The Da Vinci Code Breaker

(James L. Garlow with Timothy Paul Jones and April Williams, Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2006.)

I’m not a big advocate of authors who make a living refuting other authors’ books. However, I’m also not overly fond of authors who write a novel and then put a disclaimer up front saying that although the particular events within the book are fictionalized, the research behind them is not. (That goes for apocalypse-obsessed Christian authors as well as Dan Brown.) In my opinion, authors should make up their mind beforehand whether they want to write a novel, a history book or a polemic, and then write one of the above. Otherwise, it’s too easy for gullible readers to become confused; and confused they will become.

I’m not being elitist either. Even with four years of Bible college, one year of seminary, and nearly ten years of researching and writing Christian books under my belt, I was confused by several elements in The Da Vinci Code. While I had a rough working knowledge of the Gnostic tradition from whence this book comes, my understanding wasn’t nearly robust enough to offer a full-on rebuttal of Brown’s unorthodox portrayal of Christ. In fact, for a brief moment, I even began to wonder whether or not Brown might really be onto something… Gullible? Who, me? You bet!

If that was the case for me, meagre Bible scholar that I am, what about the millions of people who read The Da Vinci Code but have no Christian education whatsoever? Although it is merely a novel, Brown’s book presents a narrative that is compelling enough—and seeded with just enough truth—that it really does sound, well, true. In fact, I couldn’t help but feel that the person who gifted me with a copy had a look in her eye that said, “This’ll set you straight.� She’s not alone. I wouldn’t be surprised if millions of people are reading this novel and accepting its rewriting of history as fact. Hence the unfortunate need for books that attempt to set the record straight.

Which brings me back to my main point: While I don’t normally endorse books that merely offer counterarguments, I want to make an exception for The Da Vinci Code Breaker by James L. Garlow, Timothy Paul Jones, and April Williams. I appreciate this book because, rather than launch a polemic to counter Brown’s polemic—which rarely advances an argument to any sort of constructive level—the authors have chosen instead to create a fact checker, a mini-encyclopaedia of over 500 people, concepts, locations, events, and terms mentioned in The Da Vinci Code. I am under no illusion about this being an objective account of the facts. But it does offer a clear, concise representation of what orthodox Christianity has had to say about such matters. Armed with these competing truth claims, readers are much better equipped to decide for themselves which version of the facts seems more plausible in light of history, experience, reason, and Scripture. This book doesn’t attempt to make up readers’ minds for them. It merely provides them with enough information to do that on their own. I really wish I had it handy when I first read The Da Vinci Code.

So, no matter where you fall along the theological spectrum, I encourage you to read The Da Vinci Code and The Da Vinci Code Breaker hand-in-hand. If your mind is truly open to all of the facts, I think you will pleasantly surprised by where you wind up at the end.