>Ross Douthat wrote an op-ed column for The New York Times in which he discusses Dan Brown’s theological worldview behind his two novels, Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code. The following is an excerpt from Douthat’s column:

Brown’s message has been called anti-Catholic, but that’s only part of the story. True, his depiction of the Roman Church’s past constitutes a greatest hits of anti-Catholicism, with slurs invented by 19th-century Protestants jostling for space alongside libels fabricated by 20th-century Wiccans. (If he targeted Judaism or Islam this way, one suspects that no publisher would touch him.)

But Brown doesn’t have the soul of a true-believing Enemy of the Faith. Deep down, he has a fondness for the ordinary, well-meaning sort of Catholic, his libels against their ancestors notwithstanding. He’s even sympathetic to the religious yearnings of his Catholic villains — including, yes, the murderous albino monks.

This explains why both “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons” end with a big anti-Catholic reveal (Jesus had kids with Mary Magdalene! That terrorist plot against the Vatican was actually launched by an archconservative priest!) followed by a big cover-up. A small elect (Tom Hanks and company, in the movies) gets to know what really happened, but the mass of believers remain in the dark, lest their spiritual questing be derailed by disillusionment and scandal. Having dismissed Catholicism’s truth claims and demonized its most sincere defenders, Brown pats believers on the head and bids them go on fingering their rosary beads.

One aspect of Douthat’s column is that he has a good analysis of contemporary religious life in America. According to Douthat, the reason Americans are abandoning organized religion is because of “the growth of do-it-yourself spirituality, with traditional religion’s dogmas and moral requirements shorn away.” How true!

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Angels and Demons, Dan Brown

var addthis_pub = ‘claude mariottini’;