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GUESTS & LINKS
Father Tom Rosica
www.saltandlighttv.org
Back on the trail of finding
out why the DaVinci Code has caused such a stir – for one,
its had the Catholic Church scrambling to answer all the questions the
novel raises about goddess worship, Mary and Church History. Could she
have married Jesus? Is it a scandalous question the powerful Catholic
church has covered up?
A great place to ask that
question is with those who guard today’s stories of the
Catholic Church. Listen Up TV went to Salt and Light Television
– a Catholic TV station. It was created from the success of
World Youth Day – a huge Catholic rally that gave teens a
chance to express and explore their faith – Fr. Tom Rosica
has been a friend of Pope John Paul II, he’s just back from a
visit with the current Pope as well…
Father Thomas Rosica is
the CEO of Salt and Light Television and was the CEO/National Director
of Catholic World Youth Day in Toronto in 2002.
Father Thomas Rosica, a
priest of the Congregation of St. Basil (Basilian Fathers) since 1986,
holds advanced degrees in Theology and Sacred Scripture from Regis
College in the Toronto School of Theology, the Pontifical Biblical
Institute in Rome and the École Biblique et
Archéologique Français de Jérusalem.
From 1994-2000, Fr.
Rosica was Executive Director and Pastor of the Newman Centre Catholic
Mission at the University of Toronto. During that time, he also
lectured at the Faculty of Theology of the University of St.
Michael’s College in Toronto, at St. Peter’s
Seminary in London, and Assumption University in Windsor.
Rosica has been the
Canadian Bishops representative on the Canadian Christian-Jewish
Consultation and the Middle East Working Group of the Canadian Council
of Churches since 1994. In November 1998, he was appointed an advisor
to the Holy See Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations in New
York City. He has received honors from the Italian Government and the
State of Israel for his bridge-building work with faith, culture, and
inter-religious dialogue.
In June 1999, he was
appointed by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops as the Chief
Executive Officer and National Director of the World Youth Day and the
Papal Visit, that took place in Toronto in July 2002. In February 2001,
he was named a Senior Fellow of Massey College at the University of
Toronto.
Lee Strobel
www.leestrobel.com
Atheist-turned-Christian Lee Strobel,
the former award-winning legal editor of The Chicago Tribune,
is a New York Times best-selling author of nearly
twenty books and has been interviewed on numerous national television
programs, including ABC’s 20/20, Fox News, and CNN.
Described by the Washington
Post as “one of the evangelical
community’s most popular apologists,” Lee shared
the prestigious Charles “Kip” Jordon Christian Book
of the Year award in 2005 for a curriculum he co-authored about the
movie The Passion of the Christ. He also has won
awards for his books The Case for Christ, The
Case for Faith, The Case for a Creator,
and Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary.
Lee was educated at the University of
Missouri (Bachelor of Journalism degree, 1974) and Yale Law School
(Master of Studies in Law degree, 1979). He was a professional
journalist for 14 years at The Chicago Tribune
and other newspapers, winning Illinois’ top honors for
investigative reporting (which he shared with a team he led) and public
service journalism from United Press International.
After a nearly two-year investigation
of the evidence for Jesus, Lee received Christ as his forgiver and
leader in 1981. He joined the staff of Willow Creek Community Church in
South Barrington, IL, in 1987, and later became a teaching pastor
there. He joined Saddleback Valley Community Church in Lake Forest, CA,
as a teaching pastor in 2000. He left Saddleback’s staff in
mid-2002 to focus on writing. He is also a contributing editor and
columnist for Outreach magazine.
Lee’s other books include God’s
Outrageous Claims, The Case for Christmas, The Case for Easter, What
Jesus Would Say, Exploring the Da Vinci Code (co-authored
with Garry Poole) and Surviving a Spiritual Mismatch in
Marriage, which he wrote with his wife, Leslie. For two
seasons, Lee was executive producer and host of the weekly national
network television program Faith Under Fire.
Lee is also co-author of the Becoming
a Contagious Christian training curriculum, which is used
around the world, and his articles have been published in a variety of
magazines, including Discipleship Journal, Marriage
Partnership, The Christian Research Journal, Guideposts, and
Decision. He has appeared
on such national radio programs as The Bible Answer Man and Focus on
the Family. In addition, he has taught First Amendment law at Roosevelt
University.
Mark Mittelberg
Mark Mittelberg is a best-selling
author, sought-after speaker, and a leading strategist and consultant
in outreach and evangelism. He is the author of Building a
Contagious Church: Revolutionizing the Way We View and Do Evangelism;
co-author with Bill Hybels of the best-selling Becoming a
Contagious Christian; contributing editor of The
Journey, a Bible for spiritual seekers; and the primary
author of the celebrated Becoming a Contagious Christian
Training Course, which has been translated into twenty
languages and taught to more than a million people around the globe.
