Interesting novel (remember
novel). I found the first half or so to be pretty interesting, and was a real page turner. Gotta remember it's a
novel - that is, a work of fiction. There are many, many factual errors in the book, and I'm not referrring to the theological perspective, either.
For example, Brown states that the pyramid at the Louvre has 666 windows.
Not true - it's 673.
Jesus' divinity: It's not true that before Constantine, Christians understood Jesus to be human but not divine. That's absolutely false. Most people thought Jesus was divine centuries before Constantine. Note, that's a statement of FACT, not opinion. I'm just stating what others believed.
Marriage: it's absolutely false that as [the character] Robert Langdon says, it would have been highly unusual for Jesus not to be married because Jewish men were always married. That's false.
We know Jewish men from the first century who remained single and celibate. What's most interesting is that the ones we know about are ones with a worldview that's very similar to the worldview ascribed to Jesus in the Gospels—which is an apocalyptic worldview. We know about Jews from Jesus' time from the Dead Sea Scrolls. (which were found in 1947 - not in the 1950's as the novel states)
Other Gospels: The fallacy is thinking that these gospels give a more historically accurate view of Jesus than the New Testament gospels. I'm saying this not out of any religious conviction, but strictly on historical grounds—that statement is not true.
As I said, it's a fun read, especially the first half or so. Remember, it's a novel, and not (dare I say, Gospel). For an interesting analysis of the DaVinci code, go to:
https://research.unc.edu/endeavors/win2005/ehrman.phpand read Prof. Bart Ehrman's analysis. He's a biblical scholar - with an emphasis on the historical, and not the religious.
George
Topic: DA VINCI CODE