Wednesday, May 10, 2006

The Church and the Da Vinci Code

I often tell people, if I am going to watch one movie this summer, it is probably going to be the Da Vinci code.

When I say that...people either know I have been reading Dan Kimball's blog, or they look at me pretty funny.

Apologetically, it presents a fascinating challenge for the church. Because it challenges the church to think and work in a new direction on understanding and explaining their faith.

Most Christians, if they have any expertise in the field of theology called apologetics tend to have a lot of training on how to speak about Christianity as having valid truth claims. The aim was to gain inclusivity. Namely, that Christian truth be accepted alongside other truths

Now...with its emphasis on gnosticism and alternative stories, I think the Da Vinci Code leaves us with a different challenge. And that challenge is more about what makes the experiences and truths of the Christian community different from the truth claims of the Masons or any other group.

The task of commending Christianity in the past was to how to commend the faith as on par and the same of other truths. The task of people understanding and explaining the Christian faith in the future will be attempting to explain the uniqueness of its truth.

5 comments:

see-through faith said...

I'll go to see it too. I'm actually looking forward to it, after having seen the trailer. Looks a bit like a James Bond (grin)

We just did a course on Apologetics and I loved it. My honest opinion is that we Christians need to sharpen up on what we believe and why. While we will never be able to prove God, there is more to faith than Heb 11. I for one love 1 Jn 1 where we see that faith is also built on what we seen, look at and touch. Now you and I cannot see or touch Jesus - and we do rely on eye-witnesses of the past, but much of the Bible is proven /confirmed by historicity and archeological facts. It's interesting and it's great :)

Oricon Ailin said...

I read the book recently and I just loved it. I am firm enough in my faith that it didn't waver what I believe in. However, it really does make you think.

I agree with see-through on the fact that we as Christians need to sharpen up on what we believe in. We need to be firm in our beliefs and stand up for them.

As for the movie...I am very excited!!

Angels and Demons should be made into a movie as well. I actually liked that book more than Da Vinci Code. But both were pretty cool.

San Nakji said...

I think you have a great way of looking at things here. I personally enjoyed Da Vinci Code, but took what it said with a grain of salt. It's a good bit of fiction.
However I do wonder whether you need to defend your faith. It is after all, your faith, who cares what others believe?

Nabeel said...

DaVinci Code is very belieavable to me ... why? because the bible has been changed sooooooooooooooooo many times .. so many times .. there are so many kings who changed the bible .. based on the modern times and what they needed and etc. etc.

Friar Tuck said...

Not true Nabeel not true. The Bible..like any sacred writing...has been misused to perpetuate power, but we are as close to the Greek manuscripts as we are to any ancient writing that can be found.

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