There is no doubt that Dan Brown, armed with his brand of postmodern historical skepticism, has blatantly and deliberately misinformed his readers about the history of Christianity. Among many other obvious wrongdoings, he has committed the serious sin of blaspheming against the person of Christ.
The Da Vinci Code movie will be released this weekend. The movie follows the book which has sold 40,000,000 copies worldwide. It is sure to generate tremendous interest.
The book and movie make several false claims: That Jesus and Mary Magdalene were man and wife. That the New Testament is false testimony. That there were 80 gospel accounts of Christ’s life. That the Roman emperor Constantine gave us the New Testament. That the divinity of Jesus is an invention of fourth-century church leaders at the Council of Nicea.
While the book and movie claim to be based on fact, they clearly are not. Tragically many people, even Christians, will go away believing that the book and movie are factual.