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Carole Mikita Reporting First came the best-selling novel, now the much-publicized film version of Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" premiers this week. Carole Mikita talked with a group of Utah religious scholars to get their take on this phenomenon.
"The Da Vinci Code" film will likely put many moviegoers on the edge of their seats. Mystery, adventure, even romance, but when it comes to religion, some Utah scholars say best to remember it's fiction, not fact.
Dan John, Teacher/Coach, Juan Diego Catholic High School: "There are no dinosaurs on an island in the middle of the Atlantic and Dan Brown's book is at the same level. You've got to keep that in mind, and people don't."
The Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City has no official statement, but sees the book as a direct attack on the church.
Susan Cook Northway, Dir. Religious Ed., Catholic Diocese of SLC: "People who might have a tendency to be anti-Christian, or anti-catholic will take this piece of work, and it fuels the flames of that kind of mindless emotion."
Ronald Huggins, Th.D., Salt Lake Theological Seminary: "There's not a scholar, I don't think, on earth who would endorse 'Da Vinci Code' now. It's been refuted by conservative scholars, by liberal scholars, by the PBS religion light crowd, by the Jesus seminar guys. It's just, it's fiction."
The trouble begins, they say, on page one of the book with Dan Brown's statement, "All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate."
Leonardo Da Vinci's 'The Last Supper' is not, they say, the center of a hidden message. He knew exactly who he was painting, the apostle John, not Mary Magdalene.
Thomas A. Wayment, Ph.D., Dept. of Religion, Brigham Young University: "There's sketches that are preserved still where he gives names, lists the figure and writes the name below it. There's nothing to suggest that's Mary Magdalene."
Was she married to Jesus? Our scholars agree, it makes for an intriguing story, but there is no scriptural evidence.
Rev.Jennifer Hare-Diggs, Exec. Dir., SL Interfaith Hospitality Network: "I like to say that Mary Magdalene was the first Christian preacher, proclaiming the resurrected Christ. In terms of any other relationship, there is absolutely no indication in the scriptures."
Also no evidence, they say, that she is literally the Holy Grail, carrying Jesus' child and creating a royal bloodline. The medieval Grail stories are about searching for the divine in all people.
Andrew Skinner, Ph.D., Dept. of Religion, Brigham Young University: "It's almost like a spiritual voyeurism, in a sense, an historical perversion of really some noble stories that we can learn a lot from."
Three BYU Religion professors have written an answer to the book, titled 'What Da Vinci Didn't Know". They join the others in arguing against Dan Brown's conclusion that Jesus wasn't divine.
Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Ph.D., Dept. of Religion, Brigham Young University: "Give me a better explanation than the empty tomb, something dramatically changed."
