Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We Really Know About Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine, by Bart D. Ehrman. Oxford University Press. ISBN: 0195181409. Dan Brown’s popular work of fiction, The Da Vinci Code has been an enormous publishing success. But this fast-paced mystery is unusual in that the author states up front that the historical information in the book is all factually accurate. But is this claim true? In the new book TRUTH AND FICTION in The Da Vinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We Really Know About Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine, noted historian Bart D. Ehrman asks if there is any truth to Brown’s “historical backdrop” and the claims made about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Constantine the Great, and the formation of the canon of scriptures.
Unlike many other critiques of Brown’s novel, Ehrman focuses on the historical foundations of the text and seeks to separate the fact from fiction about the historical beginnings of Christianity, especially in the life of Jesus and the writings that make up the New Testament:
Ehrman examines all of these claims and also offers a wealth of background information about other aspects of early Christianity, such as the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (which are not Christian in content, contrary to The Da Vinci Code). Ehrman also reveals how scholars of early Christianity establish “proof” from the myriad of conflicting sources surrounding the historical Jesus, Mary, the Christian church, the writings of the Gospel, and the role of Constantine, in order to debunk the allegations that The Da Vinci Code makes.
Curiosity about the origin of Christianity and religious iconography has been peaked by such sources as The Da Vinci Code and Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ. The insight that Ehrman brings to this subject far surpasses these blockbusters and sheds new light on the life of Jesus and the writings that make up the New Testament.