Author: Russ Wise From http://www.christianinformation.org/article.asp?artID=105

Leonardo’s secret is out! His Code has been broken and the “true” meaning of his work is now known. To date the writing about The Da Vinci Code has largely been centered on the presupposed Facts or “truths” offered by Dan Brown in the beginning of his book – The Priory of Scion and Opus Dei. However, there is a much deeper concern that should arrest the interest of the Christian community: the linkage between the teachings found in The Da Vinci Code and those taught in Gnosticism.


The critical issues that should alarm the Christian are as follows: Brown offers his reader a different Jesus than the one found in the Scriptures, his Jesus never claimed to be Divine, nor did he ever resurrect from the dead. Brown’s Jesus was a married man who fathered a child and later created a movement – Christianity – based on lies and deception. Brown’s novel more closely reflects ancient Gnosticism than early Christianity. The focus of our discussion will center on Brown’s use of Gnosticism as a tool by which he can reconstruct authentic Christianity. Brown’s message is clear; he wants to reinvent the Christian faith by going back to the early writings of the Apostles and rewrite or reinterpret their message to suit his purposes. The test is simple for the modern Christian - will the 21st century Christian be able to adequately discern the heresies of our day as the early Church Fathers were able to recognize the heresies of theirs? Our ability to correctly do so is central to the future of Christianity.


           The Gnostics held several views that were opposed to biblical Christianity. They believed there was a “sacred relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene.” They also accepted the idea that Goddess worship was central to understanding man’s spiritual destiny and that the ‘sacred feminine’ (or the ‘divine goddess’ as Brown puts it), is the foundation stone that Christianity is built on, even though it has been obscured. This knowledge is gained by attaining wisdom through the teachings of Sophia – the Goddess of Wisdom – and her counterparts within the church.


Christian Gnosticism is said to have emerged in the seventh century and it has gained a growing popularity over the centuries. It is currently known as Sophian Gnosticism and has found followers among many of the churches of our day.


           The Goddess Sophia has gained notice in recent years through the Re-Imaging Movement. This movement has made inroads into many Christian denominations: United Methodist, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, United Church of Christ, Baptist, Episcopalian, Mennonite, United Church of Canada, the church of the Brethren and the Church Women United. This movement to establish the Goddess Sophia as a co-equal to God has its origin in ancient Gnosticism and is now being reintroduced to a new audience through the literary work of Dan Brown.


The Da Vinci Code is just another attempt to further the idea that women hold the keys to true spirituality and that mankind would be better served if they returned to the pre-Christian order of spiritual observance. At the very least, the goddess as the consort of God is recognized as a co-creator and co-equal.


           Before we can understand the connection between The Da Vinci Code and Gnosticism it would serve our interests to more fully understand the teachings of Gnosticism.*

The word Gnosis is the Greek word for knowledge. However, the Gnostics “gave a special twist to the word, so that for them gnosis meant a special type of revealed knowledge without which human beings could not attain salvation.” In short, the Gnostics saw themselves as a religious movement where salvation was dependent on knowledge. This revealed knowledge gave them a sense of superiority over the ignorant masses.


           There has been much debate between scholars about Gnosticism and its origin and how to properly, (read “academically”), define it. It is not our intention to climb that Ivory Tower here; our focus is set on better understanding how Dan Brown and his novel have negatively influenced those in the church and how he has subverted the Truth of the Bible. It will also be instructive to see how he uses occultic/pagan teachings to further blur the Truth of Scripture.


           Our discussion will center on the second century Christian heresy and how it has gained prominence in the 21st century through a best selling novel. The Da Vinci Code has caused confusion among those who are not fully grounded in biblical Christianity. In other words, some individuals have been seduced by the seemingly academic, thus unquestionable, approach used by Brown in his novel to introduce false precepts regarding the Bible, the Apostles, the role of Mary Magdalene, and early Christian ritual. Brown has cleverly used Gnosticism as his tool of choice to undermine each of these precepts. In my view The Da Vinci Code appears to be nothing more than a Gnostic Primer for the masses.


