The Da Vinci Code

Dan Brown’s 2003 best-selling detective novel The Da Vinci Code and its blockbuster spinoff sparked an evangelical conversation about Gnosticism, or esoteric theology, a Christian heresy known for its revisionary approach to biblical history. In the novel, a symbologist investigates a murder in the Paris Louvre Museum and uncovers evidence of a marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. The book initiated debate about the validity of extra-biblical theology and blurred the line between fiction and theological scholarship.

Featured Articles

Breaking The Da Vinci Code
Breaking The Da Vinci Code
So the divine Jesus and infallible Word emerged out of a fourth-century power-play? Get real.
Jesus Out of Focus
Jesus Out of Focus
The Da Vinci Code is raising issues that go to the heart of the Christian faith—and it's starting to confuse us all.
Why the 'Lost Gospels' Lost Out
Why the 'Lost Gospels' Lost Out
Recent gadfly theories about church council conspiracies that manipulated the New Testament into existence are bad—really bad-history.
  • 5 Reasons Why the Gospel of Jesus' Wife Is a Fake
    5 Reasons Why the Gospel of Jesus' Wife Is a Fake
    How other scholars and I verified the fragment's inauthenticity.
  • Why We Don’t Need a Mrs. Jesus
    Why We Don’t Need a Mrs. Jesus
    Christian faith offers a fuller notion of God and gender than sensationalized stories.
  • The Da Vinci Dud
    Christian film critics rip apart The Da Vinci Code, applaud Over the Hedge, and see no good in See No Evil. Plus, continued coverage of The Promise and Poseidon.
  • Da Vinci Draws Jeers
    Cannes critics callous about Code, but the movie deviates from book in that the main character, played by Tom Hanks, entertains notion that Jesus might be God after all. Plus: Christian critics slam Poseidon and Just My Luck, but applaud Goal! The Dream Begins.
  • Thanks, Da Vinci Code …
    … for sending us back to Christianity's "founding fathers"—and the Bible we share with them.
  • Breaking The Da Vinci Code
    So the divine Jesus and infallible Word emerged out of a fourth-century power-play? Get real.
  • 'Engaging' Heresy
    'Engaging' Heresy
    Contrary to precedent, few plan to boycott The Da Vinci Code.
  • Da Vinci Coda
    Plus: False alarm on Iran, graduation prayer protest, the Dover case judge on "true religion," and other stories from online sources around the world.
  • Church Offers Free Da Vinci Code
    Plus: Vatican and WCC oppose "the obsession of converting others," Religious Left struggles for agenda, and other stories from online sources around the world.