Discipling Men, Inc.

I.        Introduction
          A.  Relevant  a sales hit: 50 million plus copies sold in 43 countries.  Movie

                pens this Friday, May 19, 2006. Books have great impact on thinking.

          B.  Timely - We are at a time of relativistic thinking where absolutes

                are not readily accepted.

 

II.       Background
           A.  Dan Brown - Gnostic writer. Graduate of Amherst College and

                 Phillips Exeter Academy, where he spent time as an English eacher before

                 turning his efforts fully to writing.

           B.  Fact or Fiction - Starts the book out by stating: "FACT" then

                presents a fictional story about the Priory of Sion.  Difference

                between foreground and background characters.

           C.  Story Line - Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an

                 urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has

                 been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have

                 found a baffling cipher. It leads to a trail of clues hidden in the

                 works of Da Vinci.  Langdon joins forces with a gifted French

                 cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the curator was involved in

                 the Priory of Sion the Louvre curator has sacrificed his life to

                 protect the Priory's most sacred trust: the location of a vastly

                 important religious relic, hidden for centuries. In a breathless race

                 through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match

                 wits with a faceless powerbroker that appears to work for Opus

                 Dei-a clandestine, Vatican-sanctioned Catholic sect believed to

                 have long plotted to seize the Priory's secret. Unless Langdon and

                 Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's

                 secret and a stunning historical truth will be lost forever.

III.      Major Themes
           A.  Scripture - The canon had to meet several tests. Apostolicity,

                 Orthodoxy and catholicity. Athanasius, the bishop of Alexandria,

                 list was published as part of his Easter Letter in 367. The Gnostic

                 gospels were contradictory, absurd, and of later origin. They were

                 viewed as heretical.

           B.  Divinity of Jesus Christ - Dan Brown's Position: "Almost everything

                our fathers taught us about Christ is false." (Page 235) The New

                Testament writers themselves fully recognized that Jesus was

                absolute deity. The early church leaders believed Jesus was divine.

                Ignatius, Clement, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origin,

                Novatian, and Cyprian all believed Jesus was God.

          C.  Jesus and Mary Magdalene - Dan Brown's Position: "The

                marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is part of the historical

                record." (Page 245) Based on the Gospel of Philip, Brown

                asserts that "the companion of the Savior is Mary Magdalene."

                There is no historical reference that asserts this, either

                through Scripture or the church fathers.

          D.  Holy Grail  - though of as the cup Jesus used at the last Supper.

                Also viewed as the cup containing Jesus blood from the

                cruxification. In Da Vinci Code Magdalene's womb, carrying

                Jesus offspring, was the Holy Grail.

 

IV.     Conclusion
          A.  Great Opportunity for Growth in Christ - We will all benefit

                from study.

          B.  Great Opportunity for Great Commission - We will reach many

                for Christ.