Da Vinci Code Implausibilities
The Da Vinci Code is an interesting, amusing book that is prompting a great deal of discussion about the origins of Christianity and the life of Jesus. Brown does relatively little to develop his characters and his use of language is not the best. He is, however, quite clever with his plot development. There is a question or unresolved issue at the end of nearly every chapter that goads the reader into going deeper into the story. Interwoven with the plot is the mystique that goes with codes, secret societies, and forbidden rituals. It all makes for a good read. Just the same, there are illogical or unexplained occurrences in the book that make the story seem highly implausible at best, perhaps even bordering on nonsensical. Consider the following:
- The Priory of Sion supposedly values the "Sacred Feminine," yet over the centuries, there have been few female grand masters of this group. At one point, Langdon mentions there have been four female grand masters -- an incredibly small number given the nearly 1,000-year history of that organization.
- Teabing claims that the unmasculine-looking figure to Jesus's right in Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" is not the apostle John but Mary Magdalene. If so, then there are only 11 apostles in the painting. One -- presumably John -- has been inexplicably omitted.
- The position of Teabing and Langdon seems to be that Jesus was an extraordinary man -- but a man nonetheless. Not God nor any other kind of supernatural being. But if that's true, how could Mary Magdalene become sacred or divine by marrying him? An odd thing about the book is that Jesus seems to be demoted to mortal while Mary M. is promoted to the ranks of the divine. But how could her marriage to an extraordinary but still mortal man raise her to the level of sacredness?
- Whatever they were, Jesus and Mary M. were monotheists, who believed and trusted in the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. They were not pagans and would never have taken part in any pagan rituals. Why then, would a group that reveres Mary M. to the point of praying at her grave engage in a ritual (Hieros Gamos) that she would have abhorred?
- If as Langdon claims, the Catholic Church is virulently anti-Mary Magdalene, why did it elevate her to the ranks of its saints? And as for the claim that the Church is anti-female, that seems a very strange accusation to make against a church that reveres the Virgin Mary as much or nearly as much as Jesus Christ.
None of these things should necessarily stop anyone from reading the book and enjoying it. But anyone who hopes to find religious truth within its pages or new insight into who Jesus and Mary M. really were is treading on very thin ice indeed.
- The Priory of Sion supposedly values the "Sacred Feminine," yet over the centuries, there have been few female grand masters of this group. At one point, Langdon mentions there have been four female grand masters -- an incredibly small number given the nearly 1,000-year history of that organization.
- Teabing claims that the unmasculine-looking figure to Jesus's right in Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" is not the apostle John but Mary Magdalene. If so, then there are only 11 apostles in the painting. One -- presumably John -- has been inexplicably omitted.
- The position of Teabing and Langdon seems to be that Jesus was an extraordinary man -- but a man nonetheless. Not God nor any other kind of supernatural being. But if that's true, how could Mary Magdalene become sacred or divine by marrying him? An odd thing about the book is that Jesus seems to be demoted to mortal while Mary M. is promoted to the ranks of the divine. But how could her marriage to an extraordinary but still mortal man raise her to the level of sacredness?
- Whatever they were, Jesus and Mary M. were monotheists, who believed and trusted in the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. They were not pagans and would never have taken part in any pagan rituals. Why then, would a group that reveres Mary M. to the point of praying at her grave engage in a ritual (Hieros Gamos) that she would have abhorred?
- If as Langdon claims, the Catholic Church is virulently anti-Mary Magdalene, why did it elevate her to the ranks of its saints? And as for the claim that the Church is anti-female, that seems a very strange accusation to make against a church that reveres the Virgin Mary as much or nearly as much as Jesus Christ.
None of these things should necessarily stop anyone from reading the book and enjoying it. But anyone who hopes to find religious truth within its pages or new insight into who Jesus and Mary M. really were is treading on very thin ice indeed.
posted by clay at 1:05 PM
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