Another Perspective

There has been a lot of discussions about The Da Vinci Code lately in Christian circles (Focus on the Family, Opus Dei, Chuck Colson). An interview with Brian McClaren raises what I believe are some of the reasons the book is so intriguing and also discusses why some Christians are very afraid of it.

I think McClaren's point about a general lack of knowledge about church history is especially worthy of note.

I also tend to agree with McClaren that the interest generated in this book only shows that people are still fascinated with the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, but fed up with the way the institutional church is portraying him. Not that I believe Brown's view of history is accurate, but what is it about Jesus' humanity that is so scary to the church? Why are we afraid of the fact that Jesus was a sexual being just like us? And why did the church go to such lengths to make Mary Magdalene into a prostitute instead of a disciple who lived to follow Jesus - why was it important to portray the woman (Mary) as sexually immoral and the man (Jesus) as so divine as to be uninterested in sex altogether?