           The Gnostics held certain beliefs that were common among them. One commonly held belief is dualism. In other words, reality is dual in nature: light and dark, good and evil, spirit and matter. There is also a good god and an inferior god. Matter or the material world is considered evil and devoid of light. “Given the good god’s opposition to matter, it is impossible that he could have anything to do with bringing such a world into existence. The material world must be the work either of evil demons or of an inferior god, akin to Plato’s Demiurge, whom heretical Christian Gnostics viewed as the Yahweh of the Old Testament.”


           “The unknowable God was far too pure and perfect to have anything to do with the material universe which was considered evil.”Therefore, God created lesser divinities, or intermediary beings known as Aeons. One of these emanations was Sophia the Goddess of Wisdom. These “intermediate deific beings who exist between the ultimate True God and ourselves” is another core belief of Gnosticism. The Gnostic view taught that the biblical God was an inferior god who created the earth and denied that Jesus was God’s begotten Son. Jesus was considered “a great teacher” and one who shows mankind his true self. “Christ was the divine redeemer who descended from the spiritual realm to reveal the knowledge necessary for this redemption.” In essence, Jesus was nothing more than a messenger.


           The Gnostic saw Jesus as the one who would show them their true selves as divine. The search for gnosis is founded in experience. Gnosticism is a world view based on the spiritual “experience of Gnosis” that ushers one into right understanding or right knowledge. This experiential knowledge leads one to believe that each individual is a “divine spark”. According to Stephan Hoeller, a Gnostic Bishop, “humans are generally ignorant of the divine spark resident within them. This ignorance is fostered in human nature by the influence of the false creator and his Archons, who together are intent upon keeping men and women ignorant of their true nature and destiny. Death releases the divine spark . . . if there has not been any substantial work of Gnosis undertaken by the soul prior to death, it becomes likely that the divine spark will be hurled back into, and then re-embodied within, the physical world.”More simply, if the individual had not done sufficient spiritual work needed in this lifetime he is then reincarnated to complete the task.


           Elaine Pagels, a history of religions professor at Princeton University and author of The Gnostic Gospels, had an epiphany when she was “reading the Gospel of Thomas [and] came across this saying of Jesus: ‘If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you.’ She comments: ‘The strength of this saying is that it does not tell us what to believe but challenges us to discover what lies hidden within ourselves; and with a shock of recognition, I realized that this perspective seemed to me self evidently true.”


           The achievement of spiritual growth and man’s attainment of knowledge was seen as the greatest accomplishment man could acquire; his doing so would bring salvation. However, man had a problem! He was ignorant of his true origin and was in need of right understanding.


           “From the earliest of times Messengers of the Light have come forth from the True God in order to assist humans in their quest for Gnosis. Only a few of these salvific figures are mentioned in Gnostic scripture; some of the most important are Seth (the third Son of Adam) and Jesus.”Gnostics do not view salvation as redemption for one’s sin, but as an escape from ignorance which causes sin. This deliverance from ignorance is largely gained through the Gnostic Jesus in his role as a Messenger of Light.


           Ronald Nash, the author of Christianity & the Hellenistic World, makes this observation: “Christ came into the world, not in order to suffer and die, but in order to release the divine spark of light imprisoned in matter. The Gnostic Jesus was not a savior; he was a revealer. He came for the express purpose of communicating his secret gnosis.”


           Another example of this Gnostic teaching is found in the Mind Science cults.One particular example is found in the teachings of Unity School of Christianity. Eric Butterworth, a Unity minister, agrees with the Gnostic belief that Jesus gained salvation by self-discovery. “We must see Jesus as the great discoverer of the Divinity of Man, the pioneer and way-shower in the great world of the within. We must carefully and then emphatically reject our historical tendency to worship Jesus. When He becomes the object of worship, he ceases to be the way-shower for our own self-realization and self-unfoldment.”


