The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown is a tremendously successful
work of fiction which claims to be based upon historical facts, but is really
laden with myths, partial truths and bad history (historical revisionism).
The net affect of the novel, although a work of fiction, is to feed into
anti-Christian mythology and promote moral relativism and false doctrines, like
the Gnostic notion of the "sacred feminine." Worse still it is overtly
anti-Christian and anti-Catholic tone, making claims that respected historians and
theologians would not objectively consider as having any merit, for example,
unsubstantiated claims that Jesus
was married to Mary Magdalene or that He was not truly divine, but was instead,
deified by the action of Emperor Constantine in 325 A.D. There are
centuries of writings of the Early Church Fathers and historians that mitigate
against these colorful, but factually deficient claims, yet many people today are drawing their view of life from the pop culture
and not from their faith. For this reason there is a growing number of
books and tapes which attempt to set the historical record straight, some of the
best of which are offered below for your consideration. There are also
links below to other web sites that address the bad history and blasphemies of the
novel, which will soon be a multi-millionaire dollar Hollywood movie, and has
been or is in the process of being translated into thirty
languages. Christianity has a profound effect on the history of Western
civilization and this novel is part and part parcel of the effort to reverse
that influence and destroy Truth. Let's not let that happen!
The DaVinci Code
Hoax by Carl E. Olson and Sandra Miesel.
According to Dan Brown's #1 bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code, almost
everything Christians think they know about Jesus is completely wrong -- the
result of Catholic propaganda designed to hide the truth. Claiming to be based
on solid scholarship, the novel alleges that a secret group of true followers of
a Gnostic Jesus and his "wife," Mary Magdalene, the "true" Holy Grail, has
engineered a successful cover-up for two thousand years.
But are the novel's claims fact or just plain fiction? In The Da Vinci Hoax,
Carl Olson and Sandra Miesel expose Brown's anti-Catholic, anti-Christian
agenda, and show how his lengthy list of "research" and factual claims shrouded
in "thriller" fiction are dead wrong in virtually every instance. They reveal
how Brown drastically misrepresents early Christian belief in Christ's divinity,
the credibility of the New Testament, the nature of Gnosticism, Scriptural and
legendary material about Mary Magdalene, Constantine's role in the rise of early
Christianity, pagan cults in the Roman Empire, the nature and fall of the
Knights Templar, the origins and characteristics of Gothic architecture,
Leonardo Da Vinci's alleged "coded" messages in his paintings, the claim that
the power-mad patriarchal Church burned five million women as witches, the
origin of Tarot cards, the Catholic organization Opus Dei, and the hoax known as
the Priory of Sion (which did not even exist until 1956!). They also show
how Brown routinely fails the "desk encyclopedia test" by missing readily
accessible facts -- for instance, by forgetting that 14th-century popes lived in
France.
"Finally! Someone has taken the trouble to
counter the absurdities of The Da Vinci Code and to confront all the
anti-Christian and anti-Catholic rhetoric that book has inspired." --
Philip Jenkins, Pennsylvania State University
"A superb and meticulous job of dissecting
the fraud which is The Da Vinci Code. Not only Christians but all fair-minded
people owe them a debt of gratitude." -- James Hitchcock, St. Louis
University
"The authors deserve our gratitude for
exposing in considerable detail and with sure touch the fabrications of Dan
Brown's book. Theirs is the definitive debunking." -- Francis Cardinal
George, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago
New! The DaVinci Hoax
on DVD Now the insights and arguments of
the best selling book The DaVinci Hoax by Apologist Carl Olson and
historian Sandra Miesel are discussed with Bible scholar and host of EWTN, Fr.
Mitch Pacwa, S.J. You don't want to miss this 55 minute expose with its
devasting critique of the numerous errors and deceptions of the book and movie,
The Da Vinci Code.
$14.95
De-coding Da Vinci by Amy Wellborn. Amy
Wellborn takes the Dan Brown novel The Da Vinci Code to task by carefully
dismantling the web of fiction woven by Brown into a pseudo-historical novel,
which is based upon a jaded view of history, art and Christianity. The
book addresses the questions the readers of the novel most often ask, employing
solid historical and theological sources to refute the half-truths, faulty
assumptions and pseudo-history of the novel. In the process she clarifies
the historical and Christian teaching about Jesus and His ministry, the history
of the early Church, the role of women in the early Church and the solid
connection between the apostolic faith and our faith today. She shows for
example the inherent futility of Brown's claim that the "Peter Party" won
control of Christianity at the expense of the "Mary" party of Mary Magdalene as
if the theory that two such parties existed were true, but if that was the case,
why then claim that the Empire Constantine invented the divinity of Jesus in 325
A.D.? By that time there were already several centuries of Church Fathers
writing about the divinity of Jesus Christ, which was confirmed in the face of
heretics like the Arians and Docetists, among others. Moreover, St. Mary
Magdalene, far from being suppressed, is given a primary role in the gospel
account of the Resurrection and subsequently on the Church calendar. If
this evil conspiracy existed for two thousand years, why not suppress her
altogether. Why would the Catholic hierarchy title the Blessed Virgin
Mary, Queen of Heaven and earth, if they were trying to cover up the alleged
"sacred feminine?" Wellborn's exposure of these and many other logical
fallacies makes her book well worth reading.
