Where are the Catholics rioting over the Da Vinci Code?
I've seen several blurbs about various people in the Catholic heirarchy complaining about the Da Vinci Code. I was trying to imagine a Catholic response in line with the Islamic one over the cartoons. No cars on fire. No attempts to burn down embassies. No death threats against the author and film makers. An Episcopalian riot would be fun to imagine: soaping windows, ringing doorbells, and decoratingt the trees with toilet paper. Well, that's Christian values for you.
Actually, there are a lot of people in the Church who see the interest in the Da Vinci Code as an opportunity to educate the public on the history of Christianity in general, and Catholicism in particular.
The local Archdiocese has been holding a "class" in one form or another, for Catholics and non Catholics on Church history, revolving around the setting of the Da Vinci Code, ever since the book came out. From day 1, these sessions have been packed, and what I find interesting is that the majority of participants have been non Catholics.
he Da Vinci Code was inspired by another book, Holy Blood/Holy Grail, which was itself inspired by a host of others, notably by French historians trying to solve the puzzle of the missing mythical Templar treasure, associated with Rennes la Chateau.
In the earlier material, it was paintings by another artist (Nicholas Poussin, not Da Vinci; but Da Vinci is a name that's instantly recognizable) that provided the initial clues. The trouble is that the Templars who hid the treasure would have needed satellite maps, GPS, and lasers to get the required precision to make all of the geographical connections given in the "clues." Shoot, back then, most people thought the world was flat!
If you click on the title of this post, you'll be directed to a page at Answers.com, which will give you plenty of links to follow to find out for yourself. Follow the cross referenced links, and you'll get all sorts of fascinating information.
It's an interesting question about the Catholic/Christian response. If this interests you, I found the Rev Mark D Roberts writings on the Da Vinci Code a good read.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.markdroberts.com/htmfiles/resources/davinciopportunity.htm