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— CRACKING
THE ANTI-CATHOLIC CODE — |
Part
2 of a Special Planet Envoy Critique of The
Da Vinci Code
"Christ, the Early Church, Constantine, and the Council
of Nicaea"
By
Carl E. Olson and Sandra Miesel
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Introduction
In Part
1 of "Cracking the Anti-Catholic Code" we
examined the background of The Da Vinci Code phenomenon,
focusing on the Gnostic ideas that author Dan Brown utilizes
in his best-selling novel (now at 4.5 million copies sold
and still selling strong). This second part of Envoy magazine’s
special Planet Envoy critique of the best-selling
novel examines Brown’s depictions of early Christianity,
especially his claims about Jesus Christ, the Emperor Constantine,
the supposed reliance of early Christianity on pagan beliefs
and rituals, and the Council of Nicaea. As we will see,
Brown not only plays fast and loose with the facts, he
consistently makes statements that are inaccurate, baseless,
and even completely contrary to historical fact.
Constantine "Divinizes" Jesus?
Some
of the most audacious and blatantly incorrect statements
in The Da Vinci Code have to do with early Church
history and the person of Jesus. In the course of Sophie
and Langdon’s lengthy conversation with Teabing at the
English historian’s home, a dialogue takes place in
which the following claims are made:
- The
divinity of Jesus and his establishment as "the Son
of God" were created, proposed, and voted into existence
(by a "relatively close vote") at the Council
of Nicaea in 325.
- Prior
to this event, nobody–including Jesus’ followers–believed
that he was anything more than "a mortal prophet."
- The
Emperor Constantine established the divinity of Jesus for
political reasons and used the Catholic Church as a means
of solidifying his power. (The Da Vinci Code, 233)
To
read the full Envoy magazine critique of "Cracking
the Anti-Catholic Code, Part 2," please click here.
Stay
tuned to Planet Envoy for the next segment of
Carl E. Olson's multi-part critique of
The Da Vinci Code.
|
 Part
2 of "Cracking the Anti-Catholic Code" is the
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