The Guardian 25 October, 2006
Film Review by Peter Symon & Jules Andrews
The Da Vinci Code
Science and Christian dogma
The origins and main myths of the Christian religion have been virtually set in concrete ever since Christianity was raised to the status of a state religion by the Roman emperor Constantine. In 312 AD Constantine claimed to have seen a vision of the cross of Christ superimposed on the sun and the words, "In this sign conquer" before his victory against the rival Emperor Maxentius.
From this time onwards Christianity became identified as the "official" religion of first Rome and then throughout Europe and a number of other countries as traders and then the armies of imperialism conquered and occupied much of the world, propagating the dogmas and mysticism associated with all religions. It is said that trade follows the bible.
In order to carry out God’s order to "conquer", the official Church has since waged endless religious wars across Europe and in the Middle East (and is still doing so). It conducted witch-hunts and burnt "heretics" at the stake, it persecuted scientists and other opponents of backwardness as it attempted to impose its religious dogmas on the rest of the world.
The ideology of Christianity became a mainstay of the Roman Empire and then its successor Christian states throughout the Middle Ages. Over centuries it was used to bolster and support the power of the state and keep the "masses" in subjection by promising salvation and an eternal life after death.
The origin of The Bible
In 325AD Constantine called together representatives of the then disparate Christian sects at the Council of Nicea to establish an official church. Among the debates that took place at the Council was one as to whether Christ was the "Son of God" or merely a prophet. The "Son of God" faction won — and by all accounts — only narrowly.
In 382AD, under Pope Damascus, what is now known at The Bible was compiled, with decisions made on which Gospels would be included, which would be discarded — the latter including books by both Mary Magdalene and Judas Isacariot. Damascus then declared this book to be the only authentic and official version.
However, even by 382AD the Gospels had gone through a number of changes — some were written decades after the events were supposed to have happened, and most had been translated from the original Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek to Latin.
Yet even today the dogmatists of Christianity regard the Damascan book to be the original, immutable, unchangeable and unchallengeable world of God. This, despite the fact that no copy of this text exists. The earliest surviving Bible is from 8th Century England.
However, the path taken over the last 1600 years by that early Roman book is not discussed within many Christian churches. The "official" English translation used almost universally by churches in the English-speaking countries today is an amalgamation of translations of various versions of the 382AD text. The fact that it was also specifically used by the English Church to distance itself from the Roman Church should also be taken into account.
Yet, even today, with the knowledge of those events freely available to all, the Catholic Pope — especially his extreme conservative supporters such as the Opus Dei sect, ultra-conservative protestant churches and new "born again" sects still peddle The Bible as the immutable, unchangeable and unchallengeable word of God.
Christian Church hierarchies continue to cling tenaciously to the myths of the immaculate conception of Jesus, his death on the cross, thereby atoning for the sins of the rest of humanity, and his resurrection. Any questioning of these biblical stories is met by vehement rejection using the full force of the considerable propaganda resources of those sects.
The truth of the matter
Yet in the midst of those clinging to this power have risen a number of Christian ministers who are beginning to accept the historical truths. They range from progressive Roman Cardinals who admit the current bible is "slightly flawed" to those Christians who now accept the work as merely an allegory. Their previous blind unswerving faith is giving way to an acknowledgement of historical realities, and they have accordingly changed their interpretations of The Bible and the tenets of their religion.
Some of these "revisions" have been prompted by revelations such the archaeological work by scientists such as Barbara Thiering, who was also a theologian and biblical scholar.
However, works such as hers are firstly dismissed and then buried in silence by the established Christian sects, or ignored completely. Her archaeological work at Qumran (a centre of learning and teaching near the Dead Sea in what is now the state of Israel, and the probable place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were written) was the site of the seminary where Jesus lived for the first part of his life. Her study of the Dead Sea Scrolls led her to conclude that Jesus was the leader of a radical faction of Essene priests, that he was not of virgin birth, and that he did not die on the cross. There was, therefore, no resurrection. Jesus married Mary Magdalene, fathered a family of three children and was later divorced. He died sometime after AD 64.
Barbara Thiering’s book is appropriately called Jesus the Man.
It is these fundamental concepts that underlie the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code (selling over 50 million copies) and the film that followed also viewed by millions.
In a spin
These concepts of Barbara Thiering, Dan Brown and a number of other historical writers have sent the conservative Christian hierarchy into a spin. And not surprisingly!
