Breaking the Da Vinci Code: Answers to the Questions Everyones Asking

Breaking the Da Vinci Code is an attempt by a Christian professor of religion, Darrell L. Bock, to refute the information provided in the popular novel, The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown. Bock justifies this effort by saying that not only has the novel been highly popular, it proclaims as true some concepts that are contrary to traditional Christianity. The book is divided into eight codes, or chapters. The first three of these deal with Mary Magdalene. Was she, as Brown’s book claims, the wife of Jesus, an apostle and a key figure in the early church? Bock provides evidence from the gospels and other writings that she was not. He says that Jesus was single and never married. Mary Magdalene was a devoted follower of him, but no more. Brown’s book further claims that Christian leaders have tried to diminish her in order to preserve their authority, a claim that Bock also rejects. He points to evidence in the gospels that show a positive role for women, given the culture of the times. He also says that the gnostic gospels, discovered in 1945, do not help us understand Christianity. Brown’s book says that people who had a political agenda assembled the New Testament gospels and Jesus was not upgraded to the status of God until the Emperor Constantine and the adoption of the Nicene Creed in 325. But Bock points out that Paul said Jesus was God in the first century. Bock also disagrees with two Harvard professors on various matters. Brown’s book, Bock says, essentially states that the Church, in order to defend itself, made Mary Magdalene out to be a prostitute and hid her marriage to Jesus. His conclusion is, “We have examined this claim and found it to be wanting historically at every key point.” The last code asks who was Jesus? The Resurrection is the real code that shows he truly was God. Professor Bock represents the Christian establishment and thus is defending it against what he sees as an attack on its beliefs. The life of Jesus Christ and the formation of the Catholic/Christian church are shrouded in mystery and there have been many interpretations. A number of scholarly books have pointed out that the bible is not historically accurate and many of its events may be myths or parables. We are now quite certain, for example, that the biblical account of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus is largely inaccurate. The Resurrection may be one such myth. Jesus may not have actually come back to life; rather the message might be that if you follow his preachings you will be resurrected after your death and reside with God. We just do not know and one either believes or disbelieves as a matter of faith, not fact. For this reason, then, Bock’s book fails in its mission. He tries to use “facts” to disprove other “facts,” neither of which may be true in reality. In any case it would be a good idea to read Brown’s book first so that you can have the background for what Professor Bock is trying to refute.

Notice that those who have written critical reviews of the book either say dont waste your time or they attack Bock (the author). They call him a Texas fundamentalist or criticize him for criticizing the Da Vinci Code. What they dont do is give you any reasons why Bock is wrong. Maybe they cant come up with anything. This is too important a subject not to figure out who is right and who is wrong. Spend the $15 and make up your own mind.

mr. bock doesnt do any good with his book. he lacks order, research and ways to get to the reader to explain his points of view. every chapters is left open leaving you without options, hints or even interest. as a christian i was expecting to find the answers the books says it will give. i was left only with more questions and whats worse, doubts. the book reminded me of preachers who speak and sound hollow. i took the da vinci code, as it is supposed to be, a novel. i have heard of all its theories before, and thought interesting even though i dont think them true, but these book is so shallow and meaningless that it does wrong for the faith its supposed to be defending.

Although this book is easy to read, I was unimpressed by the lack of REAL, factual evidence. The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction, and this book tries to poke the many holes in THAT dreadful work of art. But how do you refute a work of fiction by using the same source? What I mean is, the Da Vinci code is basically saying the Bible does not tell the whole story. Ok, fine, but how is Bocks book going to refute Browns work by using the Bible and scriptures as its main source? The Bible is what they are arguing, so you cannot use the source of the problem as the answer. They are like two children saying Did not!, Did to!, and so on. Its just poor research. I want different proof.

This book povides good analysis on who Mary Magdalene was and logically looking at the possibility of Jesus being married. It deals with the Gnostic documents reasonably, and gives a clear and fair account on how actually the Christian Bible came into being. This book answers key questions which could cloud the readers of The Da Vinci Code. A fair piece of work which gives an objective critique on the fascinating but misleading novel. Anyone who reads with rational mind (especially those who know Textual Criticism, History and Literature) would enjoy this intelligent work.

Intended for our entertainment, and never intended to make a point. Everyone knows that entertainment media is devoid of any agenda. Novels, songs, movies, television shows and poems would never use the medium of entertainment to make a point or try and change, much less formulate, public opinion. Everyone knows that....... Hey does anyone know where I can get a copy of Catch 22, Apocalypse Now, The Grapes of Wrath, Bleak House or Bonfire of the Vanities? I want to be entertained.

