When Fiction is Presented as Fact: Unlocking the "Secrets" of Da Vinci
By Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Andrew C. Skinner, and Thomas A. Wayment

Editor’s note: With all the hype about the novel The Da Vinci Code and the movie that opens tomorrow, some church members are puzzled about how much of the book that purports to be fact really is fiction.  Rest assured!  As this book, written by LDS scholars, points out, members of the LDS Church know a lot more about the Savior than Leonardo Da Vinci ever did.  Today’s Meridian features the book’s introduction, with chapter 1 to run tomorrow.  We also include a click-to-buy so you can purchase the book without leaving your computer.  

Introduction

“The Bible represents a fundamental guidepost for millions of people on the planet…Those who truly understand their faiths understand the stories are metaphorical.” (The Da Vinci Code, p. 342)

Winston Churchill said, “In history lie all the secrets.” Though he was speaking of statecraft, his comment is equally applicable to matters of religion. That is, within the context of faith, history can provide answers to important religious questions.

In fact, our scriptures are narratives that are grounded in history and that contain the secrets to life itself. And our spiritual enlightenment can often be increased when the scriptures are interpreted by inspired writers and prophets who go to the past to explain the mighty deeds of ­God.

One of the basic questions we address in this short book is, What truths can we find in historical novels that are sold in the fiction section of bookstores but that nevertheless claim to be rooted in history and based on original sources?

Obviously, based on the sheer number of dollars spent, members of our society are often much more interested in getting their history lessons from novels, television shows, and Hollywood movies than through the traditional outlet in which competent historians provide scholarly explorations of the past. Scholars and academics who have forgotten the “story” in history are partly responsible for the lack of interest in and support of their historical craft because their works are often stilted, unimaginative, and basically ­uninteresting.

Exceptions abound, such as David McCullough’s John Adams (2001) and 1776 (2005). Both efforts prove that historical works can be meticulously researched, ­well-­written, and also extremely ­interesting.

Neither historical novels nor popular films are inherently inadequate in presenting history to a wide audience. The outcome is not a case of good versus bad when these two media outlets choose to tell a story from the past. The questions all of us may raise, however, are about the authors’ and screenwriters’ fidelity to original sources and their careful and thoughtful interpretation of the historical record. Using those criteria, we have chosen to focus our attention on Dan Brown’s ­best-­selling book, The Da Vinci Code (New York: Doubleday, 2003).

The Da Vinci Code is a ­fast-­paced, suspenseful thriller set amid the landscapes, museums, and cathedrals of Europe.

The novel takes us initially into the Musée du Louvre in Paris, where we discover that one of the curators, Jacques Saunière, has been murdered. However, before he dies, Saunière is able to leave ­clues — ­not about his death but about a secret that will shake the very foundation of Christianity and the Catholic Church. We then are introduced to Sophie Neveu, the murdered curator’s granddaughter and a cryptologist, and Robert Langdon, a visiting Harvard professor, both of whom have been called to the murder scene for various reasons. The two, who will become romantically involved along the way, are swept through a long night of murders and intrigue that continues with a police chase out of Paris to a wet morning in London.

As the mystery unfolds, they discover, with the help of Sir Leigh Teabing, British historian and noted Grail scholar, that the great secret associated with the murders and intrigue deals with Jesus of Nazareth. They also discover that Sophie’s grandfather was part of the group that has been custo­dians of the explosive secret for ­generations — ­the Priory of Sion. In England, the identity of the evil “Teacher” who masterminded the murders committed by an albino monk from Opus Dei is revealed, and the story reaches its ­climax.

During the ­fast-­paced race to the finish, Sophie learns that Jesus was mortal, not divine; that He was married to Mary Magdalene, who stood at the cross pregnant; that the earliest gospels, and therefore the most reliable, are not those found in the current New Testament; and that the Catholic Church has attempted through murder, lies, and deceit to hide these facts from the masses since the earliest ­times of its existence.

Sophie and Robert also discover that the guardians of this great secret (the true identity of Christ and the role of women in the early Church), the Priory of Sion, have included such prestigious members as Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Sir Isaac Newton, and Victor Hugo, all of whom have possessed and passed down through the generations this secret knowledge, as well as the true identity of the Holy Grail.

In particular, Leonardo da Vinci is said to have left clues in his artwork that if deciphered could lead someone to the ultimate truth. Sophie and Robert also learn that this super-secret and powerful group continued the practices of ancient rituals that celebrate the sacred ­feminine — ­something ruthlessly suppressed by the Vatican since the time of the pagan emperor ­Constantine.