Dr. Paul Maier
Dr. Paul Maier is
the professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University. He has
received the Distinguished Scholar and Alumni Teaching Excellence
awards and Professor of the Year award from the Council for the
Advancement and Support of Education. His research includes manuscript
and text analysis, archaeology, and comparison of sacred and secular
sources from the first century A.D. He has published numerous articles
and books, including In the Fullness of Time – A
Historian Looks at Christmas, Easter, and the Early Church
and with Hank Hanegraaff, The Da Vinci Code – Fact
or Fiction?
Martin Abegg
www.twu.ca
Martin Abegg is the
Author of The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible and
Professor of religious studies at
Trinity Western University in British Columbia, Canada. He is the
Director of Trinity Western University’s MA in Biblical
Studies program and Co-director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute at
TWU. Martin Abegg is one of the world’s experts on the War
Scroll (AKA the War on the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness) and
played a major role in dismantling the monopoly over access to the Dead
Sea Scrolls. He holds the Ben Zion Wacholder Professorship in Dead Sea
Scrolls Studies.
Tony Cummins
www.twu.ca
Tony Cummins is the
Associate Professor of the Graduate Program in Biblical Studies at
Trinity Western University and Professor of Religious Studies at TWU .
He is formerly the Associate Professor of New Testament and Biblical
Studies at the Canadian Theology Seminary. Tony was the recipient of
the Lily Theological Research Grant, Association of Theological Schools
and the SSHR post-doctoral fellowship award.
WHO’S
AFRAID OF THE DAVINCI CODE?
By W. Ward Gasque
Dan Brown's best-selling thriller that
has
dominated the fiction charts since its publication three years ago is
about to hit the really big time as a movie.
With more than 40 million copies sold (which equals at least 120
million readers), it has been the publishing sensation of all
times. But the audience will likely double during the first
week
following its release on May 19th.
Ignored by scholars and panned by literary critics, the book has had a
huge following among the general public, and the same is likely to be
true of the movie. Adverts for the movie are everywhere: Sony
is
said to have invested some $45 million in advance publicity.
Tom
Hanks, who plays Robert Langdon, the debonair Harvard professor of
religious symbiology and guru of the narrative, was the guest host of
Saturday Night Live this past weekend.
Most of the people who have read 'The Da Vinci Code' are probably
planning to see the movie. But there will be some who have
read
the book and others merely familiar with the plot-line who will be
boycotting the movie.
Few of my academic colleagues have any interest in seeing the
movie. Most of them have not read the book, and those who
have
think it is dreadful. Dan Brown is unlikely to win any prizes
for
literature, other than making it near the beginning of
Forbe's
list of the richest people in the entertainment industry, where he's
about to overtake Oprah, having written the most financially rewarding
book of all time.
Various polls have been taken that show that somewhere between 20 and
32% of those who have read the book believe that what Robert Langdon or
Sir Leigh Teabing say about the true origins of Christianity and the
attempt of the Catholic Church to keep us in the dark on the
subject. However, contrary to the claims of the two
paragraphs
headed 'FACT:' on the first page of the book, you will search in vain
for a tenured professor of history or art history at any accredited
university who will affirm any of these so-called 'alternative
historical theories.' But, to many, this simply shows you how
successful the Catholic Church has been until now!
The religious community is somewhat divided concerning how to respond
to the book and now the movie. Some of the historical
insinuations of the book (for example, the idea that women had more
liberty in Gnostic communities than among orthodox Christians) have
been naively embraced by trendy churchmen, and a few traditional
Catholics and fundamentalist Protestants have responded very strongly,
warning their fellow Christians against the heresies of the book and
the movie and urging them not to go see it.
But by far the majority of religious leaders have taken a more positive
stance. True, the alleged 'alternative theories' of the
origin of
the Christian faith are all bogus; but, hey! This is fiction.
Dan
Brown has not written a history book, but rather a thriller that draws
on the harebrained ideas of a few marginal, would-be researchers who
have been roundly debunked by true scholars for decades.
There's
nothing here to be defensive about.
G. K. Chesterton once said that when people stop believing in God they
don't believe in nothing, be are willing to believe in
anything. Or maybe the this willingness to give
credence to
virtually anything without any real evidence is a result of the absence
of serious history being taught in our schools today.
The fact is there is not a shred of evidence for any of the key
elements in 'The Da Vinci Code's' historical reconstruction
of
Western history, namely that
*Jesus had a child (named 'Sarah') with Mary Magdalene, whom Jesus
wanted to head up the movement that be began;
*that early church leaders sought to suppress Jesus' teaching on
sexuality and goddess worship;
*that orthodox Christianity with its divine Jesus was invented by the
Emperor Constantine in the 4th century as a political tool;
* that a shadowy secret society called 'The Priory of Sion' has kept
alive for the past 2,000 years the truth that the Vatican has attempted
to suppress; and
*that Leonardo Da Vinci (along with other notables (such as Sir Isaac
Newton) was a member of this brotherhood and encoded the earlier, pagan
religious ideals and values into his art.
