Gospel According to Dan Brown

This turned out to be a very interesting examination of the theological and spiritual worldview of popular author Dan Brown. This is not another expose of the hundreds of factual and historical errors in the Da Vinci Code or Brown's other novels, though it does reference some of these. This book is different in that it analazyes the spiritual worldview behind Brown's best-selling fiction, the "gospel" Brown is preaching. Because the authors build the case that through his fiction Brown is putting forth his own alternative gospel. But should we believe it? The book begins by asking and answering the important question, "What difference does it make, The Da Vinci Code is just a story, right?" The authors then proceed to define "story" as used by Brown and the New Testament gospel writers, then they explore the difference between "truth" and "fact," "myth" and "reality." Then the book briefly examines Brown's upbringing and background, a background which in large part shaped his current worldview and spirituality. Authors Dunn and Bubeck then examine the theology and spirituality behind Brown's novels Digital Fortress, Angels and Demons, and The Da Vinci Code. The book next compares and contrasts orthodox, historical Christianity with Brown's fictional version, which is really only repackaged ancient gnosticism, and examines whether Brown's fantastic reconstruction of Christian origins fits the facts as scholars understand them and whether or not such conspiracy theories are credible. This book really surprised me by how thought-provoking it is. I'm going to have to go back and re-read a couple of the early chapters. For anyone interested in the Da Vinci Code phenomena, be they orthodox Christian or not, I really would recommend this book as an excellent resource. This book alongside works such as Garlow's and Jones' Cracking Da Vinci's Code, Darrell Bock's Breaking the Da Vinci Code, or any of several other good debunking books will be an excellent resource for anyone interested in the alternate spirituality advocated by Dan Brown and the orthodox Christian answer to it's claims. There's a lot of good material in this book.