’s sudden defensive strikes me as an admission that it is something missing from the religious quadrant of life. For that, we’d have to examine what the book has to offer a reader.
I’ve read The Da Vinci Code twice. I’ve also read all three of Dan Brown’s other mystery thrillers at least once. There is more or less one thing Dan Brown has going for him. It’s not the writing, or the characters, or the continuity in plot. It’s the story. Dan Brown is an incredible storyteller. A huge number of the situations Brown presents in The Da Vinci Code (or Angels & Demons, Deception Point or Digital Fortress) are laughable in their believability. They are downright ridiculous. But he tells them in such a way that keeps you reading. You want to know what happens. It’s a natural knack for stringing together events that has gotten Brown as far as he has. And considering that the bases for Catholicism in the modern age are stories… I suppose that is something the Vatican might perceive as threatening.
The church has a long history of squashing opposition, dating back to the assimilation of pagans by the Roman Empire. Some of that is detailed in The Da Vinci Code, which prompts me to be wary of the facts, but this is information found in any history text as well. The only difference is the alleged reason for some of these holy wars and crusades. Given that, steamrolling over a mere book and Hollywood film would be an easy task if they really wanted to. The fact is that the outrage over The Da Vinci Code will do both the book and the church good, and not harm either of them. For the book and film, it’s free publicity and a controversy that will get butts in the seats as people want to find out if it was really worth all the fuss. For the church, it’s a call to arms that serves as a reaffirmation of faith, faith that has been waning due to financial problems in many places (Boston in particular), due in no small part to settlements with the victims of sexual abuse by priests – something else that has reflected poorly on the church and made parishioners question the practices and morals of the ancient organization.
In the end, ironically, it comes down to a matter of faith. If The Da Vinci Code is enough to shake your faith and question something, maybe there’s something to consider there. But don’t look to that work of fiction for answers. Look to yourself and to your church, and if you find questions there that the church cannot answer or that faith cannot satisfy, perhaps it is time for a new direction. On the other hand, if you are strong enough in your faith that you can dismiss this book as fiction – or even better, recognize that the presented ideas have some merit and can assimilate the possibilities into your belief system – do so and move on. I fear the people who are most outraged by these topics are insecure people in the first situation who are not ready to admit that yet.
So go see the film if it strikes your interest. For the rest of you, why ruin our fun? It’s probably not even that good anyway.
posted by Matt S. at
2:58 PM
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