I remember last year when many Catholics, even those of unquestionable orthodoxy, were pooh-poohing any theologically motivated criticism of The DaVinci Code. After all, it was "just a novel," and a pretty good page-turner at that; so what, they wondered, was all the fuss about? Well, now we know.
In a TV interview over the weekend, author Dan Brown (pictured) has come right out and said he actually believes that Jesus and Mary Magdelene were married and started a royal bloodline that spread into Western Europe. Much else goes with that myth, but there's no need to delve into the tawdry intricacies here. Amy Welborn (see the book ad in the sidebar), Carl Olson, Sandra Meisel, and others have done a good job of that. The only thing that matters now is that the cat has been let out of the bag. Brown is no longer offering DVC's central plot line as fiction but as fact. Of course it is not fact but theory—a pretty "bonkers" theory, to quote Professor John Haldane. But one wonders what other outrageous subplots and claims in the book Brown also believes. Many, I'll wager—certainly some of the most offensive ones.
The DaVinci Code really is theological propaganda after all. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise.