Brown doesn't even get the geography of Paris right, which would be a
great flaw if he were writing history, which he is not. This
is
fiction, dear reader or viewer, a thriller rather than a historical
novel. That millions of people seem to confuse the categories
and
believe the lectures of two fictional professors merely documents the
historical illiteracy of the age in which we live
So what does the traditional Christian believer have to fear from 'The
Da Vinci Code.' Nothing.
So why go see the movie?
It will probably be a lot of fun (like reading the book) if you like
thrillers. I stayed up late two nights reading the book, and
it
was certainly more entertaining than TV. With a text that
reads
like a movie script and a star-studded cast of actors and production
team, it is unlikely to be boring.
And it is also likely that many of your friends and acquaintances will
go to see it and may want to talk with you about the religious
sub-themes and 'alternative historical theories.'
Most
people nowadays, even among those who go to church, have not
read
the New Testament gospels and know little or nothing of the history of
Christianity in the first three centuries or about the Knights Templar
or Renaissance art or what Newton did with his time after retiring from
his career in science. And hardly anyone has read the Gnostic
documents that are quoted by the characters in 'The Da Vinci Code.'
Read something on all these subjects. Better still, read the
primary texts. You can download all of the Nag Hammadi texts
(our
modern source of the most important Gnostic texts) in English
translation and accompanied by scholarly notes. It sort of
like
reading the Bible in English for yourself: you don't have to be at the
mercy of the experts.
Read something from a standard encyclopedia or reference work on
Constantine and the Council of Nicea (AD 325). If you think
the
Catholic Church (the only Church mentioned by Dan Brown in his
narrative) is keeping the facts under wraps, then read something by a
Protestant or a member of the Orthodox Church or a non-Christian who
happens to write history. Whether one is Catholic or
Protestant
or Orthodox or None-of-the-above is irrelevant when it comes to the
facts of early Christianity. The differences lie in one's
response to the claims of Christianity, not concerning the historical
facts.
And do take time to read something on Leonardo Da Vinci -- painter,
sculptor, architect, engineer, inventor, scientist, in short, the
prototypical 'renaissance man'. You will find that though he
was
not a particularly exemplary Christian, there is no evidence that he
was a promulgator of anti-Christian ideas nor is there that he wrote
secret messages in code. (He generally wrote in 'mirror image
script,' which was common in his day among people who were
left-handed. All you need to read his notes is a
mirror and
a knowledge of Italian! Virtually all of his notebooks have
been
published with annotations and, sometimes, with translations into
English.) You will be interested to learn that Leonardo drew
a
sketch of his famous Last Supper in his notebook and gave names to each
of the characters represented. The effeminate (to us) looking
person sitting between Jesus and Peter happens to be identified by the
name of 'John the beloved'.
In tandem with plans for the release of the movie, there have been
dozens of resources produced to assist churches to use the interest in
religious origins, ritual, art, symbolism, and history generated by
'The Da Vinci Code'. There are a couple of dozen critiques by
notable scholars (such as Bart Ehrman and Darrell Bock.) along side of
many websites offering helpful historical background
information.
But let the e-reader beware, for there are more than a few bogus
history sites as well.
My recommendatioin to all my friends, whether Christian or
non-Christian, believer or agnostic is this: Go see the movie
with a group of friends, and then follow it up by a weekly gathering to
read the New Testament gospels and other historical sources.
Allow everyone to express their opinons without any attempt to
indoctrinate. Seek the truth!
*Gasque is currently Theologian in Residence at Granville Chapel,
Vancouver, BC and President of the Center for Innovation in Theological
Education (Seattle). Frequently in demand as a teacher and
consultant, he has lectured on the campuses of more than 50
universities, colleges and schools of theology.
Gasque is the author of an essay on 'Who are the Gnostics?' in a recent
book entitled, 'Fear Not Da Vinci: Using "The Da Vinci Code" to Share
Your Faith' (with Susy Flory and Gini Monroe AMG, 2006]
Brian McLaren on The Da Vinci Code
An interview by Lisa Ann Cockrel for Sojourner's Special Issue
www.sojo.net
With The Da Vinci Code poised
to go from bestseller list to the big screen on May 19, pastor and
writer (and Sojourners board member) Brian McLaren talks about why he
thinks there's truth in the controversial book's fiction.
What do you think the popularity of The Da Vinci Code reveals about pop culture attitudes toward Christianity and the church?
