This appeared on CNN.com recently.
The National Catholic reporter John Allen wondered about the thousands of hard-core Da Vinci Code fans called “Code-heads” flocking to France to examine sites named in Dan Brown’s novel: “I think the deeper spiritual question here that the church really has to ask is, how is it that they have a hard time getting people to come to church on Sunday, but millions and millions of people are ready to plunk down $35 to pick up a hard copy of The DaVinci Code. What that indicates is that there’s a tremendous spiritual interest, a tremendous hunger out there that, for whatever reason, institutional Christianity does not seem able to satisfy.”
My first thought to this is, People are lemmings. They’re looking for a thrill. It’s just a bit of prurient interest, like rubber-neckers on the freeway.
But when you think about it, thousands of people are interested in the truth behind these ancient myths. That seems pretty significant. And the fact is, these so-called “Code-heads” are proving a point that needs to be made. Story has an incalculable impact on all of us. The church would do well to recognize it.
Hi Mick,
Courtesy of something Jeff Dunn said at Mount Hermon this year, may I also add that people love a mystery, which is what’s found in the Da Vinci code. One of the things we do that is perhaps a turn-off to *some* people is put God in a box, and explain Him so well that there is *no* mystery left. So, what’s the motivation to come to church?
Pat
The thing that sucks about The Da Vinci Code is that it’s not very good. When I meet people who love the book, I don’t challenge its heretical content; I just tell them to read Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum and see what a writer can do with that kind of story. The fact that you finish Eco’s book with contempt for conspiracists instead of becoming one yourself is just icing on the cake.