de-Coding Da Vinci: The Facts Behind the Fiction of the Da Vinci Code

by Amy Welborn

Looks at the theories about Christian origins and church history suggested in the novel, The Da Vinci Code, and explains how they ignore or misinterpret the available information as it has been... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1592761011
• ISBN13: 9781592761012
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Our Sunday Visitor
• Length: 124 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Well Done Truth!

The Da Vinci Code: The facts behind the fiction AMY WELBORN Amy Welborn points out some of the many errors about religion, history, and art contained in The Da Vinci Code in this short pamphlet. What is The Da Vinci Code? The Da Vinci Code is a novel by Dan Brown that has held one of the top two or three places on best-seller lists since early summer. More than 3 million copies are in print. In Brown's novel, the "Da Vinci code" refers to cryptic messages supposedly incorporated by Leonardo Da Vinci into his artwork. According to the novel, Leonardo was a member of an ancient secret society called the "Priory of Sion" dedicated to preserving the "truths" that Jesus designated Mary Magdalene as His successor, that His message was about the celebration of the "sacred feminine," that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had children and that the Holy Grail of legend and lore is really Mary Magdalene, the "sacred feminine," the vessel who carried Jesus' children. Sounds like an intriguing bit of lost history. Is it? Long story short: No. Is the Holy Grail really the "sacred feminine?" The legend of the Holy Grail has taken many forms throughout history, but it has always identified the Grail as the cup Jesus used at the Last Supper. The idea of identifying it as the "sacred feminine" and tying it into a supposed bloodline emanating from a union of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is lifted whole cloth from the 1981 classic of inventive esoteric wackiness, Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Is the "Priory of Sion" a real group? No. Brown begins his book with a statement, under the title "Fact," that there are documents supporting the existence of the Priory in the Bibliotheque Nationale. These documents have long been understood to be forgeries, placed in the archives by an anti-Semitic supporter of the Vichy government named Pierre Plantard. Does Da Vinci's The Last Supper really contain a code? No. First, the idea that Da Vinci used any kind of code pertaining to any issue Dan Brown raises is unsupported by art historians. Brown says that in this painting Da Vinci is telling us that the figure always identified as John the Evangelist is really Mary Magdalene, and that these two figures together form an "M," and that, because there is no grail in the picture, Da Vinci is telling us the "grail" is the sacred feminine of Mary Magdalene. Unfortunately for Brown, art historians tell us that the effeminate-looking John is quite a typical representation for the time, as is a Last Supper portrayal emphasizing betrayal rather than the institution of the Eucharist. In addition, the Last Supper is a dramatization of a scene from the Gospel of John, in which the institution narrative is not even described. No chalice? No problem. In context, it makes sense. Who was Mary Magdalene according to the Scriptures? St. Mary Magdalene is mentioned 12 times in the Gospels. She was healed of demon possession by Jesus (Luke 8:2), was present at the Crucifixion

Death By A Thousand Cuts

Unless my aging memory deceives me, I recall a story from Catholic school days about an ancient Christian teacher who suffered a peculiarly painful martyr's death: he was pierced hundreds of times by the styluses or pens of his hostile pagan students. In this work we get the martyr's revenge: from an articulate, scholarly, and dismayed author who administers a death by a thousand cuts to the premises and biases of the best selling "Da Vinci Code." There are many ways this antidote to DVC could have been mishandled: the author could have written an ad hoc attack upon Dan Brown, or a cosmic wail against the anti-Catholic bias of the work, or a "preaching to the choir" methodology of uncritical defense of those areas of Catholic life and history that Brown played upon so well. The author successfully avoided these pitfalls, for the most part, with a terse but thorough dismantling of the major historical and theological flaws. Welborn, who did her graduate history studies at Vanderbilt University, clearly holds the upper hand. The author addresses about a dozen topics that DVC manhandles with distressing consistency: the identity of Mary Magdalene, the determination of the canon or texts of the New Testament, the Roman Emperor Constantine, the Holy Grail, Leonardo Da Vinci, feminism in the Church, mystery religions, and Opus Dei. Each separate critique is deadly to a novel which depends upon an intricately developed puzzle. It would require only a few threads to unravel before the plot line becomes irrational. Welborn works with a tailor's shears. To cite just one area of critique, Welborn devotes a chapter to Brown's depiction of Da Vinci himself, and discovers that the moniker "Da Vinci" is not the artist's name. He was known then, and to experts today, as Leonardo. For those familiar with the story line of DVC, such a corrective makes quite a mess out of the intricate maze of word clues that Sophie Neveu seems to revel in. I cannot find the exact word to describe the author's literary style, but it is distinctive. At this point in her career I get the sense that her avocation is the communication of "Catholic common sense." It does help the reader to know that Welborn is the author of a successful series of religious works for Catholic high school students, traditionally a notoriously difficult audience; and her blog site, "Open Book," is a daily watering hole for Catholics across the country that rivals Chris Matthews for hardball repartee. Welborn's avowed literary inspiration has long been the take-no-prisoners Flannery O'Connor, who would probably have weighed in herself on DVC, were she alive today. At times I felt the author was almost annoyed that she had to do this book, disconcerted that basic tenets of Catholic history were unknown to so many readers of her faith, or that a best seller with such historical and theological flaws could go unchallenged. But in the final analysis, Welborn wrote this work because, in her own words, "cul

Provides the big picture

Very readable book that should appeal to believers and agnostics alike - anyone honestly interested in the truth. Early church history is something most know little about, and the author (who has a BA in honors history and MA in Church History) has done an excellent job helping to fill that vacuum. She explores the sources of information Dan Brown used for his book and seeks to unravel fact from fiction in an fair-minded way.

Even More Fun Than the Novel

I greatly enjoyed Dan Brown's *Da Vinci Code* but I have to admit that Amy Welborn's book was even more fun. With a delightful style and large doses of irony she analyzes Brown's claims: --That Constantine selected the books of the New Testament and invented the divinity of Christ. --That the early Church covered up Jesus' marriage to Mary Magdalene. --That Jesus originally designated her as the leader of his movement and that she in fact is the Holy Grail. While these claims seem quite exciting, Amy shows that the truth is even more startling. The controversy over *The Da Vinci Code* provides an opportunity to learn the facts about Christian origins. Skepticism is good both for Christians and non-Christians. Amy's book will help any honest inquirer. Read it and decide for yourself.

Interesting in many ways

After reading The DaVinci Code, I had many questions. This book helped to answer most of them. It is well written, in an almost conversational style. Easy reading, but not lightweight.This book will help to answer your questions about The DaVinci Code, but could also be read to help someone learn about some aspects of the early church. I found the information about Constantine to be really interesting as well as the explanation of how the bible came to be and what the gnostic gospels are all about. I highly recommend this book.