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Are Christians Overreacting to The Da
Vinci Code?
The launch of The Da Vinci Code movie based on Dan
Brown's best-selling book has gotten the Christian community
buzzing. Web sites are popping up everywhere. New books are being
written. Sermons are being prepared. Everywhere, Christians are
getting ready to do intellectual battle against the claims made in
the film about the origins of their faith.
All of this attention has caused some to ask if we've
overreacted. One person put it this way:
What part of "Fiction" do you not understand? Fiction means
not true. Has Dan Brown actually made a public statement that
he believes the doctrines described in The Da Vinci Code to be
true. He hasn't. Why are you giving him so much free press?...
It is amazing that Dan Brown's Da Vinci code is getting such a
reaction, even from scholars like you.
This is a legitimate question, although the writer is wrong in
stating Dan Brow hasn't given public statements that he believes
these theories. He actually has. That being said, The Da Vinci Code
is listed as a work of fiction – something that's not true. Given
that it's a fictional account, why is everyone spending so much time
and effort debunking its assertions?
Well, the short answer is being fictional doesn't matter. It will
still have influence on the way people think about issues. We have
numerous examples of this, from the sales jump of Resees Pieces
after E.T. came out to the effects of works such as The Green Mile
and Cider House Rules on the death penalty and abortion. Because of
this, advertisers pay large sums of money to have their products
featured in a new release and used by the protagonists.
How Our Entertainment Colors Us
Conrad Ostwalt, Chair of the Department of Philosophy and
Religion at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina,
wrote a great article on how popular movies are a powerful influence
on the students in his class. In the Dec 1998 issue of the Journal
of Religion and Film, Ostwalt stated three reasons he used recent
movies to elicit teaching opportunities in his class. He writes:
- First, film is a powerful tool because it motivates students to
participate in class. While students in my classes still read texts,
they also watch films communally outside class. This shared act
begins to break down barriers and build trust between class members
before we ever attempt a discussion of the film. As a result,
students are more willing to risk themselves before their peers.
This increased participation in class spills over to other areas as
well, including greater participation in discussions of lectures and
assigned readings.
- Second, film as a tool empowers students. For whatever reasons,
students respond to films enthusiastically. They are stimulated by
the auditory and visual experience of movie watching in ways that
reading fails to achieve. Often, watching a film will actually
inspire students to read criticism, novels, or texts that are
related to the film. For all these reasons and more, students are
comfortable with the film medium, they are not intimidated by it,
and when students interact with material in this manner, they are
empowered, confident, and bold. With film as part of their
curriculum, students seem more willing to take imaginative risks and
to think critically.
- Third, popular films can be effective tools for learning because
using popular films in a class results in students claiming
ownership in course content. Students recognize the films, and they
identify them as part of student culture. As a result, the course
content has immediate relevance to students, and they feel they have
a stake in its examination. This makes students partners in the
course, and they feel a greater responsibility for the success of
the class and their own learning. When students claim such
responsibility and ownership, class interaction is exciting and
dynamic, and students become self-directed learners, taking their
critical skills beyond the classroom.1
The Bigger the Issue, the More Important the Belief
Another point about why we should talk about The Da Vinci Code is
simply because the topics it talks about are some of the most
important in history. The simple rule is one I learned from J.P.
Moreland – the more important the issue, the more important it is to
have a correct belief about that issue. Your belief in whether a
sports team is going to win the series isn't nearly as important as
a neurosurgeon's belief about how to operate on the brain.
The beliefs focused on in The Da Vinci Code, are among the most
important. The belief of who Jesus was and what he did in history is
the basis of a worldview for a third of the people on this planet.
It's your worldview that forms the core of your moral framework,
your compassion and how you understand the events you experience.
Calling the basis of this into question has huge implications for
all of society. Furthermore, if Christianity's beliefs about Jesus
are true, then these beliefs have eternal consequences as well.
The Big Deal
The big deal with a movie like The Da Vinci Code is that it puts
crucial claims of Christianity in its crosshairs and tries to soot
them down. Nowhere in the book or movie is there offered a competing
analysis of the facts. Moreover, as our society moves to a
postmodern culture, people tend to value the emotional experience
more than truth claims. If they feel sympathetic to someone like
Michael Caine's character in Cider House Rules, it really doesn't
matter that his actions are against the law.
So, we should prepare ourselves. We need to inform ourselves of
the facts, so that we may discuss them intelligently when the
question arises. We should know how to answer critics and those who
may be swayed by the movie's storytelling power. Even before the
movie was released, the Canadian newspaper, The National Post
recently reported that 17% of Canadians and 13% of Americans
believed the premises of the book.2 It shows all the more reason
why Christians must be able to "make a defense to everyone who asks
you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with
gentleness and reverence".
What are your thoughts? Has The Da Vinci Code been a point
of discussion? Are we overreacting? Let me know at
newsletters@comereason.org. Until next time, God bless.
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