Everyone has heard of the The Da Vinci Code I am sure!. I read the book on holiday last summer. Whilst a literary master piece, it was a good holiday read with a gripping flow of narrative, with the added spice of scandal. It seems to me that the latter, the scandal msut be the primary reason for its huge sales. What feeds the desire for that scandal? a number of things, it seems to me:

1) The suspicion of authority
2) The “tabloid” love of the ‘expose’
3) Suspicion of established religion
4) Suspicion of ’success’ [how has something lasted so long, it must have a flaw somewhere]
5) A fascination with Jesus? [Graham suggests but I am not quite so convinced]
6) The idea the women have been suppressed for 1700 years

And many others no doubt, but I think it interestingly reflects our postmodern, post christian context. Just a thought.

Anyway, I am intending to use this post to collect links to response to the Da Vinci Code. The hype is only on the increase with the Film being released on May 19th.

We have a discussion night on the Book/film on May 24th, so you’d better get reading!!

[note: beware of spoilers in all of these links!!]

• Wikipedia article on the book and the film
• There is a great set of little videos from London’s Temple Church, a central location in the book, dealing with the history of the Holy Grail, called “Demystifying the Da Vinci Code“.
• Trailers for the film here at IMDB.
• Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code Website.
• Decoding the Da Vinci Code - an article by NT wright covering the historical aspects.
• The Da Vinci Code - a review by scholar Craig Blomberg
• Cracking the Anti-Catholic Code Part 1 and Part 2 - critique by by Carl E. Olson, with Sandra Miesel
• A nice little enthusiastic review, with some quick facts Dan Brown may have missed! by Steve Sparrow
• BBC News item about how the Indian Muslims are joining the protest about the film. You may note here that it is being given permission to be shown on India: “if the film-makers agreed to a disclaimer at the start of the movie saying it was a work of fiction”
• Da Vinci FAQ’s - a very thorough look at everything you ever wanted to know!!
• A proper list of articles here at emergesque - crikey!
• Scott McKnight asks the church to learn something from this - the need for integrity.
• Brian McLaren in this interview gives a fresh view in allowing it to ask us some questions
• This is fascinating: Poll suggests Da Vinci code undermines trust in Catholic church. For example: “Sixty per cent of the adults polled who read the book believed there was truth to the claim that Jesus had children by Mary Magdalene. This compared to just 30 per cent of those who has not read it.”
• Dan Brown answers his own questions here
• Article at CBS News on the existence [or otherwise] of the Priory of Sion.
• Article in the New Yorker on Marketing “The Da Vinci Code” to Christians. Debunks the facts of the Da vinci Code from all angles, but asks if Christians have been duped by the marketing machine. Leonardo Da Vinci art expert suggets “The Da Vinci Code” might make a better opera than a film, offering the old advice that “if it’s too silly to be said, it can always be sung”. Opus Dei say: “The Web site has received more than three million visitors, and some of the curious have now become members. The Silas wannabes are generally screened out. “Every once in a while, we get an e-mail from somebody who’s really fascinated by the cilice and the discipline, and says he would like to join up if he can use them. And that’s not the kind of person that we’re looking for.”

Film Reviews:
Summary: Disappointing

• Empire Magazine gives it 2 stars. Verdict: One of the most talk driven summer flicks in living memory, an out of sorts Howard transforms what should be a fun treasure trail romp into something inert and borderline dreary.
• BBC review. Quote: “Hanks is dry and uninspiring as Langdon - and the mullet hairstyle he sports throughout deserves a credit of its own.”
• IMDB entry. Look out for on-going developments there.

We had a great trip to Nuremberg. A real mix of stuff that when put together made for a really impacting weekend. Thursday and Friday we spent some time doing the touristy stuff. In particular we went round Hitler’s ‘Rally’ grounds - where he held huge conferences [kind of]. It was in this place that you see the classic poses of him in front of thousands of people. We also went to a museum tracking his rise to power. Really quite scary. He clearly modelled the stuff on the Roman Empire [he built a colloseum type structure] and set himself up asa Messiah, god-like figure. I never realised the deliberate religious overtones that went along with the whole thing. For me it was particularly stark having recently read Colossians Remixed which picked up the themes of empire that the Colossians had to face and related it to empire in our own day -then to see the most extreme overt form played out in recent history - and so subtely that much of the German church did not notice. Crikey!

That picture by the way is of the “Holy Ghost Hospital” - an ancient hospital in the centre of Nuremberg.

We stayed with a lovely family called the Erkharts - so generous and welcoming. It is always good on these trips to stay with locals rather than in hostels or whatever. You feel like you get to know the people a little. On that front we also spoke in the church on the Sunday morning. I tried as much German as I could and got a round of applause for it - mind you Mark Mumford got almost as much response for standing up and shouting “Come on ENGLAND!!”. He has such talent. Great to have the opportunity to share with them. A guy called Norbert Knoell [Nobbie to his friends] leads the church and is a great guy.

Then there was the conference. Run in true German efficiency - 3 x 3 hour session a day, it was pretty intensive. The first guy, Gerard Kelly, set the scene of cultural shifts:

1) Post-industrial - change in technological base of western culture; “when you change the tools you change the rules”

2) post-literate - a whole new chapter for the book

3) post-modern - philosophical shift in western culture, “…this is my truth, tell me yours…”; but we are now going somewhere else; now we have a generation who live in the new world of pomo and aren’t in ‘transition’.

4) Post-imperial - change in global politics; the twin engines of globalisation and fragmentation

5) Post-Christian Spirituality “…can’t believe it’s not Buddha”; new generation: Christian spirituality is part of the old, and foreign ones are new and exciting; they are a spiritual generation. But no connection back to our churches.

Whole-sale change in how culture functions
- Everything about church must be rethought on the basis of this new landscape
- but we keep old treasures cos we have thought about it
- Innovation is required

Nothing majorly new there, other than it was the first conference I have been at where they used the term post-post-modern! Generally a good introduction though. This is getting a bit long so I will blog more about the conference on another post.

One other thing about germany - they do beer…