The Da Vinci Code is the “rarest of birds,” both a critical and a commercial success, with tens of millions of copies sold and with translations in more than forty languages. The book is also a historic publication. As Harry Potter turned out to be the book to be read by today’s young people, The Da Vinci Code has become the ­must-­read for adults. Its continued availability in hardcover is the result of its amazing endurance on the New York Times Best Seller ­List.

The book’s initial print run of a mere ­eighty-­five thousand copies has been multiplied astronomically. Ongoing interest in The Da Vinci Code has spawned various television specials, popular museum tours to England and France, countless book reviews, numerous articles and books by various individuals responding to the claims put forth in the novel, and a major Hollywood movie based on the book’s ­storyline.

The reason for all the excitement is obviously more than the simple economic bottom line. The book has been read by tens of millions, exposing them to a revisionist view of Jesus of Nazareth that has caught the media’s attention as well as the attention of committed Christians and scholars.

Surprising to some is the fact that some of the viewpoints put forth in The Da Vinci Code were originally outlined by scholars. The novel, in fact, incorporates many scholarly views, subtly adapted into its storyline. Ultimately, The Da Vinci Code demonstrates society’s current intense interest in religious history and its continuing fascination with a historical Jesus.

We are not endorsing this immensely popular book. Neither are we encouraging nor discouraging anyone’s reading it or seeing the movie. However, the media attention surrounding the book’s publication and now its additional life as a major motion picture invites us to explore the book’s issues in the light of the New Testament texts, the history of Christianity as a religion, and the debate over the discoveries and rediscoveries of a plethora of old texts claiming to preserve stories related to Jesus, His Church, and the true gospel of ­Christ.

What we may forget in the heat and passion of the historical and theological debate about the contents of the book and film is the fact that the book is a work of fiction. In fact, following the title of the book on the dust jacket and title page is found the description, “A Novel.” A problem arises with those words, however, because The Da Vinci Code qualifies the subtitle, “A Novel,” and dogmatically and categorically states, “All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate” (The Da Vinci Code, p. 1).

Because of The Da Vinci Code’s claims to accuracy, the book may be evaluated in the same rigorous and careful way any other scholarly endeavor might be ­examined — ­that is, scrutinized in light of the available historical sources and established ­evidence.

However, this examination of the claims made in the novel is not intended to be an exhaustive, scholarly endeavor. Indeed, in an effort to make our book more reader-friendly, a minimum of footnotes have been provided. Those who wish to explore the
subject in more depth are referred to the bibliography that has been provided.

Clearly, given the number and vigor of various discussions with individuals on airplanes, at social events, in university classrooms, and in the hallways at religious gatherings, we think The Da Vinci Code raises some important questions that are worth ­examining.

Although living in societies that are influenced by the ­Judeo-­Christian tradition, Christians today are generally woefully uninformed about the radical academic forces that are determined to reinterpret the basic and ­longstanding traditions about Jesus of Nazareth and the early Christian movement that declared Him to be the divine Son of ­God.

For a long while, the topics discussed and debated by New Testament scholars in academic conferences and in scholarly journals and books, which may have caused the blood of the faithful to “boil,” were reserved for the ­academy — ­behind the closed doors of white ivory towers. Recently, some of these radical scholars have been successful in presenting their ideas to an increasingly larger audience, without using the typical scholarly jargon that masked their findings and without the scholarly reviews that usually attend academic publishing.

In this larger audience are lay consumers who are not typically inclined to ask thoughtful, penetrating questions about sources or the interpretation of those sources. And the academic press has been replaced by a new ­outlet — ­the popular media, whose interests are not always unbiased but rather are driven by ratings and ­revenue.

After spending several years responding to questions raised in popular outlets, the authors of this book began paying attention to what family, friends, and students were reading and watching. We were surprised at the number of programs found on the History and Discovery television channels and the frequency of reports in Newsweek, Time, and U.S. News & World Report about Jesus and the early Christian Church. Although often visually stimulating and cleverly presented, many of these programs and reports, we felt, were profoundly influenced by a fringe of radical scholars bent on rewriting the ­past.

In the face of numerous questions specifically related to The Da Vinci Code’s premises and assertions, we finally purchased and read our own copies of this runaway bestseller. Although we recognized the book’s literary merits and could appreciate the suspense generated by its intriguing plot, we also instantly knew that The Da Vinci Code was the latest and most successful attempt to provide an alternative interpretation of Jesus of Nazareth and early Christianity. We could also see that it drew heavily upon the provocative arguments and conclusions set forth by radical New Testament scholars, who have dedicated their lives to redefining who Jesus was and what He ­did.

