I recently shared with our students about The Da Vinci Code. This book and upcoming movie has touched on something significant in our culture. As Dan Brown puts in this book, "Everyone loves a conspiracy." The trick for Christians, however, is to be able to discern fact from fiction...very entertaining fiction, I might add. In sharing with our students, I encouraged them to read the book or watch the film...but to do so with this knowledge. Your bible is historically reliable and the claims of this story are not. This story relies on the accounts of Jesus that are contained in non-canonical gospels, specifically, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, and the Gospel of Mary (not to be cofused with Peter, Paul and Mary).
There is also a heavy emphasis on secret societies. Secret societies that don't really exist, for that matter. The suspect history is treated as fact. It really is amazing how official something sounds when you phrase it like, "Many scholars agree...." Try it sometime. Many scholars agree that Michael Bolton is the real President of the United States. Truth doesn't really matter with such statements. The only thing that matters is that "scholars" agree with them. I won't go into a detailed rebuttal to the story of The Da Vinci Code. There are already numerous resources that do a much better job than I could. If you are curious, check out Campus Crusade for Christ's Web site, Jesus and Da Vinci. What I am more capable to share is the history of the New Testament and the formation of the Canon. I hope to briefly give you a basis for the reliability of the Gospels of the New Testament and the unreliability of all the non-canonical books. Our New Testament was roughly determined around 100 years after Christ died and rose. Within that one hundred years, the disciples and Paul were scattered about the known world proclaiming the truth that Jesus Christ was the Messiah and risen Lord. While there was no "official" statement affirming or denying the validity of some books, the early church had a set use of books. By 180 AD, Ireneus' writings and sermons had quoted from all 27 books of the New Testament...and only from those books. So, while there was no "official" documentation, the church had in practice already set the canon. The church relied on two main criteria. One, the document must be written by an apostle or a close associate of an apostle. Two, the document cannot be contrary to a document in which the authorship is known. That means all the books of the New Testament were written by first or second generation disciples. The Gospel of Matthew gets in because Matthew was a disciple. He hung out with Jesus. Matthew hands the early church is gospel and says, "This is what I saw Jesus do. You oughta know this." The church says, "I know that you are Matthew, you hung out with Jesus. We're going to listen to you." The Gospel of Luke gets in because he was a friend of Peter and Paul. He writes a detailed account and says, "This is the true story of Jesus. This is what his disciples told me." The church says, "I know this is Luke. He is friends with the disciples. We trust him, listen to him." The Gospel of Thomas shows up. It says that it is that "secret teachings of Jesus as told to Thomas." Thomas was a disciple, but he's not the one that gave this to us. In fact, Thomas has been gone for some time. So, the authorship was in doubt. The content is very much contrary to content of the Gospels that we know are truthful. Therefore, Thomas gets the boot. It's really that simple. Authorship and content were the primary deciding factors. Despite what "Sir Leigh Teabing" smuggly says in The Da Vinci Code, it was not a vote of Council of Nicea in 325. In fact, that council didn't even vote on the canon. There were addressing the heretical issue of Arianism. The New Testament is historically solid. Jesus Christ is who he says he was in the Gospels. These other accounts carry no weight historically. The Da Vinci Code is a fun read. I finished the 400 page book in a couple of days...but the scholarship is shoddy (that's being kind). How should Christians respond to this? Follow Dan Brown's advice, "Seek the Truth." Know your Church History. Know your Bible. Use this novel as a doorway into spiritual conversations. Share this truth with your friends who have watched the movie or read the book. If they like the book, there's a really good chance that you can have a great conversation about the Jesus Christ. Share how he has changed your life and why the Truth is more important that fiction.
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