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 he Da Vinci Code is a masterpiece of mistakes and poor research in its historical backgrounds. According to the book, Jesus Christ was never regarded by His early followers as God but was simply “viewed by His followers as a mortal prophet . . . a great and powerful man, but a man nonetheless. A mortal!” (DVC p. 233) The author of this New York Times best-seller, Dan Brown, claims that Jesus was made a god by the vote of a religious council in A.D. 325 when he writes “Jesus’ establishment as ‘the Son of God’ was officially proposed and voted on by the Council of Nicaea . . . Jesus’ divinity was the result of a close vote. A relatively close vote at that . . .” (DVC p. 233) In short he claims that Jesus was only a man and is now nothing more than a dea d one. But the surprising truth about this book is that it claims to be accurate. On the eighth page after the title page, the author makes this claim: “All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate.” Yet, Mr. Brown’s book contains 56 major errors and numerous other errors that suggest otherwise.
Background. The opening chapter of the The Da Vinci Code is a thriller and it grabs one’s attention immediately. The opening sentence begins with “curator Jacques Sauniere staggering through the vaulted archway of the . . . Grand Gallery” of the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. The seventy-six-year-old man has been attacked and his attacker is not finished with him yet. His attacker demands to know “. . . where it is.” The “it” is never explained in the first chapter. The curator refuses to reveal his ancient secret; as a result he dies due to a gunshot wound. The attacker flees. and the curator struggles to leave clues about the ancient secret before he dies. The position of his body is one of the clues.
When chapter two opens, Robert Langdon, a professor of religious symbology, is awakened the next morning by the French “FBI.” The professor is asked to help solve the murder. Eventually the curator’s daughter Sophie Neveu joins the investigation and the ancient secret starts to unravel.
Throughout the book Mr. Dan Brown supposedly reveals to the reader the hidden and ancient secrets. The major secret is that Jesus was only a man who married Mary Magdalene, had a sex life, and had children. The novel states their descendants are still alive today via the Merovingian royal line. The book weaves sex, the Knights Templar, the Roman Catholic Church, the Priory, the Holy Grail, the Opus Dei, Emperor Constantine, and Leonardo Da Vinci into the story. False statements are made about every group or individual mentioned.
Some Minor Errors. Mr. Brown’s first error occurs on the fourteenth page of the story when he states that the Pyramid at the main entrance to the Louvre Museum is constructed with 666 glass panes. Here is the quote from the Da Vinci Code.
He wondered if Fache had any idea that this pyramid, at President Mitterrand’s explicit demand, had been constructed of exactly 666 panes of glass - a bizarre request that had always been a hot topic among conspiracy buffs who claimed that 666 was the number of Satan. (DVC p. 21) |
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| The Da Vinci Code | |||||