From the countless questions from our friends and associates, we know The Da Vinci Code has generated a lot of interest among ­Latter-­day Saints. Interestingly, we came to discover also that Christians in general (who are divided on some essential issues about church authority and the divine nature of Christ) are typically united in their praise of The Da Vinci Code. What seemed obvious to us is that helpful responses to the fundamental questions raised in the book needed to be ­provided.

For some readers, The Da Vinci Code freed them from conventional rules and values because the book provided an attack on the establishment and the traditional claims of –Christianity — ­claims that constitute the “good news,” or the gospel of Christ. It also challenged attitudes about women and priesthood, Church authority, and divine miracles, especially the Atonement and the ­Resurrection.

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In an effort to help clarify the issues involved, we, including our colleague Eric D. Huntsman, initially participated in a recorded discussion entitled “What Da Vinci Didn’t Know: LDS Perspectives on the Code,” released through Deseret Book (2004). None of us imagined at the time that we would follow up with a book about The Da Vinci Code. However, after a flood of interesting and passionate conversations, letters, ­e-­mails, and telephone calls in response to our CD, each of us began to think about how we might respond more completely to some of the important issues raised by The Da Vinci ­Code.

Proposals for the publication of a book were independently submitted to Deseret Book, without any of the present authors being aware of what the others had done. Deseret Book’s Cory Maxwell contacted us to ask if we would be willing to work together on one project that would further the discussion. With a tight deadline, we agreed to do so, and we outlined a book that we thought would address the important issues raised by The Da Vinci ­Code.

In light of the continued commercial success of the hardback edition of The Da Vinci Code, the release of a “Special Illustrated Edition” (2004), a ­two-­million-­copy paperback edition (2006), and a Hollywood movie based on the book (2006), our decision was most likely a fortuitous ­one.

Actually, our real interest is focused on neither Dan Brown’s novel nor Ron Howard’s film. Although they provide the basis of our discussion, they are simply a springboard to reconsider, once again, the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. The popularity of the book and movie also affords us an opportunity to discuss the events that followed Jesus’ suffering, death, and ­resurrection —­ events that profoundly impacted Western culture and society when a written canon was finally ­compiled that provides the basis for Christians’ beliefs about Jesus of Nazareth.

Based on our observations during the past several years, three themes or topics from The Da Vinci Code seem to have captured the attention of a number of ­Latter-­day ­Saints.

First, the book is ­anti-­Catholic and unfairly, in many instances, characterizes the history, beliefs, and practices of the Catholic Church, past and present. Some ­Latter-­day Saints, like our Protestant neighbors, have been influenced negatively in their attitudes toward Rome, the papacy, and the Catholic Church because of the dominant Protestant culture. American prejudice against the largest Christian denomination in the world began during the colonial period of our ­history — ­transported from Europe where the conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism was particularly ­intense.

Second, the book describes secret texts and an elaborate conspiracy to hide the content of those texts from the masses. Some ­Latter-­day Saints, because of the remarkable stories of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham, have been eager to accept accounts that, in their minds and without careful investigation, seem to validate our Church’s claims of additional scripture. Like other Americans, some LDS readers have been willing to accept at face value the conspiracy theories about almost anything involving textual ­cover-­ups — ­again without careful and thoughtful ­review.

Finally, the book’s main secret revolves around ­marriage — ­in this case the presumed marriage of Jesus of Nazareth and Mary of Magdala (known as Mary Magdalene). Our interest in the subject derives from our Church’s focus on marriage as a most important and sacred practice. Additionally, even though not an official doctrine of the Church, some Latter-­day Saints have speculated that Jesus may have been married to fulfill all righteousness (see Genesis 2:24).

Many ­Latter-­day Saints who are intrigued by this novel seemingly forget that the Jesus who is finally revealed at the end of The Da Vinci Code is not the Jesus of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. He is not the Messiah; He is not the Son of God; and He is not the divine Redeemer of the world. At best, The Da Vinci Code’s Jesus was a wise man, maybe even a prophet, but He is not the suffering, dying Savior of the world who was miraculously raised from death by God on the first day of the ­week.

As noted above, the focus in this book, What Da Vinci Didn’t Know, is not on Dan Brown’s book itself as much as on some of the important questions raised in The Da Vinci Code. Therefore, we hope our book will be helpful to those who have read Dan Brown’s novel or seen Ron Howard’s film as well as to those who have neither read the book nor seen the ­film.

Ultimately, we see our efforts as part of a ­much ­larger dialogue with family members, friends, neighbors, and other people about Jesus and the scriptures. The resulting discussion, we strongly feel, will prove that faithful and thoughtful ­Latter-­day Saints have something to contribute to a world searching for answers to important questions in these challenging times, as reflected in Timothy’s prophecy: