The Da Vinci Hoax: Exposing the Errors in the Da Vinci Code - Softcover

Olson, Carl E.; Sandra Miesel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1586170341 ISBN 13: 9781586170349

Publisher: Ignatius Press, 2004

Synopsis

The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown's best selling novel, purports to be more than fiction: it claims to be based on fact and scholarly research. Brown wants his readers to believe that he is revealing the long-concealed truth about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and early Christianity, a truth that he says has been suppressed by the malevolent and conspiratorial forces of the Catholic Church. The novel alleges that there has been throughout history a secret group of true followers of a Gnostic Jesus and his wife, Mary Magdalene, the true "Holy Grail". Almost everything most Christians and non-Christians think they know about Jesus, according to Dan Brown, is completely wrong, the result of Catholic propaganda designed to hide the truth from the world.

But are The Da Vinci Code's claims fact or just plain fiction? Is the novel well-researched as claimed? What is the truth about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and the early Church? Has the Catholic Church distorted the real Jesus? Why is the novel so popular? What about the anti-Catholic, anti-Christian agenda behind the novel?

Best selling author Carl Olson and journalist Sandra Miesel answer these and other important questions. Their painstaking research intoThe Da Vinci Code and its sources reveals some surprising truths. No one who has read or heard about The Da Vinci Code should miss this provocative and illuminating book.

About this title

About the Author:

Carl E. Olson, MTS, is the editor of Catholic World Report and Ignatius Insight. He is the author of two best-selling books, Will Catholics Be "Left Behind"? and The Da Vinci Hoax, and the author of hundreds of articles on theology, Scripture, current events, and apologetics.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

FOREWORD

The title of this book by Carl Olson and Sandra Miesel says it all. The novel, The Da Vinci Code, is engaging and intriguing. It is a thriller presented as an historical novel. It is fiction, yet it seeks to convince the reader that it is based on fact. It pushes an attack on the Catholic Church and claims to do so in the name of historical authenticity and sound scholarship. The claim is preposterous, but persuasive for many.

The authors of The Da Vinci Hoax deserve our gratitude for exposing in considerable detail and with sure touch the fabrications of Dan Brown’s book. Theirs is the definitive debunking. In the end, the fallacy of Brown’s book is a common one. It approaches the Christian faith as though its contents were to be found in words and documents rather than in the witness and collective memory of the community Christ himself left behind, His Church.

There have been such writings before and, no doubt, will be again. Why single out this novel? I read it because so many people who read it kept asking me questions about it. It has had a remarkably large and credulous readership, reminding me of the dictum that those who have lost or don’t know the faith are likely to believe anything. It matters what we read, what films and television we watch. If we feed our minds on error, we risk losing touch with the truth about who we are and how we ought to live.

We find salvation through self-surrender in faith to Christ, not from personal ideas or inspirations. Once the anchor of the Church’s authentic witness and teaching is abandoned, gnostic or other false theories inevitably appear. Antagonism to the Church and her teaching ultimately entails some kind of rejection of Jesus Christ as he has revealed himself in history. His truth is always a challenge to every egocentric vision of reality and to an unbounded will for human autonomy. Besides, does anyone really think that all those martyrs went to their deaths to protect the secret that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married?

—Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I.
Archbishop of Chicago

About this edition

• Publisher: Ignatius Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1586170341
• ISBN 13: 9781586170349
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 329