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May 8 , 2006 • VOL. 44, NO. 9 • Oakland, CA
Professor says
‘The Da Vinci Code’
can rekindle interest in Catholic faith
CORAL GABLES,
Fla. (CNS) -- Instead of fearing or trashing “The Da Vinci Code,”
people of faith should view it as a much-needed vaccine against ignorance,
according to Thomas Ryan, chairman of the religious studies department
at St. Thomas University in Miami.
“It is a novel that holds a mirror up to us -- to silly academics
and people who misuse facts,” Ryan told a group of Protestant, Catholic
and Jewish leaders gathered recently for the monthly clergy dialogue sponsored
by the National Conference for Community and Justice.
He said talking about the popular book -- and upcoming movie -- should
“strengthen our congregations to be able to deal with what’s
out there” in terms of religious ignorance and misconceptions.
“This is a vaccine,” said Ryan, whose area of specialization
is medieval church history. “This articulates the silliness that’s
out there. We could use it as a way of inoculating ourselves.”
Ryan, who only recently read the novel, said his personal reaction to
it was: “Thank you, Dan Brown. ... I am grateful to (the novel)
for driving me to learn more about my faith. It raises questions that
I need to go and see. I’m a smarter person as a result of it.”
He described the novel as “a brilliant moneymaker” with all
the right ingredients: a murder, a mystery and a conspiracy. As one character
in the book acknowledges, “Everyone loves a conspiracy.” Even
more so, Ryan said, when “it incenses the faithful.”
Brown “wants us to think that this is nonfiction. And a lot of people
have fallen for the bait,” Ryan said. But “it’s not
nonfiction.”
He said that “on practically every page there is falsehood”
and “outrageous claims that are completely unfactual.”
“I think the author puts in all those mistakes to alert us”
to the fact that it is a work of fiction, Ryan said. “It’s
a story of people who use false evidence to support their claims. And
don’t we meet those people every day? I think it’s a story
of humanity. I think Dan Brown is kind of laughing at us. It mocks our
gullibility.”
Participants at the clergy meeting noted that the novel might not have
been as popular, or raised such a polemic, in a less secular age. Many
people today are seeking spiritual answers outside mainstream religions.
