As if there wasn't enough commentary on the Da Vinci Code by Christian Fundamentalists already, here come the ramblings of a 20yr. old college student

Yes, I am reading the Da Vinci Code. Don't label me a heretic or worse... a liberal. I'm about 2/3 of the way through with it, so if you've read it, don't ruin the end for me.

Here are my thoughts thus far:

It is incredibly intriguing. I have to force myself to put it down.

It is driven basically by once concept: plausibility. Not possibility or probability, but plausibility. This could happen.... but more than that, when you string the "facts" together the way the author does, you're of course a blinded fool not to agree that this is how history should be known.

Ugh.

Some of the books basic flaws are the oldest tricks in the book:

1.) immediately create a mutually exclusive dichotomy between what is "religious" and what is "true"
2.) cast those who defend religion in an antagonistic light and make those who are the liberal, intellectual, seekers of "truth" the protagonists
3.) reinforce your main points over and over in extremely subtle ways througout the narrative (in this case, any critical reader can see that Sophie's and Langdon's impeccable teamwork is merely Brown trying to convey the veracity of the Divine Feminine)
4.) THIS IS THE BIGGEST AND MOST DANGEROUS FLAW OF THE BOOK (as with every false teaching): Mix just enough true, historical, actual facts (and the book does have a lot of them) and tie them together just right in order to create an effect that establishes a brand new "truth" in and of itself. In other words, hit the mark, or just close enough to the mark, enough times, and you'll get whatever you want.

And people believe this.


It is my firm conviction that people should not read this book unless they have at least two of the following three things:

1.) a decent knowledge of the entire Bible
2.) a decent knowledge of Church History and European History
3.) half a brain

(odds are if you have the first two, you'll have the third)



I'll keep you posted on what more I find in this piece of...... literature. I'm still debating on how long the essay I'm going to write in response to the book is going to be.


P.S.-- if you're planning on reading the book, it's really really really good until Chapter 55. Then, if you're a Bible-Believing Christian (and you have a historical-grammatical-contexual-literal hermeneutic), it'll start to tick you off royally.