I forgot – I never told you about my talk, so overwhelmed was I by the border crossing trauma.

The talk went great! Probably about 150 people there, at the campus church at Bowling Green University. The talk was sponsored by the Office of Young Adult Ministry but…let’s just say that it’s great to be young at heart!

It’s kind of hard to figure out the audience – I don’t know if I’ve got Codephiles or eager Catholic apologists or what in front of me, so I just figured I probably had both (which is the stance from which I wrote the book, anyway). One woman did have TheWoman With the Alabaster Jar sticking out of her purse. I don’t think she bought one of my books.

I began by discussing why I wrote the book, which I think bears repeating, because I’m starting to see the counter-criticism pop up here and there, in reference to this whole genre of anti-DVC books.

I didn’t write this book simply because DVC exists. I’m not afraid of it. I promise.

I wrote it because people are asking questions.

Those who look at this phenomenon (the counter DVC books) and sniff about fearful Christians just don’t get it. They’re not in the trenches, they’re not in ministry, and they’re not getting the emails, phone calls and direct questions. Did this really happen? No one’s ever told me about how the Bible came to be…is what Brown says true? Is it true that no one honored Jesus as Lord until Constantine told them to?

The simple fact is, people are asking questions, and they deserve answers. We can sniff at the ignorance or gullibility of such people, but that’s uncharitable too. It’s not their fault they were never taught the truth about Christian origins.

So I began there and moved on, talking about the nasty letters I get from Codephiles, then into the book. I started with the Leonardo business because really, it’s this area that shows, most blindingly what a scam this novel is, and accomplishes that end without any of the religious baggage. The guy purports to know about art. Everything he says about Leonardo’s life and art is wrong. Everything.. Now, why are you even thinking about taking him seriously about religion? Have you read a Gospel lately? Why don’t you give it a shot and see if the Jesus portrayed in there is really the over-spiritualized figure who’s so hard to relate to, as Brown argues. Dare ya.