As the premiere of the film adaptation of the mega-selling The Da Vinci Code approaches, churches across the country and for that matter, around the world are addressing the controversial book and film in different ways. One is to teach members where the story violates Christian teaching when it asserts that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and produced a lineage of descendents up to the present day and that this merely human person was not God incarnate–and that this fact has been suppressed by the Church for centuries as it fabricated scriptural accounts foisting the notion of the divinity of Christ in a history-shaping con job.
My own church and many others are choosing to teach the orthodox Christian doctrine on the nature of Christ and the historical facts behind the assembly of the books that would become the New Testament. Rather than being loudly confrontational as in the case of Martin Scorcese’s The Last Tempation of Christ, many church leaders view this as a teaching moment where Christians can learn more about doctrine and history and be ready to share their faith with their inquiring neighbors.
But not all agree that being prepared to dialogue with those who have swallowed the book’s rather easily disprovable assertions is the right stance. Barbara Nicolosi, founder and executive of Act One, a screenwriting program working to train Christians to write for mainstream filmmaking, and a frequent commentator of faith-related media, rejects the notion of what she terms doing dialogue on the devil’s terms. Rather than helping those on a “search for truth,” she thinks such efforts are futile:
Here’s a typical DVC inspired dialogue… See if you can find a search for truth in it.
It usually starts with something like this, “Everybody knows that the Church Fathers were liars. Can you prove the compilation of the Bible wasn’t pure politics?”
And just when you start saying, “Well, I don’t agree that the Church Fathers were–” the questioner moves on with eyes flashing unnaturally, “Why is the Church so afraid of women, huh? Why has it suppressed them since the beginning? Yeah? Answer THAT!”
So, you clear your throat and say, “Well, I wouldn’t say that the Church is afr–”
But they’ve moved on again. “The fact is, there is no evidence for the Resurrection. Have you ever read the Gospel of Mary Magdalen?”
“Well, no, but–”
“See you people are all brain-washed.” [exhalation of disgust] “How so many people could be so stupid is amazing to me….Where are my birth-control pills?!”
When you debate with Satan, there is no opportunity for anything but people digging their heels into the sludge of chaos and confusion.
Nicolosi proposes a counter-strategy called an “Othercott” of deliberately supporting another film, in this case, Over the Hedge to demonstrate the economic consequences of producing a blasphemous film.
Another observer who thinks such efforts are misguided is Leo Partiple, a filmmaker and pop culture commentator who in his blog takes proponents of dialog, including Christian apologist Josh McDowell, to task for increasing Sony’s box office take for The Da Vinci Code by urging believer to see the film in order to better discuss it with those ostensibly seeking truth in the film. What Partible’s real complaint seems to be is that it took a scandalous film to get evangelicals talking about debating the message of a film–where are they on all the other films with questionable themes?
The Greek Orthodox Church has released a pamphlet warning parishoners of its heretical content. The church leadership neither encourages nor forbids the viewing of the film.
Finally, this article from the Dallas Morning News surveys several theologians and historians, not all who would be called orthodox Christians, but who all condemn The Da Vinci Code for blatant historical inaccuracies. The best line in the story for me is from an Episcopal theologian who displays a reassuring confidence in the church’s ability to rise to the challenge the story presents:
The Rev. Kendall Harmon, an Episcopal theologian in South Carolina, compares Mr. Brown to Celsus, a second-century critic of Christianity. Celsus inspired early Christians into thoughtful responses, he said.
“A Christian who reads The Da Vinci Code and can explain to his or her friends why The Da Vinci Code is wrong is a more effective Christian,” he said. “As Celsus strengthened the early church, so Dan Brown is strengthening us.”
