Ministries

Da Vinci Code, Judas Gospel Controversy Coincide with Easter Holy Week

As Christians are about to enter one of the year’s holiest of weeks, many are faced with overwhelming questions and challenges against the truth of the Gospel message that is most celebrated at this time.

Both bestselling authors, Bock and Olson were the first ones to publish books in 2004 debunking The Da Vinci Code. Olson co-authored his book with Sandra Miesel, a medieval historian and journalist.

Within its context, The Da Vinci Hoax draws out comparisons between Brown's novel and several earlier texts that many have accused Brown of copying.

"We never accuse him of plagiarism. That's not our intention," noted Olson. "Our goal is to show that Brown relied upon sources that no historian takes seriously."

On Friday, Brown was vindicated after being accused by historians Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, of plagiarism.

"We never thought that the ruling was going to affect anything that we stated [in our book]," commented Olson. "The things that came out during the court trial especially Dan Brown's witness statement just further validated everything we wrote in our book - that he did very little research ... It speaks to what is the truth about how this [novel] was created."

Despite a growing trend discrediting Christianity, Olson is not afraid of the challenge.

"We as Christians have nothing to fear. In fact, we welcome a thorough examination of history because it validates what we believe as Christians. History is not the enemy. My hope is that it opens the doors to Christians to study churches and church history in a way they haven't before."

Meanwhile, the Christian Council of Korea (CCK) has applied for a provisional injunction to stop the release of the movie version of the novel.

The CCK filed its application in Seoul against the film's distributor Sony Pictures, according to Screen International.

CCK said the film was "an insult and defamation" of Jesus Christ and the Bible.

The group also said that they were "concerned about the damage that would be caused to individuals' faith" because of the film's content.

The Da Vinci Code movie is currently scheduled to open in Korea next month after its Cannes world premiere on 17 May.

Lillian Kwon & Daniel Blake
Christian Today Correspondents

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