Thursday, August 04, 2005

Blatant Falsehoods in The Da Vinci Code

Page 1 of DVC states: "Fact": "all descriptions of ...documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate."
But this is false. Here are but some examples which Margaret Mitchell of The University of Chicago cites.
  • There were "more than eighty gospels" (p.231; the number 80 is factual-sounding, but has no basis)
  • "The earliest Christian records" were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (including gospels) and Nag Hammadi texts (pp.234, 245)
  • The Nag Hammadi texts "speak of Christ's ministry in very human terms" (p.234)
  • The marriage of Mary Magdalene and Jesus is "a matter of historical record" (p.244)
  • Constantine invented the divinity of Jesus and excluded all gospels but the four canonical ones
  • Constantine made Christianity "the official religion" of the Roman Empire (p.232)
  • Constantine coined the term "heretic" (p.234)
  • "Rome's official religion was sun worship" (p.232)