           Gnosticism, Hinduism, and Dan Brown’s character, Langdon, agree with the Hindu legend that man’s innate divinity is hidden deep within his understanding. The legend says that Brahma taught that man abused his divinity in his pre-mortal life and he decided to take it away and hide it where man would never again find it. So Brahma said, “Here is what I will do with man’s divinity. We will hide it deep down in man himself, for he will never think to look for it there.”According to the gurus of India and those who practice New Age spirituality, man’s primary work in this life is to regain the hidden knowledge that will lead him to his “Divine Self”.


           Butterworth believes that Jesus made this great discovery and claimed his divinity and by doing so opened the door for all humanity to cross over the threshold to self-discovery as well. Butterworth clarifies his point by saying, “Jesus is the man who became divine through discovery of the dynamic that is innate within all men.” We are gods having a physical experience seeking to reconnect with our true selves. Butterworth continues, “Obviously, this is a long-range goal. We are not going to achieve this divine fulfillment in a day or a year, or in a lifetime.” Here again he agrees with the Gnostic. “Those who have not attained to a liberating Gnosis while they were in embodiment may become trapped in existence once more. It is likely that this might occur by way of the cycle of rebirths.” So, not unlike the Gnostic or the Wiccan, he introduces reincarnation as the wheel by which man ultimately reaches his destination.


           Butterworth closes his tome with this last statement about sin: “The great sin of mankind is not to know the divinity that lies unexpressed within every individual.” He could have just as easily added that mankind’s greatest sin included the fact that he has also not recognized “that powerful men of the early Christian church ‘conned’ the world by propagating lies that devalued the female and tipped the scales in favor of the masculine.”The Gnostics blurred the distinction between male and female by seeing humanity as androgynous and therefore revered the female over the male by worshipping the sacred feminine, the goddess. Likewise, the Wiccan tradition also recognizes the sacred feminine as the true source of spirituality.


The great sin against the goddess was misogyny. Elinor Gadon in her text, The Once & Future Goddess, echoes the accepted history among the Pagan world when she tells of the takeover of the peaceful Goddess cultures by the warlike Indo-European patriarchal cultures. She forlornly tells of “the new divine order” that “led to far-reaching changes in the social fabric, in the relations of men and women with their gods, with each other, and with nature. It seems that everywhere that the sky gods took over, life became less free, less creative, and less joyful."

Brown uses the symbolism of sacred marriage in his novel as a doctrinal point that needs to be understood within the context of da Vinci’s work. He puts forth the idea that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and this idea is exposed in his masterpiece, The Last Supper.


           Sacred marriage is not simply a literary device used by Brown. It is a historical rite found in Goddess lore and witchcraft. Sacred marriage, or herios gamos, is a central tenet of the sacred feminine as it relates to the Goddess. Gadon makes the point clearer by stating, “Union with the goddess was of paramount importance for rule on earth. The sacred marriage rites between the Goddess and the Sumerian king were to secure the fertility of the land and to legitimize the king’s rule.”


           The Wiccan tradition referred to herios gamos or sacred marriage as the Great Rite. This rite was practiced physically, as in Brown’s usage, or symbolically. As in the goddess tradition the Great Rite was seen as a ritual to ensure fertility, in this case agricultural. It was practiced in the spring as Brown observed it and it was seen as “an essential half of spiritual enlightenment.” According to Brown, “The once hallowed act of Herios Gamos – the natural sexual union between man and woman through which each became spiritually whole – had been recast as a shameful act.”Brown goes on to underscore his point by commenting further, “It (Herios Gamos) was a spiritual act. Historically, intercourse was the act through which male and female experienced God. The ancients believed that the male was spiritually incomplete until he had carnal knowledge of the sacred feminine. Physical union with the female remained the sole means through which man could become spiritually complete and ultimately achieve gnosis – knowledge of the divine.”Langdon, one of the central characters of Brown’s novel, concluded his thought by adding, “man could achieve a climatic instant when his mind went totally blank and he could see God.”