Brian McLaren: I think a lot of people have
read the book, not just as a popular page-turner but also as an
experience in shared frustration with status-quo, male-dominated,
power-oriented, cover-up-prone organized Christian religion. We need to
ask ourselves why the vision of Jesus hinted at in Dan Brown's book is
more interesting, attractive, and intriguing to these people than the
standard vision of Jesus they hear about in church. Why would so many
people be disappointed to find that Brown's version of Jesus has been
largely discredited as fanciful and inaccurate, leaving only the
church's conventional version? Is it possible that, even though Brown's
fictional version misleads in many ways, it at least serves to open up
the possibility that the church's conventional version of Jesus may not
do him justice?
So you think The Da Vinci Code taps into dissatisfaction with Jesus as we know him?
McLaren: For all the flaws of Brown's book,
I think what he's doing is suggesting that the dominant religious
institutions have created their own caricature of Jesus. And I think
people have a sense that that's true. It's my honest feeling that
anyone trying to share their faith in America today has to realize that
the Religious Right has polluted the air. The name "Jesus" and the word
"Christianity" are associated with something judgmental, hostile,
hypocritical, angry, negative, defensive, anti-homosexual, etc. Many of
our churches, even though they feel they represent the truth, actually
are upholding something that's distorted and false.
I also think that the whole issue of male
domination is huge and that Brown's suggestion that the real Jesus was
not as misogynist or anti-woman as the Christian religion often has
been is very attractive. Brown's book is about exposing hypocrisy and
cover-up in organized religion, and it is exposing organized religion's
grasping for power. Again, there's something in that that people
resonate with in the age of pedophilia scandals, televangelists, and
religious political alliances. As a follower of Jesus I resonate with
their concerns as well.
Do you think the book contains any significantly detrimental distortions of the Christian faith?
McLaren: The book is fiction and it's filled
with a lot of fiction about a lot of things that a lot of people have
already debunked. But frankly, I don't think it has more harmful ideas
in it than the Left Behind novels. And in a certain way, what the Left Behind
novels do, the way they twist scripture toward a certain theological
and political end, I think Brown is twisting scripture, just to other
political ends. But at the end of the day, the difference is I don't
think Brown really cares that much about theology. He just wanted to
write a page-turner and he was very successful at that.
Many Christians are also reading
this book and it's rocking their preconceived notions - or lack of
preconceived notions - about Christ's life and the early years of the
church. So many people don't know how we got the canon, for example.
Should this book be a clarion call to the church to say, "Hey, we need
to have a body of believers who are much more literate in church
history." Is that something the church needs to be thinking about more
strategically?
McLaren: Yes! You're exactly right. One of
the problems is that the average Christian in the average church who
listens to the average Christian broadcasting has such an
oversimplified understanding of both the Bible and of church history -
it would be deeply disturbing for them to really learn about church
history. I think the disturbing would do them good. But a lot of times
education is disturbing for people. And so if The Da Vinci Code
causes people to ask questions and Christians have to dig deeper,
that's a great thing, a great opportunity for growth. And it does show
a weakness in the church giving either no understanding of church
history or a very stilted, one-sided, sugarcoated version.
On the other hand, it's important for me to
say I don't think anyone can learn good church history from Brown.
There's been a lot of debunking of what he calls facts. But again, the
guy's writing fiction so nobody should be surprised about that. The sad
thing is there's an awful lot of us who claim to be telling objective
truth and we actually have our own propaganda and our own versions of
history as well.
Let me mention one other thing about Brown's
book that I think is appealing to people. The church goes through a
pendulum swing at times from overemphasizing the deity of Christ to
overemphasizing the humanity of Christ. So a book like Brown's that
overemphasizes the humanity of Christ can be a mirror to us saying that
we might be underemphasizing the humanity of Christ.
In light of The Da Vinci Code movie that is soon to be released, how do you hope churches will engage this story?
McLaren: I would like to see churches teach
their people how to have intelligent dialogue that doesn't degenerate
into argument. We have to teach people that the Holy Spirit works in
the middle of conversation. We see it time and time again - Jesus
enters into dialogue with people; Paul and Peter and the apostles enter
into dialogue with people. We tend to think that the Holy Spirit can
only work in the middle of a monologue where we are doing the speaking.
So if our churches can encourage people to,
if you see someone reading the book or you know someone who's gone to
the movie, say, "What do you think about Jesus and what do you think
about this or that," and to ask questions instead of getting into
arguments, that would be wonderful. The more we can keep conversations
open and going the more chances we give the Holy Spirit to work. But
too often people want to get into an argument right away. And, you
know, Jesus has handled 2,000 years of questions, skepticism, and
attacks, and he's gonna come through just fine. So we don't have to be
worried.
Ultimately, The Da Vinci Code is
telling us important things about the image of Jesus that is being
portrayed by the dominant Christian voices. [Readers] don't find that
satisfactory, genuine, or authentic, so they're looking for something
that seems more real and authentic.
Lisa Ann Cockrel is associate editor at Today's Christian Woman.
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