Some Dumb "Code"
Sitting for hours on the runway because of bad weather, waiting to come home, I finally had the chance to read "The DaVinci Code."
And now I'm feeling a bit like Scarlett O'Hara at the Confederate bazaar -- everybody seems to be swept up in an enthusiasm that I don't understand.
What is it that so many people have found to be so great about this book? The characters struck me as poorly drawn, the "mystery" was impenetrable by normal people, and let's not even talk about the pretentious, portentious, ultimately ridiculous "theology" that animates it. I'm hardly a Biblical scholar, but author Dan Brown even makes mistakes about the few little things I know from my college course in "The Self in World Religions" at Princeton.
Mark D. Roberts provides an excellent refutation of the most inflammatory claims in the book, and notes that it presents a wonderful opportunity for Christians to discuss their faith.
As an orthodox Christian, though, it's hard to overcome the sense (as I read on the tarmac last night) that, albeit perhaps inadvertantly, Dan Brown is doing something incredibly wrong -- attempting to undermine peoples' belief in Christianity, and replace it with a half-baked, unserious conspiracy theory.
Above all, it makes me sad. It's like Brown is trying to take away good, honest whole-wheat bread and pure water, and substituting it with Cheetos and Red Bull. The replacement may taste good at first, but it's ultimately unable to nourish and sustain.
And now I'm feeling a bit like Scarlett O'Hara at the Confederate bazaar -- everybody seems to be swept up in an enthusiasm that I don't understand.
What is it that so many people have found to be so great about this book? The characters struck me as poorly drawn, the "mystery" was impenetrable by normal people, and let's not even talk about the pretentious, portentious, ultimately ridiculous "theology" that animates it. I'm hardly a Biblical scholar, but author Dan Brown even makes mistakes about the few little things I know from my college course in "The Self in World Religions" at Princeton.
Mark D. Roberts provides an excellent refutation of the most inflammatory claims in the book, and notes that it presents a wonderful opportunity for Christians to discuss their faith.
As an orthodox Christian, though, it's hard to overcome the sense (as I read on the tarmac last night) that, albeit perhaps inadvertantly, Dan Brown is doing something incredibly wrong -- attempting to undermine peoples' belief in Christianity, and replace it with a half-baked, unserious conspiracy theory.
Above all, it makes me sad. It's like Brown is trying to take away good, honest whole-wheat bread and pure water, and substituting it with Cheetos and Red Bull. The replacement may taste good at first, but it's ultimately unable to nourish and sustain.
posted by LadybugUSA at 8:42 AM
2 Comments:
Churches are made up of humans. Humans are human. God help us. Others adore a golden calf. Money?
Actually, people never needed pedophile priests to knock the Roman Catholic Church. What gives this book such magnetism is the perpetuation of the conspiracy theories regarding the Church that have been floated for quite awhile. People just love dumping on the Church. But the theme also hurts Christianity in general for it's suggestions about Jesus Himself. And that suits those who would look upon the faithful as backward and superstitious. I haven't read the book, but I've read arguments against Christianity, many of which are in the book from what I understand.
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