Stories are the heartbeat of human civilization. Philosophy, politics and economics may define an age academically, but our heart and soul go to Hector, Hamlet, Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina. • So too, the most popular parts of the Bible are the stories of Moses and Joshua, the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan, whose tales of plagues and crumbling walls, of sin and redemption move us in ways far beyond the complexities of Pauline theology, however important it may be.
So what are the hidden truths beating in the old fiction of the Gospel of Judas or the new fiction of The Da Vinci Code? Because The Da Vinci Code is obviously not wildly popular on account of its second-rate plot. Cheap thrillers are still a dime a dozen — well, maybe a twooney.
Yet Dan Brown has clearly struck a chord that resonates with many, even if its jangle jars critics' ears.
Da Vinci succeeds not because of some contemporary gaping gullibility but because it speaks to the post-modern heart that has experienced institutions as unreliable and self-perpetuating.
The book's underlying thesis is that one should be suspicious of institutions, since they have their own agenda and hide the truth. (Denominational distinctions blur for non-Christians for whom the pope is the only identifiable world religious leader.)
Da Vinci is about the church's handling of its internal affairs, which has been less than transparent throughout the centuries, the most recent being the revelations of devastating child abuse and subsequent attempts at cover-ups.
The result is a lack of trust in how the institution interprets scripture. Jesus and his message are popular; the church is mistrusted.
The other truth Da Vinci speaks to is the relentless effort of Christian institutions over the centuries to diminish the role and power of women. And the more church leaders protest this, the more people think the church foolish or irrelevant.
To be clear, as an even reasonably historically accurate document, Da Vinci is a failure. Brian Grazer, producer of the movie, said in an interview: “We don't feel it's factual, it's not historic, but it's informed fiction.” He should have stopped at the comma — or stuck with the Da Vinci book's imprint page disclaimer: “All of the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.”
But as a sociologically revelatory document that captures the heartbeat of a society in story? There Da Vinci's popularity shows how accurately it hits the mark.
the fact that it is no polished work of literature also speaks to a present day demand for access and relevance — egalitarianism trumps eloquence.
The response to Brown's litany of factual errors (if one doesn't believe the disclaimer just mentioned) reveals another point, which is how bloodless much Christian interpretation of the Bible is.
Just as Shakespeare's Henry V is not a lesson in history but of human spirit, the Bible is not a collection of history essays about king this and prophet that. It is about the self-revelation of the living God in the lives of the writers and their ancestors in express hope and belief that this God would continue a living relationship with these people.
Scripture itself is an incarnation of the word of God. It is holy precisely because it mediates the divine energies to those who hear the words with meaning that transcends the mundane.
Christians who try to “correct” all the errors on the surface of scripture or tout “facts” that are unreferenced outside scripture make the same mistake as those scholars who cast lots to determine what Jesus “really” said. Both groups eviscerate the heart of the matter, leaving a lifeless midden of factoids.
The early Christian community was well aware of the Gnostic texts (including the Gospel of Judas). Their rejection of them depended not only on refuting errors in fact, but on discerning the overall pulse of the message, and Gnosticism was ultimately out of sync with the true Gospel.
The Bible is the story of humanity's heart beating in and out of sync with God's. If Christians are to help society hear God's heartbeat, we need also to listen for the rhythm in Da Vinci and Judas so we know when the beats are together and when not.
