Christianity Online: Response to The Da Vinci Code as Imp ...

The “Holy Grail” of antiquity was not a chalice at all but the womb of Mary—a bloodline sprang from her union with Jesus. This theme is derivative of a hypothesis set forth in a 1982 book by Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, which was posited as nonfiction scholarship. Nevertheless, the “marital Jesus” notion is antithetical to Vatican doctrine and has been dismissed by many prominent historians. “There is not the slightest hint in the New Testament that Jesus ever married,” according to one religious studies scholar. “Jesus’ own teachings from his days as a prophet of the kingdom of God rule out the possibility…” (Pearson, 2005, pp. 33, 47).

A matter of contention, also, is Da Vinci’s suggestion that Roman emperor Constantine collated today’s biblical canon to suit his own purposes and that he ordered the burning of noncanonical gospels and the editing of other gospels.

Another controversy surrounds the novel’s depiction of the group known as Opus Dei, an actual “Catholic institution… (with a) mission to help people turn their work and daily activities into occasions for growing closer to God, for serving others and for improving society” (Opus Dei, 2006). The group reports it comprises mainly lay members in support of church activities, although the Brown work describes it as a monastic order. Of prime contention is the novel’s depiction of the Opus Dei protagonist named Silas, who is seen as a murderous monk involved in sacrificial “mortification of the self” or masochistically bloody self-flagellation.