Ever since Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code became a bestseller, critics never ceased coming up with a variety of different explanations as to this book’s popularity with the readers.
However, most of them do agree with a suggestion that the key to The Da Vinci Code’s popularity is being concerned with author’s ability to fuse religious and conspirological motifs into a one inseparable compound – thus, presenting readers within nothing less of an ‘intellectual bomb’, which sets off by being exposed to readers’ curiosity.
In his book Key to the Da Vinci Code, Ferris (2005) points out to the fact that The Da Vinci Code’s very format established objective preconditions for this novel to be avidly read: “The book is a complex blend of symbolism, historical theories, secret societies and religion, which separately presented would make for some heavy reading… In the context of a novel, however, a much wider audience is exposed to the ideas in the book” (Ferris 9).
Nevertheless, it appears that the actual secret of Brown novel’s popularity is not being concerned with author possessing a supreme literary talent, as much as it is being concerned with the process of Western societies growing increasingly secularized, which results in these societies’ members becoming naturally inclined to think of religious dogmas from essentially desacralized perspective.
As of today, a clear correlation can be seen between the quality of living in every particular country and the extent of citizens’ sense of religiosity – the higher are the standards of living, the lesser is the chance for those who enjoy these standards to be endowed with strong religious beliefs.
For example, the number of practicing Christians in such countries as Denmark, Sweden and Norway is estimated to account for only 1%-2% of total population. As Durkheim (1954) had rightly noticed in his famous book The Elementary Forms of Religious Life: “Religion no longer thrills us, because many of its aspects have passed into common usage to such a degree that we are no longer conscious of them, or because they do not meet our current aspirations” (Durkheim 30).
At the same time, the conceptual matrix of Christianity continues to be considered by many policy-makers in the West as a source of divinely inspired morality. For example, it never even occurred to the former American President George Bush that there was anything wrong with him making references the to the ‘good book’, while explaining what had prompted him to decide in favour of attacking Iraq.
In its turn, this explains why many intellectually advanced citizens are being subconsciously predisposed to pay a close attention to just about any work of literature or a movie, which is being aimed at desacralizing religion – by doing it, they establish themselves as rationale-driven and therefore, responsible individuals.
Thus, Brown’s novel is best referred to as the intellectual by-product of post-industrial era, the socio-political realities of which point out to people’s sense of irrational religiosity as the ultimate indication of their lessened social value.
This is exactly the reason why The Da Vinci Code is being banned from bookstores in countries where citizens’ lessened biological worth has been allowing Catholic Church to enjoy an undisputed religious and political authority, throughout the course of centuries (Philippines, Mexico, Peru), while contributing to these countries’ economic and geopolitical backwardness more than any other factor.
Apparently, intellectually inflexible individuals simply cannot handle a simple truth that just about any religion is not being divinely inspired, as self-appointed ‘servants of God’ would like us to believe, but man-made. And, once believers are being rid of their illusions, in regards to the essence of religion as nothing but simply a sublimation of people’s death-related anxieties, Church’s religious authority will get to be automatically delegitimized down to nothing.
It goes without saying, of course, that the best way of undermining Catholic Church’s religious authority and revealing its true essence as nothing but one of the most lucrative and most shameless commercial enterprises that world has ever known, would be exposing ‘savior’ as a mortal individual, endowed with sexual urges, just like the rest of people.
As one of novel’s most prominent characters, Sir Teabing had put it: “A child of Jesus would undermine the critical notion of Christ’s divinity and therefore the Christian Church, which declared itself the sole vessel through which humanity could access the divine and gain entrance to the kingdom of heaven” (Brown 216).
Nevertheless, we cannot agree with religiously minded critics of The Da Vinci Code, who often refer to the plot of Brown’s novel as being based upon pseudo-historical speculations, and therefore – not worthy of readers’ attention.
Apparently, it never occurred to Christian critics that, while referring to novel’s affiliation with the literary genre of fiction as the foremost proof to the sheer fallaciousness of the claims, contained in it, they actually contribute to promoting Brown’s cause even further – whatever the improbable it might sound.
The reason for this is simple – while being encouraged to analyze what accounts for fictious motifs in The Da Vinci Code, readers are being simultaneously provoked to analyze what represents fictious motifs in the Bible.
In his book The God Delusion, Dawkings (2006) had made a perfectly good point, while stating: “The only difference between The Da Vinci Code and the gospels is that the gospels are ancient fiction while The Da Vinci Code is modern fiction” (Dawkings 97).
Despite the format of Brown’s novel, it does operate with a variety of historically proven facts, which Christians do not like discussing, simply because these facts leave very little doubt as to the Bible being anything but the actual ‘word of God’.
For example, in his dialogue with the characters of Langdon and Sophie, Sir Teabing provides readers with the insight onto the fact that, before being incorporated into Christianity’s dogma as its integral element, the divinity of Jesus was actually voted upon by attendees of Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.): “At this gathering (Council of Nicaea)… many aspects of Christianity were debated and voted upon – the date of Easter, the role of the bishops, the administration of sacraments, and, of course, the divinity of Jesus” (Brown 199).
