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An update
on The Da Vinci Code
PRAISED BE JESUS
CHRIST!
(Now and Forever)
No doubt you have followed the adventures of Abdul Rahman. He is the
Afghan who converted to Christianity, was arrested, and had the
experience of having Islamic clerics demand that he be killed as an
apostate for rejecting Islam. One Moslem cleric is quoted as saying:
“The Quaran is very clear and the words of our prophet are very clear.
There can only be one outcome: death.” Western leaders, including the
papal secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, urged that the Rahman
case be dropped. It was, of course, but images of Moslems shouting
“death to Christians” as they marched in protest against the decision to
release Abdul Rahman were illustrative of the great divide between
Christians and Moslems.
Then, of course, there were the cartoons that satirized Muhammad.
Muslims protested by the thousands. Violence erupted. People were
killed.
Shift now to May 19 and the release of the $125 million film version of
Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code. The book has sold a reported
40 million copies worldwide since its publication in 2003. At the hard
copy price of $24.95, one has to say the book has been a huge commercial
success. It has also been described as an intriguing, fast-paced tale of
adventure. Unfortunately, it distorts and fabricates at the expense of
the Catholic Church. Supposedly the movie will spread the gospel
according to Brown to an even broader audience.
It’s fiction, fiction, fiction, a best-selling thriller, a tall
tale of intrigue. Nonetheless, there are those who believe that the
assertions made in the novel are true. Others are startled by the claims
of the novel, suspicious because they have never heard them before, but
at the same time accepting of the possibility. And, there are those who
really don’t care about the exact content of The Da Vinci Code,
but are glad that it subverts Christianity.
The basic theme, for those who may be unaware, is that the Catholic
Church has perpetrated a hoax on the world. Jesus Christ was no more
than a clever man, a man who married Mary Magdalene, had a child by her,
and planned for her to be in charge of his Church. In the name of
historic accuracy and scholarship, it is an attack on the Catholic
Church. An objective critique, in my judgment, would conclude it is far
worse than the cartoons about Muhammad.
I wrote about The Da Vinci Code in this column back in August of
2004. That piece, “The Truth About The Da Vinci Code,” is still
available on the diocesan Web site:
www.dioceseoflafayette.org/bishop/word/bishop word 082904. To counter
the distortions of the book and the release of the movie, the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops has launched a Web site (www.jesusdecoded.com)
which contains information that refutes the claims of The Da Vinci
Code.
Among other things, the Web site focuses on the first four ecumenical
councils of the Catholic Church: the Council of Nicea held in 325; the
Council of Constantinople held in 318; the Council of Ephesus held in
431; and the Council of Chalcedon held in 451. These councils struggled
with issues having to do with the person of Jesus of Nazareth: who he
was (divine or human) and his mission. In each case, the councils were
convened because theories were being put forward that disputed that the
Son, who became flesh in Jesus Christ, is God in the same sense as the
Father.
Rather than cover up the truth about Jesus, as The Da Vinci Code
suggests, the early Church councils labored to uncover the truth.
Critical questions were asked. Different points of view were
entertained. In this process, the need to clarify the truth about the
identity of Jesus was sought from the most authentic and reliable
sources available.
There is an interesting piece about the so-called gnostic gospels and
other non-New Testament writings on the USCCB Web site as well.
These are writings rejected by the Church in the formulation of the
Bible because they reflected religious philosophies that differed from
the Christianity of the New Testament. Brown utilizes some of these
sources in the development of his “revelations” about the evil Catholic
Church.
In addition to the Web site, an hour-long documentary titled “Jesus
Decoded” has been distributed to NBC television stations for broadcast
the weekend of May 20. It will also be available for purchase on DVD and
video.
This documentary promises clear and accurate information about the
person of Jesus, his disciples and the formation of the books included
in the official canon of the Bible.
Shot on location in Israel, Turkey and Italy, and making use of an
international group of scholars versed in art, history and Scripture,
“Jesus Decoded” offers a solid Catholic response to the
sensational claims which call into question fundamental beliefs about
Jesus and the Church. It will concentrate especially on the first three
centuries of the development of the Church.
In our area, the documentary will be aired on WISE-TV 33 in Fort Wayne,
WTHR-TV 13 in Indianapolis, and WNDU-TV 16 out of South Bend-Elkhart.. |