The DaVinci
Deception by Ted Sri and Mark Shea
On May 19th, The DaVinci Code will
be released as a major motion picture. Film critics have predicted it
will be one of the year’s biggest blockbusters. The Da Vinci Deception
is a powerful antidote to the spiritual poison found in The DaVinci
Code. This easy-to-read, question-and-answer book tackles the key errors
in this devastating cultural phenomenon. It is the perfect giveaway to
family, friends, parishioners, and anyone you think may be in danger of
having their faith in Christ and His Church eroded by the mockery of
Truth that is The Da Vinci Code.
|
The Da Vinci Code Exposed: The Truth about Mary Magdalene and the Gospel by Matthew Arnold.
Dan Brown's controversial bestseller The Da
Vinci Code has millions of people asking some very shocking questions. How
trustworthy is the history of the Church, as we know it? Was Jesus merely a
mortal prophet? Was "original" Christianity a religion of the "Sacred Feminine"?
Were Mary Magdalene and Jesus secretly married-and do their descendants walk
among us today? Are these secrets and more revealed in the artwork of Leonardo
Da Vinci and others?
 | How do we know Church history is true?
|
| Was the Catholic faith falsely fabricated?
|
| Were Jesus and Mary Magdalene secretly
married? |
| Who is really seated next to Jesus in Da
Vinci's "Last Supper"? |
| Was "original Christianity" really a religion
of the "Sacred Feminine"? |
| Why were the Gnostic Gospels left out of the
Bible? |
| What is the Holy Grail and where is it today?
|
| What is the true identity of Mary Magdalene?
|
| Who were the Knights Templar and what was
their fate? |
| What do Mary Magdalene, Leonardo Da Vinci and
Sigmund Freud have in common? |
| What have recent popes said about the Holy
Grail? |
NEW!
The Da Vinci Code: A Catholic
Response by Mark McNeil--Was
the Christian faith of the first followers of Jesus completely redefined and
reconfigured in the fourth century? Was "true Christianity" really a religion of
the "Sacred Feminine"? Was Jesus married to Mary Magdalene, and do his
descendents walk among us today? These are just some of the incredible claims of
the best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. But how should a Catholic
Christian respond to these claims? Has the Church really kept all of this a
secret for centuries, or are these claims just the latest in a long series of
Gnostic notions that have plagued Christianity from biblical times?
Mark McNeil will equip you to answer all these questions and more. Rather
than trying to make a "point-by-point" refutation of the author's many false
claims, Mr. McNeil offers a devastating expose of the underlying philosophical
fallacies that literally pull the rug out from under the basic premises of
The Da Vinci Code. A teacher of Thomistic philosophy, Mark shows how author
Dan Brown has taken a "backward approach" to history by rejecting "tried and
true" historical facts for unsubstantiated claims that simply will not stand up
under logical, legitimate criticism. As McNeil deftly demolishes the popular
book's basic assertion that all religions are fabricated, you'll discover why
Brown's approach actually undermines his own position.
The
Theology of the Body by Pope John Paul II.
This is a
magnificent vision of the human person. The corrective for the flawed vision
and myths of Dan Brown's novel! In these talks, John Paul II has
given a catechesis which is centered on the human person, understood within the
mystery of Christ. Going back to the biblical "beginning" as recorded in
Genesis, the Pope discusses the bodily dimension of human personhood, sexuality
and marriage in the light of biblical revelation. Starting from three
primordial human experiences-original solitude, original unity and original
nakedness-he outlines a theology of the nuptial meaning of the body. A key
theme is the
communion of persons, which is a reflection of the Trinity.
Within this framework, the Pope also considers the meaning of chastity for the
sake of the kingdom. A final section is dedicated to reflections on Humanae
Vitae. John Paul takes a personalist approach in discussing the "language of
the body" and how that relates to the issue of contraception.
The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown is a tremendously successful
work of fiction which claims to be based upon historical facts, but is really
laden with myths, partial truths and bad history (historical revisionism).
The net affect of the novel, although a work of fiction, is to feed into
anti-Christian mythology and promote moral relativism and false doctrines, like
the Gnostic notion of the "sacred feminine." Worse still it is overtly
anti-Christian and anti-Catholic tone, making claims that respected historians and
theologians would not objectively consider as having any merit, for example,
unsubstantiated claims that Jesus
was married to Mary Magdalene or that He was not truly divine, but was instead,
deified by the action of Emperor Constantine in 325 A.D. There are
centuries of writings of the Early Church Fathers and historians that mitigate
against these colorful, but factually deficient claims, yet many people today are drawing their view of life from the pop culture
and not from their faith. For this reason there is a growing number of
books and tapes which attempt to set the historical record straight, some of the
best of which are offered below for your consideration. There are also
links below to other web sites that address the bad history and blasphemies of the
novel, which will soon be a multi-millionaire dollar Hollywood movie, and has
been or is in the process of being translated into thirty
languages. Christianity has a profound effect on the history of Western
civilization and this novel is part and part parcel of the effort to reverse
that influence and destroy Truth. Let's not let that happen!
De-coding Da Vinci by Amy Wellborn.