           The concept of sex as a pathway to God is also found in Hinduism as a form of yoga called tantra.  “Tantra is a spiritual tradition that originated in India some 4,000 years ago. It is a way of life that celebrates and strives for the union of body, mind and spirit . . .  all forms of sacred sexuality have in common the intentional cultivation and use of sexual energy for spiritual growth. The ultimate purpose of Tantra is a union of lovers, and union with the divine, with God.” As stated earlier, The Great Rite is practiced physically and “the couple enacting the Great Rite are offering themselves, with reverence and joy, as expressions of the Goddess aspects of the Ultimate Source . . . They are making themselves, to the best of their ability, channels for that divine polarity on all levels, from physical to spiritual. That is why it is called the Great Rite.”

Dan Brown’s novel has stirred a blizzard of controversy within the Christian community. Much of the controversy has centered around the idea that the Catholic Church and others within organized Christianity have suppressed the teachings and importance of the sacred feminine and in particularly the role of Mary Magdalene as the consort of Jesus Christ.


           The controversy has also included the influence of the Catholic group Opus Dei and its involvement in the suppression. The Catholic Church has taken great offense at such a notion and has mounted a strong defense of the church and its veracity. Another of the organizations that Brown subverts in his scheme is The Priory of Scion, the guardians of the secret and the sacred feminine.


           The controversy is rooted in the fact that Brown makes an emphatic statement in the opening pages of his text that his descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in his novel are accurate and thereby subtly causes the reader to falsely accept his premise. He also makes the bold statement that the organizations he uses as the suppressors or carriers of his truths are indeed factual as well.


           Even though the reader knows he is about to read a novel, Brown’s “Fact” statement cements in the reader’s mind that the novel he is about to read is set in a non-fictitious, historically accurate world and based on sound research. A problem occurs when a reader is incapable of discerning the text’s veracity because of the author’s persuasiveness and literary prowess. Too many folks are unable to distinguish between fiction and reality, “especially when it comes to claims related to God, gender, and the history of faith.”


The underlying concern that true believers – Christians – should have is that Brown’s book causes unfounded confusion regarding the life of Christ and who he really is. This possibility is exacerbated because many people don’t believe that religion has anything to do with objective truth anymore.


           Brown makes gratuitous assaults on the integrity of the faith then attempts to support them by using falsehoods and outright lies. Yet, his defense is that “it’s just a novel!” However, we accept his ruse at our own peril. Brown appears to have an agenda and craftily expresses it through his characters, Langdon and Teabing.

Professor Langdon mentions Brown’s first egregious “truth”. He speaks, noting the Priory of Scion’s teaching that “Constantine and his male successors successfully converted the world from matriarchal paganism to patriarchal Christianity by waging a program of propaganda that demonized the sacred feminine, obliterating the goddess from modern religion forever.” The subtle implication here is: matriarchy good, patriarchy evil.


           Earlier we noted Gadon’s premise that the warlike Indo-European culture overran the peace-loving matriarchy and ultimately brought devastation. Garlow and Jones make an astute observation regarding this cultural shift. They strengthen their view by quoting Steven Goldberg, chairman of the Department of Sociology at City College, City University of New York, “The point is that authority and leadership are, and always have been, associated with the male in every society, and I refer to this when I say that patriarchy is universal and that there has never been a matriarchy . . . the findings of the past 50 years failed to include a single shred of evidence that such matriarchies had ever existed . . . [Of the h]undreds of societies we have studied in this century . . . Without exception [they] have been patriarchal . . . [Margaret] Mead acknowledged that ‘It is true . . . that all the claims so glibly made about societies ruled by women are nonsense. We have no reason to believe that they ever existed.’” This distortion of history is commonly used within the Wiccan tradition as well. Several years ago I interviewed a Dianic Witch after she had spoken at a large denominational university in Dallas, Texas. She had grown up in the Christian faith, but as a young woman she began to study Wiccan and Pagan traditions and her[his]story as she called it. Linda went to great lengths to underscore the legitimacy of her “truth” regarding this “cultural shift” by quoting Starhawk (Miriam Simos) and Marija Gimbutas among others.