Dangerous Da Vinci?

The whole world seems to be talking about the Da Vinci Code at the moment. I don't know if this is a particularly good or bad thing. It frustrates me that Christians get so up in arms about something that is really rather harmless - a fictional tale - and the key word is fictional. And honestly, I'm going to keep this short, because I don't care all that much, and I don't particularly want to add to the mess of stuff already out there about this topic.

I actually didn't have any idea what the book was about, so I borrowed the copy my brother bought to read on the planes on his recent trip to Ukraine, and I read it over the last couple of days. I'd heard it was an amusing read in a "you have to check your brain out" kind of way. I enjoyed the read. Brown is a good writer. He crafts supsense well, if somewhat predictably at times.

But here's what got me. His writing seems so true - all the legends and mythology surrounding the Christian faith - with just enough truth thrown in for it to be confusing. I have a four year degree in church history. I've never heard any of the stuff Brown writes about the grail before. And I assure you that I had professors who love controversy - if the kind of thing Brown was writing about was recognized by anything more than fringe scholars, I'd have heard about it.

As to the whole bit about reclaiming the sacred feminine, I honestly thought that Brown made some good points. He took it to a bit of an extreme that was perhaps unneccesary, but extreme seems to be stock in trade these days. As to the whole sacred feminine thing, I refer you to past posts I've written about feminist theology for some of my thoughts on the matter. I also recommend that you truly study Moravian theology during what is occasionally referred to as their "radical" period - Zinzendorf and his followers had a strong understanding of the sacred feminine that earned them much criticism, but seems to be a somewhat scriptural and inspired thought, if again a bit extreme at times.

All in all, I think the Da Vinci Code is far less of a big deal than we are making it out to be. I don't think it is particularly dangerous - yes, it goes too far, and yes, Brown's claims of historical accuracy are ridiculous, but dangerous? I don't think so...