Bock focuses on the first 325 years after the death of Christ because that is Bocks expertise. He slowly and deliberately breaks what he calls codes of the Da Vinci Codes. He covers Who was Mary Magdalene, Was Jesus married, How were the New Testament Documents assembled, and other similar topics. He does a very credible job. However, the whole code theme was a little confusing. In the later chapters, he refered back to arguments in the earlier codes, for example, As we stated in Code 6. However, the codes were not really codes and they were not really memorable or breakable. The codes are just topics that he discussed and argued against Dan Browns assertions. Bock is really arguing against the scholars who study the Gnostic gospels and are proposing their own version of Christianity. Bock is arguing against that school of thought rather than the Da Vinci code in particular. His arguments are strong, but not that exciting. Although he proves his point, I dont think Dan Browns fans would be convinced. They would just say thats your version of history. I would think destroying all the bizarre myths Dan Brown spins around the Templars would be more convincing. The whole Priory of Sion is so ridiculous and based on such flimsy evidence I cant see how even Oliver Stone would believe it. In conclusion, the book presents reasoned arguments against many of the themes of the Da Vinci Code. The arguments are sound. The history is interesting to learn, but I dont think it is the best book to go to battle with in an argument with a Dan Brown enthusiast. The arguments are too subtle and I think they are better books out there for debunking The DaVinci Code.

Despite the overwhelmingly negative response to this book taking into consideration of the negative votes against positive reviews, I am obliged to recommend it to those serious christians who had read the Bible a number of times and understand the meaning of the death of Jesus and thus Christianity the religion well. In my opinion, the author had delivered multi-dimensional arguments (of time, culture, history, politics from many respected academics) against the suspicions raised by Dan Browns book, that Jesus had lived to marry Mary of Magdalene, Constantine had overhauled the Bible in A.D. 325 and so on. Of course, nobody can perfectly win the case unless we can travel in a time machine or Jesus suddenly shows up before us and tells it himself. However, I think this book can help christian readers to apply good probabilistic thinking to judge for themselves what truths we should really believe. I can understand that many readers dislike the book for the very strong or passionate poise the author took to defend his faith against the popularity of Dan Browns book as an authentic history and not a fiction. As a non christian colleague of mine who borrowed it from me said, The harder the author tries, the less trustworthy he seems. What a pity that my colleague knows very little and has no interest at all about the conflicts amongst the early christians for the orthodox beliefs (well documented before A.D. 325), the unsolvable discrepancies between the maintream gospels and those gnostic gospels (Its impossible to accept different personalities of the disciples amongst different gospels), the cultural background and the history of Jews (Jews, the Middle East people, and the Romans in those days never cared nor respected the role of women like the way we do in the 21st century as opposed to what Dan Brown wrote), and most importantly, what Jesus death and his subsequent rise to heaven means. Such knowledge will largely enhance his appreciation of the whole picture and that he may not judge the book primarily with the style of the author. (If his rise did not happen, hes not the one which the prophets in the Old Testaments told about the coming Messiah and Christianity is no more than a fiction). Perhaps if the author had not picked an over confident title, the receptance of the book could be much improved. Anyway, I do respect the authors effort and moral courage to take side instead of standing in the middle or being politically correct, a way which many christian academics prefer to live.

Anyone who has read Dan Browns novel knows that he is presenting more than just well written fiction. In fact, I believe that The Da Vinci Code may be one of the biggest attacks on modern Christianity ever. But its also one of the weakest. Dan Browns arguments are absurd beyond belief. But because he has sold over 40 million copies, evangelical Christians and even some liberal scholars (i.e. Bart Ehrman) have felt compelled to refute Dan Browns erroneous claims. When I began to look into Dan Browns claims, I went to the nearest Christian bookstore to find scholarly material that refuted his novel. I was shocked to find literally 10 books refuting The Da Vinci Code. Which was I to choose? I had already read Hanegraaffs work and was somewhat disappointed at the lack of depth presented. And some of the other authors didnt seem to have the right credentials to answer Browns claims. It was then that stumbled across Darrell Bocks masterful work, Breaking the Da Vinci Code. He had impeccable credentials as well a lot of experience in writing on these issues. First, Ill start with the good. I enjoyed each and every chapter by Dr. Bock. My favorite chapter dealt with the Gnostic Gospels. I was surprised to find that most of Bocks arguments were historical rather than theological. This was a good thing as someone reading Bocks book might suspect a bias on his part. Not so with this work. Bock examined the Gnostic works in great detail, showing how little they had to do with historic Christianity. Now with the bad. I didnt think that Bock dealt with the truly important issues. While he thoroughly refuted Browns claims on Jesus marriage, the conspiracy at the council of Nicaea, and the canon of Scripture, I dont feel that Bock refuted Brown as well as he could have. What are the important issues? 1. Is the Bible corrupt? 2. Did Christians believe in the deity of Christ before Constantine? While Bock touched on these subjects, he should have written entire chapters dealing with textual critical issues and things of that nature. Perhaps Bock wanted to focus on the main topics of the Da Vinci Code? I do not know. But if that if that is your primary concern; whether or not Jesus was married, then Bocks work is the perfect choice. But if your primary concern is Biblical inerrancy and things of that sort, then look elsewhere. Overall, I enjoyed the historical nature of Breaking the Da Vinci Code and look forward to reading more of his books in the future.

In response to J.E. Stolls review. Dan Brown is quoted as saying that if he was asked to wirte a piece of non-fiction on these things, he would change nothing about what he claimed in the novel. This was in the first few pages of Bocks book which you REVIEWED! Fiction or not people want facts! Great book!