As historical accounts indicate, during the course of the Council, its participants would never hesitate resorting to utilization of a naked force, in order to substantiate their pro and contra-divinity arguments.
Here is how Grant (1975) describes the initial stages of the Council: “At the beginning, most of the bishops presented written accusations against selected colleagues. The charges could not have been theological, since the theological question had not yet been stated” (Grant 5).
In other words, the recognition of Jesus’ divinity that had taken place during the course of the Council, was largely incidental – the number of bishops who voted in favor of recognizing Jesus’ divinity simply happened to be slightly larger than the number of bishops who voted against. In all probability, mostly illiterate bishops did not even fully realize what would be the consequence of such their decision.
And yet, Catholic Church never ceased referring to the Council of Nicaea as the birthplace of a so-called ‘holy tradition’, which is still being revered by devout Catholics as something that has been passed down to them by God himself.
Therefore, it is not the historical inaccuracies, contained in The Da Vinci Code, which upset Catholic clergy the most, but the fact that Brown’s novel exposes the inner workings behind the respectful façade of Catholicism.
As it has always been the case, throughout the course of history, Church did not only actively try to slow down the pace of cultural and scientific progress in Europe, but it even strived to withhold the information about what Bible was all about from its own flock. Up until the time of Reformation, translating Bible from Latin into secularly spoken languages used to be considered a major sin, punishable by death.
Apparently, in his novel Brown had succeeded with encouraging people to make critical inquiries about whether Catholic Church even has a right to claim any religious authority, in the first place, given its ‘glorious’ deeds in the past and also in the present.
Why is it that those high-ranking Church’s officials who never get tired of preaching humility to believers, find it appropriate driving around in bulletproof limousines that often cost millions of dollars a piece?
Why is it that, when they get ill, the ‘representatives of Jesus on Earth’ chose in favor of undergoing medicinal treatment in privately owned Swiss clinics, as opposed to relying on the ‘power of God’s miracle’ alone, as they expect ordinary believers to do?
Why is it that the very term ‘Catholic priest’ is now being commonly perceived as synonymous to the term ‘child molester’? Why does Catholic Church continue to refer to the usage of contraceptives as ‘sinful’, hence contributing to the problem of overpopulation in the countries of Third World and ultimately, to the rise of mortality rates in this region of the world?
Dan Brown can only be thankful for the fact that he does not live in time when Catholic Church was at the peak of its power (Dark Ages); because otherwise, Catholic ‘lambs of God’ would deal with the author of The Da Vinci Code rather decisively – tying him up to a pole and setting it on fire.
As Nicolosi (2009) had put it in her article Just Say No to ‘The Da Vinci Code’: “You don’t debate the devil. You do not give evil the authority to question God. ‘The Da Vinci Code’ represents a debate in which the questions start with Satan’s presumptions” (BeliefNet).
Just as it is the case with just about any self-righteous Christian fundamentalist, Nicolosi would do her utmost, while combating what she believe represents evil. Unfortunately, it never occurred to this person, clearly not overburdened with intelligence, that one of the sources of all evil in the world are the uncritical religious beliefs, on the part of steadfast ‘lambs of God’, like herself.
Thus, it would not be much of an exaggeration to suggest that, even though Brown’s novel does contain a fair amount of historical inaccuracies, it nevertheless represents an undeniable literary, historical and above all – educational value.
By reading The Da Vinci Code, people will learn to adopt a critical attitude towards just about any issue, concerning the process of religious ‘wolfs in lamb’s skin’ taking an advantage of citizens’ naivety, while proceeding with the agenda that has always been the foremost trademark of those who professionally work on behalf of an organized religion – the accumulation of material riches.
We can say that, by publishing The Da Vinci Code, Brown had driven yet one more nail into the coffin of Christianity, as semi-religious cult of suicidally-minded desert-dwellers, which encourages people to exterminate ‘infidels’ (a particularly godly deed), which teaches them not to marry, not to wash before eating, not to tend crops, not to bury dead (Kingdom of heaven is at hand), and which had unleashed the hell on Earth (Crusades, Inquisition), well before the coming of a hypothetical Antichrist.
Given the fact that, unlike Islam, Christianity had long ago ceased being ‘alive’ religion, one should simply ignore the hysterical reactions of ‘defenders of Christian faith’, in regards to the publishing of The Da Vinci Code – eventually, these people will learn that trying to discourage others from reading Brown’s novel is being just as futile as trying to bite their own elbows.
The historically predetermined process of people coming to realization of the fact that God resides within, as opposed to residing up in clouds, simply cannot be stopped. And, the sooner particularly aggressive believers realize it, the better it will be for them.
References
Brown, Dan. The Da Vinci Code. Sydney: Anchor Books, 2009.
Dawkings, Richard. The God Delusion. Toronto: Bantam Press, 2006.
Durkheim, Emil. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. New York: The Free Press, 1954.
Ferris, Stewart. Key to the Da Vinci Code. London: Crombie Jardine, 2005.
Grant, Robert “Religion and Politics at the Council at Nicaea”. The Journal of Religion, 55.1 (1975): 1-12.
Nicolosi, Barbara “Just Say No to The Da Vinci Code”. (2009) BeliefNet. 19 Aug. 2009.