Book is part of quest to break 'Code'

Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" may be the best thing for Christian believers since Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."
At least that's the view of Josh McDowell, a Dallas-based author known for his many books stressing the authenticity of the Christian faith.
"'The Da Vinci Code' is dangerous if we don't take a stand and answer it," said McDowell, author of a new book, "The Da Vinci Code: A Quest for Answers" (Green Key Books, $12.99).
"Dan Brown is a fabulous writer, but I can't believe the historical blunders he made," McDowell said. "But this is a wonderful opportunity for Christians to present their faith in a positive light and let people know that the Bible is the most reliable book in antiquity."
McDowell, whose Web site josh.davinciquest.org offers "Da Vinci packages," is one of many Catholics and Protestants who dispute the content of the book but use its popularity to educate Christians about their own faith.
"The Da Vinci Code" certainly has struck a nerve. Publishers Weekly says the book published by Doubleday has more than 1.5 million copies in print. The movie version, starring Tom Hanks, promises to be a blockbuster.
"Jesus sells," says Carolyn Osiek, New Testament scholar and author. "People have always been curious about Jesus."
People also like conspiracy theories, said Osiek, the Charles Fischer Catholic Professor of New Testament at Texas Christian University's Brite Divinity School.
Provides a challenge
The book, which Dan Brown repeatedly has said is a work of fiction, challenges Jesus' divinity and says that Opus Dei, an international Catholic organization that promotes piety, conspired with other church leaders to cover up a secret -- that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and that their descendants still walk the Earth.
Osiek spoke recently in Fort Worth, Texas, not spending much time criticizing "The Da Vinci Code" but focusing on what is known historically about Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
"Mary Magdalene was from Magdala, a fishing village on the west side of the Sea of Galilee. She was a disciple of Jesus and followed him all the way from Galilee to Jerusalem. She provided him with goods. There is no suggestion of a romantic connection," Osiek said.
One of the most controversial narratives in "The Da Vinci Code" is a passage attributed to the noncanonical Gospel of Philip, which tells of Jesus' love for Mary Magdalene and states that he "kissed her on the lips."
Brown added the "on the lips" part, Osiek said.
Osiek has been interviewed on Australian television about the book that she and many others say distorts Christian history. She also will be one of the scholars featured on a new documentary television special, "Jesus Decoded," produced by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Opus Dei has asked Sony Pictures to put a disclaimer on the movie saying it is fiction, not history, said Bryan Finnerty, spokesman for the New York-based organization. Sony hasn't said whether or not it will do it.
"The novel misrepresents what Opus Dei is by having an albino monk who belongs to our organization going around killing people," Finnerty said. "There are no monks in Opus Dei, albino or otherwise."
Group is better known
In an odd way, said Finnerty, the controversy has allowed Opus Dei to become better known. It's not a secret group, he said, noting that NBC's "Good Morning America" recently broadcast from its national headquarters. The organization, founded in 1928, urges clergy and laity alike to live out their faith day by day, encouraging prayer and meditation.
One of the most egregious claims of "The Da Vinci Code," Monsignor Francis J. Maniscalco says on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Web site jesusdecoded.com, is that the Roman Emperor Constantine "decided to make a god out of Jesus Christ who was solely a Jewish rabbi for whom neither he nor his first followers ever asserted a divine origin."
One high-ranking Catholic official, Archbishop Angelo Amato, the Vatican's secretary of the Congregation of the Faith, said recently that he personally believes that Catholics should consider boycotting the movie.
If the kind of "slander, offenses and errors" contained in Brown's book and film had been written about "the Quran or the Shoah [Holocaust], they rightly would have provoked a worldwide uprising," the Catholic News Service quoted Amato as saying.
In the meantime, many Catholic and Protestant Christians will use the runaway success of the hair-raising tale to highlight their own stories about a Galilean carpenter who in his 33 years on Earth preached a life-changing message of God's love and forgiveness.
Knight Ridder Newspapers