The Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction?

Of the books responding to the claims of The Da Vinci Code, this is one of the shortest, weighing in at 81 pages. After a foreword by Hank Hanegraaff, historian Paul Maier offers a chapter pointing out why many of the claims of the novel are false. Though The Da Vinci Code is fiction, Dr. Maier believes this sort of response is necessary because "many readers assume that all of the supplementary contextual and background detail involving Christianity is true when it is not." (9) Dr. Maier's chapter responds to claims about the Priory of Sion, Constantine, whether Jesus married Mary, the Knights Templar, the sacred feminine, and art, music, and architecture. After covering those issues, he goes through a series of quotes from Dan Brown's novel showing the inaccuracies of each claim. After Maier's critique, Hanegraaff asks, "But what is truth?" He focuses in on the historical evidence for the authenticity of the Bible, and then explains the Biblical evidence for Christ's deity. Hanegraaff also responds to the claims that Christianity barrowed from pagan religions and offers evidence that Jesus did rise from the dead. Paul Maier closes with an interesting thought in his afterword. "Perhaps there may even be a benefit in all of this. Strange as it may seem, heresy had always been good for the church, since it forces a renewed attention to the central doctrines of Christianity in order to counteract error. Without heresy, we would not have the great creeds of Christendom. If, then, this latest attempt to subvert history forces widespread study of Jesus, the Gospels, the origins of Christianity, and how the church developed across the centuries, so much the better." (68) The best thing about this book is that it's incredibly readable. The technical points are available, but they're in footnotes in the back so they don't distract from the main text. It covers a wide range of questions raised by the novel and provides a great list of resources for additional study. Unfortunately, it doesn't really cover Gnosticism, which is a rather prominent issue. If you're looking an a quick and easy, yet incisive response to Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, The Da Vinci Code, Fact or Fiction? is the book for you. Hank Hanegraff and Paul Maier have supplied an accessible book that's short in length, but not in answers.

If you are looking for a full academic treatise disproving the Da Vinci Code you will be disappointed. But, we have to remember that that is not what most people are looking for. This is a very short Booklette almost a tract. It is a very quick read and gives a good overview that discusses some ofthe major historical problems for The Da Vinci Code and then goes on to give an eminently important and brief defense of the Truth. It is also important to point out that despite what some reviewers have said it is not clear to most people that the 'facts' of The Da Vinci Code are mere fiction. Dan Brown claims that the 'facts' are true and many believe it. I was in Grad School for Art History when The Da Vinci Code came out and my professors and I always loathed receiving questions about these 'facts' in our survey classes. I even had one professor who shot it down immediately and then refussed to talk about it anymore. With The Da Vinci Code we have fiction disguissed and fact and then wrapped in fiction. The truth is notclear to many and that is why this little Booklette is so important.

Answer: 81 concise and decisive pages. Maier is a pre-eminent history scholar of the times of the apostles and Jesus and Hannigraf is an accomplished apologist in theology. They from the beginning of Brown's bestseller debunk it as a hoax starting with his opening assumption: assume as a fact that the Priory of Sion exists as Brown's novel writes about it! Factual or fictional assumption? Fictional. This is quickly unloaded as being an unresearched, unchecked bit of writing. Maier quickly shows that an ex-con Anti-Semite had planted these falsified documents at the Bibliotechque in Paris and that this has been authenticated. See his footnote on this fact by NY Times Book Review Laura Miller who checked this all out and shows that this is all one big hoax! Next, is what Brown writes about Constantine true: that he was the one who made Jesus into a superdeity, that he collated the Bible and other devious, manipulative schemes to make Christianity thrive? Fact or fiction? Fiction. There is not one shred of valid historical evidence to support Brown's wild speculations. Thus his plot quickly falls to ruins. Or, did the Council of Nicea when voting on the deity of Christ have an extremely close vote as Brown's novel suggest it did? Fact or fiction? Fiction: the vote was 300 to 2! Need to go on? I don't, but some of you who are moved by anything even suspicious as disproving history and deconstructing it will likely not be impressed by this or this book or any significant, tested and accepted by all evidence. We believe what we want to. As the authors so wisely and correctly point out: why all the rankor about Christianity and no attempts at debunking any of the other world religions? Why does Allah and Muhammed and Buddah not enjoy this same treatment? Fact or Fiction? Check it out. You should be disturbed by what you find. Calling fact "fiction" and fiction "fact" is becoming a true sport and artform in our culture. Our people are constantly being duped and they're buying it. Just witness the millions of copies Brown's book has sold and many believing it hook, line and sinker. Thanks to Maier and Hannagraf who put down their facts so they can be checked out. If one does this with Brown, you'll come up with the same conclusions this excellent little book does: The Da Vinci Code? It's fiction!

As the title of my review says, one must first consider the source of the information before you judge the information itself. Non of the writers of the Davinci Code nor the sources Dan Brown cites to back up his theories have the credentials of Paul Maier, one of the authors of this small book. A Harvard graduate, A PHD From Basel where he graduated Summa cum Laude. A history professor at Michigan University. This guy knows what he is talking about and has the credentials to be considered an expert in the subject. This being said, I can say that Paul Maier really does a grand amount of damage to all the theories presented by Dan Brown. And even exposes some outright lies on the part of the DaVinci Code author. Thats the first half of the book. The second half of the book is about Christianity specifically, and is more evangelical in nature. Hank Hanegraaff wrote this half of the book and doesn't seem to have as impressive credentials as his partner. This part may turn off many readers. But I don't feel it ruins the great research done by Paul Maier in the other half of the book.

My wife recently completed reading "Angels and Demons" and started immediately into "The DaVinci Code". Even though she knew that it was pseudo-religious fiction, she nonetheless came away from the book with an impression about the church that was founded by the context of what was contained in these books. The danger inherent in that is there are many people who, like my wife, are intelligent people who enjoy fiction, but may not have the familiarity or background to really distinguish what is factual from what is the fabrication of fact for the purposes of telling a story. As the title suggests, the book really does fact from fiction.The book is divided into two sections. The first, titled "The DaVinci Deception, was written by Paul L. Maier who is a professor of ancient history at Wester Michigan University. He examines the many claims in the book, such as the prospect that Jesus was married, and, using facts passed down through text and documentation that spans the centuries to debunk the fictional claims made in the novel.The second section, called "But What Is Truth?" is written by Hank Hanegraaff, who is the host of the popular Bible Answer Man radio program. He takes the "dogma" of DaVinci Code, and, using scripture, educates the reader on the real history from which the fiction in DaVinci Code was derived. This book is a great companion for the novel "The DaVinci Code" by Dan Brown. It does not attempt to criticize Brown's writing, nor does it discourage readers from engaging in the book as a piece of fiction, but rather it allows the reader a fuller understanding of what they are reading--what is really based on history/religion, and what is based on the fabrications of an author whose story has been hailed one of the great pieces of religious fiction.A good, quick read, packed full of information.-Scott Kolecki