Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code and Dan Brown

With the release of the Angels and Demons movie based on the novel by Dan Brown many of the same old myths about Christianity are being rehashed, yet again.

Ross Douthat wrote an interesting article for the New York Times about Dan Brown in general and Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code in particular.

Ross Douthat notes, that in novels like Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown seeks,

...to present a fiction that can be read as fact, and that promises to unlock the secrets of history, the universe and God along the way.1

This is quite right as I pointed out in the parsed essay beginning at this link.
Dan Brown continues from the supposed "facts" in The Da Vinci Code to the supposed facts in Angels and Demons. In An interview with DAN BROWN author of "ANGELS & DEMONS" Dan Brown makes the following references,

…unsettling fact…historical fact…all the locations and artwork in the novel are factual…factual information…

Ross Douthat notes,

He's writing thrillers, but he's selling a theology.

Dan Brown's novels Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code and others are a concoction of facts and fiction. While this is the stuff of novels the issue with Dan Brown's novels is that they are really a concoction of fiction that is claimed to be fact and admitted fiction which is claimed to be based on fact.

Dan Brown admits the following,

My goal is always to make the character's and plot be so engaging that readers don't realize how much they are learning along the way.

Again, while engaging the audience is any author's goal, Dan Brown succeeds in getting people to confuse their reading of a novel with reading a historical treatise.

For example, when he is asked "Angels & Demons was inspired in a bizarre location. Can you tell us what happened?" he responds thusly,

…one of the Vatican's most feared ancient enemies was a secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati--the "enlightened ones"--a cult of early scientists who had vowed revenge against the Vatican for crimes against scientists like Galileo and Copernicus.

Suffice it to say that "the Vatican for crimes against scientists like Galileo and Copernicus" are a modern day myths which have been exposed in many places including here and here.

Ross Douthat further notes,

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.)

When Dan Brown was asked, "Angels & Demons reveals a lot of inside information about the Vatican... much of it unflattering. Do you fear any repercussions?" (ellipses in original) he responded, in part, by stating,

I imagine some controversy is unavoidable, yes…It's certainly not an anti-Catholic book. It's not even a religious book.

What repercussions has Dan Brown suffered from authoring Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code and having them being turned into movies?
The repercussions, which were instant and severe, include:
Instant celebrity.
Wealth.
Adoring fans.
Interviews.
Book and movie deals.
Oh, and an occasional Christian saying that they do not like his books and movies.

Counter distinguish this with Salman Rushdie (as I did here) and you see why Ross Douthat was quite correct in stating that if Dan Brown targeted Judaism or Islam this way, one suspects that no publisher would touch him. Actually, I suspect that targeting Judaism would not cause Dan Brown any problems as the books of Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens are saturated with anti-Jewish sentiments although generally disguises as popular, comfortable, hip and lucrative anti-Christian sentiments.

One can only pray that Dan Brown's novels such as Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code will do for secularists and others what it has done for so many Christians: induced research into the actual facts of the topic by applying true biblically ordained skepticism (as per Acts 17:11 et al) and dichotomize truth from falsehood.

1. 1. Ross Douthat, "Dan Brown's America," New York Times, Opinion, May 19, 2009