114
the
ancholS>
Friday, May 19, 2006
Theologian dissects 'The Da Vinci 'Code'; reveals errors,jabrications By DEACON JAMES N.
DUNBAR
.of Christian art." But,in reality he produces only one. FALL RIVER - It's not.often when a theologian Did Brown confuse Leonardo with Michelangelo? Fadoes a book review on "it successful best-seller novel ther O'Collins thinks so. He says Brown in an earlier that is the talk of the town. book confuses the Piazza Navona and the Trevi FounBut when Jesuit Father Gerald O'Collins finished tain. slicing neatly through Dan Brown's ''The Da Vinci Brown seems a dolt when it comes to history too. He Code," he summed it succinctly: "Brown adds no fresh mistakenly cites the Emperor Constantine with shifting evidence to previous discredited attempts to establish the day of weekly worship to Sundays; as well as conthat Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and fathered tending it was the Council of Nicea in 325 that declared one or more children by her. Brown does not unveil any Christ to be divine: when it fact it was St. John's Gosastonishing new truth. But he does unveil enormous gaps pel. in his (Brown's) own education and a willingness to PUtting his case for goddess worship, Brown "beendorse histon-callies and errors. What matters is creat- littles the Jewish roots ofChristianity ... as having been ing the most successful fiction for the market" he wrote taken from pagan mystery religions"; as well as introducil}g "some stunning falsehood about ritualistic sex in the January 2005 issue of Origins. Father O'Collins is well known to many Fall River in the Jerusalem temple," which Father O'Collins calls diocesan priests who studied at the Gregorian Univer- "sheer fabrication; there were no priestesses offering . sity in Rome. He is a Christologist and professor of sys- sacred sex in the temple." The priest takes Brown to task on "some similar fabtematic and fundamental theology there. What's odd is that while Father O'Co.\lins read rications about God" including the allegation that the Brown's book in 2005 and spoke of its many errors and Holy of Holies housed not only God but also "his powfailings in an address in Washington in erful female consort, Shekinah." January ofthat year to the John Carroll And Brown can't seelp to get right Society; and repeated the address at the how the ancient sacred name of Church of the Little Flower in Yahweh was derived. Bethesda, Md., it received little notice When it comes to the so-called in the secular news media. Priory of Sion, which is central to the Those who read the 2005 article in plot of Brown's novel, the author was Origins were among the few treated to duped - as were earlier authors - on such a delightful review putting the modem-day forgeries exposed and delight of truth on the most recent of ''the nounced in the .1990s, says Father O'Collins. But it seems, Brown doesn't· genre ofbooks which appear every few years promising to 'tell youwho Jesus care. A'nother example of historical fabreally was and how the official Church rications Brown endorses in his alleconcealed the real Jesus for 20 centugations that the Catholic Church burned °ries.'" at the stake five million women. What spices up the book, says FaMary Magdalene, . Rev. ther O'C;ollins in the Origins ~cle, is ROME (CNS)- ''The Da Vinci "Experts give instead the statistic of . THE HEAD of St.· Ma,ry Code" came in for resounding criti- Tomassone. said, comes across as the oft-used "hidden document" theme around 50,000·... of which 20 percen.t cism at a recent round-table discus- "one who knows how to heal the that launches the idea of a cover-up, Magdalene is depicted in a (of victims) were men ..." for three •sion at the Mariimum Pontifical heart of a wouridedcommunity." an alleged attempt by the Vatican to sketch by artist Leonardo da centuries of witch-hunts in Northern Theological Faculty il1'Rome. . The experts agreed, however, that suppress the "embarrassing document" Vinci. According to the"Gos- Europe. But it suits Brown to multiply pels, Mary Magdalene was a thatfigury by 100..." FatherO'Collins It was not a pick-it-apart session there is no scriptural evidence that about Jesus. by Church historians. Instead, four Jesus and Mary were lovers, which That Brown introduces another leading disciple of Jesus and pointed out. women spoke about Mary ilJ a key element in the plot of ''The "fact," a sexual relationship_ between used her resources to supInstead of unveiling the real Mary Magdalene and her distorted depic- Da Vinci Code." Even theincom- Jesus and Mary Magdalene amounts port him and the Apostles. Magdalene as an outstanding figure in tion in Dan Brown's book. plete references in the gnostic gos- to a bit of plagiarism from "Holy (eNS photo/Alinari, courtesy the resurrection stories and who stands The moderator ofthe discussion, pels about Jesus' special relationship Blood, Holy Grail," by Michael Art Resource) by the cross and is at the burial ofJesus, Brown "disguises and belittles her," Marinella Perroni, a New Testament with Mary Magdalene depict a Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lintheologian, said "The Da Vinci "spiritual intimacy," not a sexual re- coln, which appeared in 1982. asserts Father O'Collins. Code" joins a list ofbooks and other lationship, Rev. Tomassone said. "Brown's idea that the official Church ran