I’m getting some mail in response to yesterday’s Spectator article reminding me that The Da Vinci Code is only a novel, and not to worry.

Well, I address that in my book.

First, there’s no such thing as “only a novel” – culture affects us. We read because we want to be affected. We should always be interested in the content of the cultural expressions we view/consume. Secondly, this novel is not being read only as a novel. If it were, my book would not need to be written. People are accepting its assertions as interesting hidden history. Further, on his website, author Dan Brown has several statements to the effect that he’s really happy to be able to bring this lost history to readers’ attention.

Not just a novel.

I’m also getting mail telling me that – well, nice try, but since the dispute here is about matters of faith, my assertions have no more weight that Brown’s.

My book doesn’t deal with faith assumptions. It’s about history and art. Take for example, one of the issues – the divinity of Christ. I don’t issue on apologetic on the divinity of Christ in this book. What I address is Brown’s assertion that the divinity of Christ was invented by Constantine in 325, and before that time, “Christians” had happily revered Jesus as a mortal teacher (for which they were arrested and thrown to the lions. Go figure.)

As I said, whether or not Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God and divine is not what I deal with in my book. What I deal with is the historical assertion that the belief was invented by Constantine in 325. See? It has faith implications, but not necessarily. Believe what you want, but at least start from an accurate understanding of the historical record, as far as we can discern it.

I have to say that I had a rather benign, albeit irritated attitude towards the novel until I started really researching some things – like the art. I saw that almost everything Brown says about Leonardo and his art is wrong, with the truth easily found in 5 minutes of Googling, and, for more substantive evidence, in 15 minutes in the library. Wrong – not just interpreted an a unique way – but simply wrong. I was actually rather shocked. Stupidity? Brazen? Cojones? I can’t judge, that’s for sure, but….no wonder he’s no longer giving interviews.