Da Vinci Code?

Question

Do you think Jesus really married Mary Magdalene as Dan Brown claimed?.........for me i think its just a way to mess with our faith.......your opinion matters to me.

Answer 1

Please ignore those who insult you with "IT'S JUST A WORK OF FICTION!" stuff. Yes, we all know that the FRAME of the story is fiction. But Dan Brown himself claims that the major substance of the evidence the characters are supposed to be uncovering is historical FACT. He writes that in the front of the book, and used to make a lot of it, until he discovered saying "it's just fiction" would be an effective ploy. (Note, Brown IS pushing his OWN religious convictions in the book...)

On your main question -- Brown's research is shoddy at best. He makes numerous historical blunders and misstatments, and the conspiracy theory books he bases it all on are laughed out of court by experts in the fields he is touching on.

For example:
1) the "secret organization" ("Priory of Sion") da Vinci was supposed to be part of was created in the 1950s!!

2) The "clues" suggested in the Last Supper, etc. totally ignore things art historians know and that are openly observable, e.g., that it was normal for painters of that era to portray young men --like the apostle John-- with soft 'feminine' features (cf. da Vinci's painting of John the Baptist --beareded, but very soft features)

3) the "Holy Grail" stories are medieval -- there is nothing about them in the early church (so they could hardly be misunderstandings!)

4) the NT is very clear that it was the apostle John --not Mary-- who was Jesus' "beloved disciple" (esp. in the last chapter of John's gospel, and by comparison with the other KNOWN writings of John)

5) Council of Nicaea (AD 325) did NOT suddenly foist the idea of Christ's deity on the church -- they already believed it; the only debate was how best to understand it (and their final statement was nearly unanimously supported!)

6) nor did Constantine & co. throw out other biblical books at that time; not only did Nicea not discuss this particular question, but the basic canon of the New Testament was widely agreed on in the 2nd century (only a few of its books, which had not been as widely read, caused much debate)

7) The NT has a very positive view of Mary (some later ideas of her were based on understandable confusions, since "Mary" was such a common name)

8) the "Gnostic gospels" do not suggest anything about Mary being married to Jesus (in fact, few are anything like "gospels", since they don't tell the story of Jesus' life & work)

9) Gnosticism was a fringe movement... and it did NOT view Jesus as "more human". Quite the contrary, they thought of the whole physical world as evil (only the spiritual world is good). Contradicting the firm belief of the Hebrew Bible, Judaism & Christianity that God created the world good (but people rebelled!) with its hope in the physical resurrection, Gnosticism was a repackaging of Eastern religions and wished to "escape" the physical world.

Gnosticism was also ELITIST, believing that only a handful of people were even capable of the special "knowledge" (gnosis) they possessed (quite the opposite of Christianity, which was proclaimed to ALL --Jew & Gentile, male & female, slave & free..)

10) NO hidden Christian teachings have been discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls. That community (the Essenes of Qumran) was JEWISH, and the documents found there are copies of OLD Testament writings & things related to the community's understanding of them.

Answer 2

I don't think it matters. If Jesus was married... how does that change the message of salvation? What is so horrible about the notion of Jesus having a wife? Now I really don't believe that they were married personally, but if they were... I could care less. The Da Vinci code is feeding off the hype of controversy. Dan Brown has admit that it is a fictional work. And above all, even if Da Vinci was implying that Jesus married Mary Magdalene how is that gospel truth? It could just be his work of fiction.. he wasn't exactly a Godly man.

Answer 3

First of all, it's a work of FICTION! It's intended only to be entertainment, nothing more. It is not supposed to make you , or anyone else, question their faith.

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There was another movie--quite a long time ago--called "The Last Temptation of Christ," and that movie was at least as controversial with the Church as this movie is. So a lot of people just got mad about it, and they didn't bother to see it. But I saw it, and I thought that it had a terrific spiritual message (which was that Christ was fully aware that He could have chosen to have lived any life that He wanted--including being married to Mary Magdalene and having a family--but that in the end, He resisted temptation and did his duty). Instead, the Church got all ticked-off, because the movie showed Christ imagining what it might have been like to have lived a different life. They said that it was blasphemy.

Answer 4

Why would a fiction author want to mess with anyone's faith? It is just a theory and what's wrong with a theory. Even men of the cloth say there was a possibility that Jesus could have had a partner ! Not necessarily Mary Magalene. So what if he did? He was a man after all as he said himself if you believe in the bible.

Answer 5

Ok! Seems like we have talked this debate to death so hear I go yet again. First of, Dan Brown does not purport that his novel is a history book. It is a work of FICTION with his own interpratations.

I think we forget that Jesus was a Jew and as such, he would have closely observed Jewish traditions. Many pple believe (myself included) that the likelihood of a 32-yr old Jewish rabbi being unmarried in ancient judea is highly unlikely. Was Mary Magdelene his wife? No one can know with any degree of certainity but we know that she was closely aligned to the jesus movement either as a follower/disciple or companion to teacher jesus, she was quite infleuntial since she is named several times in the gospels (both the traditional gospels and the gnostic gospels), her biography was distorted by the early church for reasons we can only hypothesis as fear of her influenece/power struggle etc. In ancient Jewish culture, a woman was a 2nd class citizen...so why is this woman mentioned as often as she was? Why do all the men around Jesus seem to dislike her or fear her? All very interesting qtns and the conclusions that some make is that she was a close companion of jesus and as such, the heir apparent to the jesus movement...that's one theory....

Please note that there is such a difference btw the historical jesus and the jesus of faith that it is difficult even for historians to reconcile the two. Some of us are more moved by one than the other. Personally, I like the Jesus of history because he was a regular "joe schmoo" who changed the world....example of what one person can accomplish

Answer 6

The Da Vinci Code was just a work of fiction, there's nothing true about it...people have been making such absurd claims for centuries now, but the fact that they are short-lived only reinforces the lack of truth in them.

Answer 7

Da Vinci Code is just a fiction and not intended to misguide anybody or mess with anyone's faith. Just read the book opr watch movie and treat it like one. Just get into all teh controversies

Answer 8

i think that anyone who is strong in their faith should not be shaken by a different side to the story. i firmly believe that history is highly debatable and open to interpretation. in addition, i do not believe that every word of the bible should be taken literally; in the da vinci code, which i believe is an amazing novel, sir leigh teabing even states that christians have taken such a leap of faith as to believe in jesus's message. as such, the da vinci code shouldn't shake anyone's faith; after all, history is written by the victors (catholic church) and every religion requires people to believe without questions.

Answer 9

I don't think Jesus really married Mary Magdalene. I think it was a ruse to sell a book.

Answer 10

Da Vinci Code is fiction!
Don't believe it ! Just enjoy it!