a smear 'There were so many historical mistakes in 'Holy media treatments that exploit the figRigato d(jwnplayed the impact of Blood, Holy Grail' that I sugg~sted in an article that campaign against Mary Magdalene may go down well ure ofMary Magdalene. Perroni said ''The Da Vinci Code," saying it was Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln should publish an errata slip with some readers but is nonsense ... since the Church caution is always needed when deal- "third-rate literature" compared to in the shape of a companion volume," Father O'Collins blessed lovely old colleges that bear her name at the ing with scriptural figures, but for earlier treatments ofsimilar subjects, said humorously. University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, some reason people feel free to take like ''The LastTemptation ofChrist" He added, "I was hoping that they might sue me, as I encouraged the faithful to celebrate her feast on July 22, great liberties with Mary Magdalene. by Nikos Kazantzakis. would have cherished a day in court listing all their er- and built beautiful churches in her honor in Paris, Rome, and elsewhere." • Maria Luisa Rigato, a retired pro"Dan Brown with his 40 million rors."Q The priest added a personal reflection: "Back in the fessor of exegesis at the Pontifical copies is nothing compared to the Father O'Collins calls Brown's book, "... a murder Gregorian University, said she found billions of copies of the Bible. It's mystery, a religious' expose and a romance novel all in 1920s my mother was in Paris, went to the Madeleine Brown's bookentertaining fiction- something you consume and forget one. But when you compare 'The Da Vinci Code' with and prayed through the intercession of St. Mary but that it was clear to real scholars and will not affect the faith in the earlier works in the field, the only new item is Brown's Magdalene that she would have a son and that her son that Mary Magdalene was neither the . leas~" she said. claim aoout Leonardo's Last Supper ... that the figure would become a priest. I am the result of that prayer and 'wife nor the lover of Jesus. But Miriam Diez i Bosch, a to the right of Christ is not John the !Jeloved disciple, I am very grateful to Mary MagdaIene and my mother." The Catholic participants drew a Catholic journalist who lectures on but Mary Magdalene," Father 0' Collins asserted. One final note on Brown's fabrications. Citing Pr0sharp distinction between what is communications, said it was dis'The allegation, he said, is "She bore Jesus a child fessor Kleinberg of the history department at the Uniknown aoout Mary Magdalene from turbing that a book like ''The Da. and was the Holy Grail for his blood.'! versity ofTel Aviv, Father O'Collins says the claim that the approved Gospels and what has Vinci Code" was succeeding so Father 0' Collins fomid the book "a gripping read" the descendents of Jesus married into the Merovingian been circulated for centuries in the well. Similar books may follow, she because it is "a good piece ofescapism which produces royal dynasty are untrue. The claim is based on a seventh-century figure called so-called gnostic gospels, rejected by said. an intriguing cocktail that mixes religion, conspiracy, the Church long ago. Giselle de Razes. The good thing is that ''The Da sex, murder and mystery." But aWaldensian pastor, the Rev. Vinci Code" has given Catholics a "But Giselle de Razes never existed; she was invented But then with a scalpel of truth, Father O'Collins Letizia Tomassone, said she thought chance to explain themselves, she lays bare the frequent misuse as well as ignorance of in the 20th century," Kleinberg stated, and is quoted by the noncanonical gospels, although said. The bad part is that Catholics historical facts by Brown. Father O'Collins. they are clearly later manuscripts, dearly need to be better instructed The priest-re~iewer ends his paper on a humorous The fact that Leenardo, like ml?st Aorentine painters can be valid secondary sources of in their faith; lihe added. often painted handsome young men with smooth faces, note, offering afterthought by Professor Kleinberg, information. In some of these later She said the Church in particular almost feminine makes Brown's concept that it is Mary who 'says: .... .I feel sorry for the charming heroine gospels, she said, Mary Magdalene needs better catechesis and more Magdalene with Jesus in the Last Supper fresco "ex- Sophie Neveu in 'The Da Vinci Code.' Two wretched appears as the "mediator of the res- widely published scholarship on the tremelyeccentric," reports Professor Bruce Boucher of men spent many pages of the novel lecturing at her and . urrected Christ," which aligns with figure ofMary Magdalene - some- the Art Institute of Chicago. He is cited by Father bombarding her with what are often sheer fabrications. what the Gospel of St. John says' thing more profound than present- O'Collins to show just one of Brown's stunning igno- . I hope she changed her mind and never kept the rendezaoout her being the first witness of ing her as "the icon of the fallen rances in the field of art. vous with the so-called hero in Aorence. She deserved woman." the resurrection. Brown also refers to Leonardo's "enormous output a much better relationship than that." 0
In Rome, women discuss 'Oa Vinci Code' depiction of Mary Magdalene
o
0
o
0
-
an