by KYW's John Ostapkovich
The craze and controversy over The Da Vinci Code have been reignited by Friday's release of the movie version.
The Da Vinci Code, although fiction, has created a stir by challenging Christian doctrine in general and the Catholic Church more directly in several areas.
The fictional Da Vinci Code proposes a cabal that has fabricated Christian and Catholic doctrine and has worked through the centuries to suppress the truth.
That the book has gained such traction is due to two things, says La Salle University religion professor Father Joseph Devlin. One is the general lack of knowledge among churchgoers of the specifics of the faith. The other is the age-old lure of gnosticism:
"Gnosticism has always been an element that has followed Christianity. It's a beleif that there is a 'true message' that is being concealed from the majority of the people."
Usually, says Prof. Devlin, truth of a spiritualistic, other-worldly sort.
"You know, it smacks of titilation with conspiracy theories, and all that kind of thing -- as if the Gospel is something behind, hidden from people. You know, the orthodox message is that Jesus is alive and is involved in this world, and not running away from it."
He urges the Church to take a low-key approach to the movie, so as not to create publicity, but for pastors to use this as a springboard to set people straight.
KYW's David Madden reports that Friday's scheduled release of the movie "The Da Vinci Code" in the Philadelphia area has prompted the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to set the record straight, as they see it.
Cardinal Justin Rigali has ready only part of Dan Brown's book. And, like most of us, hasn't seen the movie. But Cardinal Rigali is chiming in on it.
He's not telling anyone they shouldn't see the movie, but:
"It would be odd for Christians, without some particular reason, to go and support financially this project, which is enormous."
The church's concern is that people will take what is a fictional account and believe it as gospel.
Father Greg Fairbanks, a church historian at St. Charles Seminary, notes a couple of glaring problems.
The Da Vinci painting of The Last Supper, it's argued in the book, depicts Mary Magdalene. But history indicates that's a young John the Evangelist to Jesus's right hand.
And the idea that Mary Magdalene and Jesus were married? That's based on alternate Gospels written in the 2nd and 4th Centuries, he says, and were taken out of context by Brown.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has also created a web site about the new movie: www.jesusdecoded.com.
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