'Da Vinci Code’ Can Open
Door for Faith-Talk

by Ray Waddle

“Da Vinci Code” fever is spreading. Again.

This time, it’s the movie version, opening in theaters May 19 and based on the global bestseller that has sold 40 million copies since its publication in 2003.

Like the book, the movie is bound to get people talking again about some whopping what-ifs of faith: Did Jesus marry? Did the church cover up Mary Magdalene’s divine destiny? Is the Bible telling the whole story?

The novel annoyed many a pastor for raising unfounded biblical questions or sowing spiritual confusion. And now comes the film with Tom Hanks and a marquee cast to stir things up once more.

The Rev. Dee Dee Azhikakath says bring it on.

The Da Vinci Code — film or fictional book — is a launch pad for engaging people in the big questions of faith and reasserting the biblical story itself as the real thing, said Azhikakath, United Methodist chaplain at the University of Arizona, who has written about the book.

“Don’t be upset by people’s questions,” she said.

“The church should recognize that people are deeply curious about how the Bible was formed.

“Take the questions as a form of hunger. It’s like asking, ‘Why is the sky blue?’ To someone who doesn’t know, it’s important to answer. The church should take the time to feed people a greater meal, so when ‘fake facts’ happen, people will know how to assess them.”

The Da Vinci Code is a page-turning thriller that churns up a medieval theory that Jesus and Mary Magdalene got married and had a child, and the descendants live in France even today, a secret guarded by Roman Catholic minions who will kill to keep the “truth” hidden.

The trouble is, none of this is in the Bible or supported by apostolic witnesses, orthodox documents or church tradition. But in an era described as biblically illiterate and suspicious of institutions, including organized religion, The Da Vinci Code’s speculations about Jesus and biblical truth sound tantalizingly plausible to millions.

“It’s an anti-institutional world we’re in — people like conspiracy theories. I do, too,” said the Rev. James Howell of Myers Park United Methodist Church in Charlotte, N.C.

“The question is, why is this so dang intriguing? There’s a lot of latent spirituality out there that traditional religion doesn’t satisfy. As a friend put it, ‘We’re biblically illiterate but Christ-haunted.’”

Tom Hanks stars as Robert Langdon in The Da Vinci Code. Photo Courtesy of Sony Pictures.

Questions raised by the book are many: Did the New Testament reject other texts that are just as true? Was the church resentful of Mary Magdalene because she was one of the first Easter witnesses, and did resentment turn into bias against all women? Would it matter to salvation if Jesus were married?

Some see the novel’s spectacular popularity as a protest against the predictable ways churches have taught the Bible and spirituality over the centuries. Archaeological discoveries since World War II have stirred interest in Gnostic texts, a group of early writings about Jesus that were never accepted into the Bible.

Some scholars have argued that Christianity grew out of a chaotic climate of competing stories of Jesus before it finally imposed an orthodox version, collected it in the New Testament and crushed all opposition.

One such text, the Gospel of Mary, exalts Mary Magdalene as central to Jesus’ ministry. Behind The Da Vinci Code is the claim that Mary Magdalene was the true chief disciple of Jesus, but was suppressed by the male founders of the church.

Theologians today say there are good reasons why the early church rejected Gnostic books like the Gospel of Mary. Those texts were either written too late and too far from the early witnesses, or contain Gnostic spiritual ideas that stress elitist inner wisdom, disdain history and abhor the material world and the physical body.

But these debates seldom reach lay people.

“People have a sense that they’re being kept out of the education process — they’re not being told,” said Robin Jensen, who teaches history of Christian worship at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville, Tenn.

“We’ve clericalized theological knowledge, as if it’s only for certain people. Nobody’s going to defend Da Vinci Code as great literature or good history, but there’s a lesson here. We need to listen. People are suddenly very interested in Christian origins. So much of Protestant theology has been reduced to ethics and morality. What happened to the story?”

The United Methodist Church’s Book of Discipline declares: “Scripture witnesses to the redeeming love of God in Jesus’ life and teachings, his atoning death, his resurrection, his sovereign presence in history, his triumph over the powers of evil and death, and his promised return” (Para. 101, “Our Doctrinal Heritage,” The Book of Discipline 2004).

Churches stand by the Bible as a reliable witness to the truth of Jesus, but they too quickly discount lay people’s interest in the dramas surrounding how the books of scripture were chosen, Howell suggested.

“The truth is, the church has done a pathetic job of teaching the Bible and its background,” he said. “Yet people here are open to being taught — how did the Bible come to be, the question of the humanity and divinity of Christ. They gobble it up! It’s a great teaching moment.”

Azhikakath once preached a four-part sermon on The Da Vinci Code. She said the Jesus of the New Testament is a far more mysterious and compelling savior, and a truer one, than anything a fiction writer can make up. Church life, biblical truth and religious tradition should give people the goods — the transcendent mystery of God.

“Everyone loves a good mystery,” she said. “I want to show people a true mystery.”

—Ray Waddle, a veteran religion writer,
is author of Against the Grain: Unconventional Wisdom from Ecclesiastes,
published by Upper Room Books.

Discussion Resources

The New Testament Story by Ben Witherington tells how and why the New Testament came to be, with an emphasis on the gospels. Study questions follow each chapter. [William B. Eerdman Publishing Company, Cokesbury, (800) 672-1789, www.cokesbury.com]