For almost 2000 years the lives of the venerable priests of the church and their numerous followers have been governed by unscientifically based beliefs. To admit, for example, that there was no virgin birth and no resurrection is enough to smash to smithereens the very basis of Christian teachings and it would open the door to a scientific study of the history of Christianity.
There are huge stakes on the table — the political power of the church as part of the state machinery to which the Christian churches have been married, enormous wealth and property accumulated by the contributions of the "flock" and the power over the minds of millions of people around the world who accept the myths of religion.
"The task of history", wrote Karl Marx, "is to establish the truth of this world". History is not set in concrete and those who are conducting scientific research into humankind’s history are helping to do just that — "establish the truth of this world".
Barbara Thiering concludes her book: "There is no record of the final days of Jesus himself. He was seventy years old in 64AD and it is probable that he died of old age in seclusion in Rome. It may be that his family travelled north, fearing the persecution that came with the hopes for the renewal of the [Roman] empire. There was a Herodian estate in the south of France and they may have found refuge there, beginning the many legends found in France and England, such as that of the Holy Grail."
It is from the facts laid out and left open by Barbara Thiering that Dan Brown has written his fictional work The Da Vinci Code.
Hiding a big secret
His book claims that the Catholic Church has been hiding a big secret for about 2000 years — the secret being that Jesus was not divine but an ordinary man, that Mary Magdalene was his wife and had children by him.
In order for the Church to maintain its credibility — ie that it acts under the direct authority of the son of God — and continue to wield the power and influence it held and the wealth it was accumulating, the truth that Jesus was an ordinary man, the truth of his and Mary’s lives were hidden. Instead the Church — through the Bible — asserted the divinity of Jesus and branded Mary Magdalene a prostitute.
Yet the truth was preserved, claims The Da Vinci Code, by the historical order of knights known as the Templars, who guarded the truth down through the ages. They continued to kneel before the grave of Mary, not before the corrupt Church of Rome.
Possessing this knowledge the Knights blackmailed the Pope and wielded great influence in the Church for a time and therefore throughout the entire Christian world. But once the Pope gained sufficient power the Knights were persecuted and tortured, many were burned at the stake as heretics, as were those who continued to recognise Mary and her heirs.
Only a tiny handful of these knowledge-keepers remained. Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code claims that among the guardians of the truth of Mary Magdalene (and of Jesus) were Sir Isaac Newton and Leonardo Da Vinci. Da Vinci provided the world with some important clues to the secret in one of his most famous paintings, The Last Supper. Mary Magdalene as Christ’s wife is a figure of the true Christian gospel that defends the poor and the oppressed.
Today these believers await the day when the truth will be revealed which will liberate humankind from Church dogmas and religious oppression.
Modern times
In modern times the secret of the Templars, writes Dan Brown in his novel, was protected by a curator in the French Louvre Museum. He is hunted down and murdered by a fanatical adherent of Opus Dei. A Harvard religious scholar is drawn into the mystery along with the curator’s granddaughter while a Parisian police inspector, with ties to Opus Dei, hunts this pair as suspects for the murder.
The curator’s daughter turns out to be the only surviving direct descendant of Jesus and Mary’s bloodline and as such has to be destroyed by the Church and its agents. She eventually finds refuge in the Herodian sanctuary in the south of France which continues to uphold the truth of Mary Magdalene.
Dan Brown’s book is a fast moving detective story worthy of Agatha Christie and James Bond combined, but with an underlying message.
Christ’s message
So why is Dan Brown’s book so dangerous despite his claim to it being a work of fiction?
Because it raises public awareness about the truth of Jesus’ alleged virgin birth, crucifixion and resurrection and his divinity as the son of God — a claim never made by Jesus himself but decided 300 years later by a pagan Roman Emperor.
The Da Vinci Code puts forward the view that Christ’s message is one of love, spiritual healing, forgiveness, concern for the sick, the poor and the oppressed in circumstances where the official Church practice is anything but love and forgiveness.
Christ’s message is not about purification from sin through bloodletting and rigid adherence to Church dogmas but the unity of humans in a struggle for knowledge, love and equality. It was about making the world a better place in the here and now, not the imposition of repression through Church dominance in the name of a better life after death.
It is perhaps because this message also comes through in the pages of Dan Brown’s book that millions are influenced by it. Millions are reconsidering the religious dogmas propagated by all churches. It also explains the hot rejection that has come from many of the most conservative Christian quarters.
The ideas implicit in Dan Brown’s book are dangerous ideas indeed — for the Church hierarchy.
The film of The Da Vinci Code has recently been released on DVD and is available in stores everywhere.