I noticed an interesting cultural indicator when I compared domestic and foreign box office totals last week, and I see today that it's still holding true.

I think people will have different reactions to the results for these two movies, but nobody can deny that they do say a few things:

X-Men 3 Box Office Totals (as of June 2)

Domestic - $151,731,000

Foreign - $84,673,662

The DaVinci Code Box Office Totals (as of June 2)

Domestic - $158,471,000

Foreign - $317,479,155

Believe it or not, I think the two are related.

The book consists of six chapters. The authors being with an explanation of the novel and an analysis of the claims it makes. In the chapter three, they seek to explain why The Da Vinci Code has been so popular. Next they offer arguments for why people should accept the Bible as God’s inspired word and historical evidences for the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ. They close with an explanation of the Gospel message.

What’s unique about this book are the last three chapters. Though the arguments can be found in many apologetics books, the arguments are nevertheless quality reasons for believing in the divine inspiration of the Bible and the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ. The rest of the book is not as noteworthy. Several points of sarcasm detract from the book’s quality, such as in discussing the votes at the Council of Nicea being 316 to 2,” Two! Now that is really a very close vote: only two voted against the Nicene Council. Gee! We may have to have a revote on that.” (22) There were also a few editorial errors.

With several great responses to The Da Vinci Code already available, The Da Vinci Myth versus the Gospel Truth is a book to pass by. It lacks a thorough critique of the pagan worldview issues involved with the novel and even its good points can be found in better apologetics resources.

Entries in this book range from one sentence to several paragraphs. They cover historical persons, church councils, and even contemporary writers and their critics. It also covers early church, Gnostic, and other apocryphal writings and concepts. Charts are provided periodically for help in breaking down complex topics, such as the content of the Nag Hammadi Library. For a few select individuals, timelines are constructed highlighting important points in their lives. At the back of the book are a few maps and advertisements for additional resources.

Not only is The Da Vinci Code Breaker unique in its format, it’s also unique in quality. It covers every issue, item, and person relevant to the subject in an accessible and informative manner. It helps delineate the facts from the fiction in an easy-to-use format, as it claims. Whether it’s used on its own or in conjunction with other responses to Dan Brown’s novel, The Da Vinci Code Breaker is a necessary resource for those who seek to be informed about the truth.

Dr. Witherington recognizes that cultural context in which these ideas are being challenged, and reflects on them in light of it: “What counts in a postmodern culture is the power of rhetoric, not the accuracy of reporting or analysis.” (21) In each of the areas he covers, Dr. Witherington explains the current debates and interacts with the work of well-known proponents of opposing views; such as Elaine Pagels and Marcus Borg. At the end of the book is a glossary and subject and Scripture indexes.

I was pleasantly surprised with how good this book was. While there were a couple of points I disagreed with, for the most part Dr. Witherington takes sophisticated scholarly debates, makes them accessible to a lay audience, and convincingly defends the historic Christian position. He provides a quality analysis of Gnosticism and “the sacred feminine.” Overall, The Gospel Code is one of the better books that offer a serious response to The Da Vinci Code and recent critical scholarship.

Since large portions of the Da Vinci Code novel consist of one character sitting the others down for extensive lectures on the "facts" of history, I wondered how well the story would translate to the big screen.  Apparently, not well.

Just look at these quotes from the article "'Da Vinci Code' misses the mark for Cannes critics" about the recent screening in France:

"The Da Vinci Code" drew lukewarm praise, shrugs of indifference, some jeering laughter and a few derisive jabs Tuesday from arguably the world's toughest movie crowd: critics at the Cannes Film Festival....

The Cannes audience clearly grew restless as the movie dragged on to two and a half hours and spun a long sequence of anticlimactic revelations.

"I kept thinking of the Energizer Bunny, because it kept going and going and going, and not in a good way," said James Rocchi, a film critic for CBS 5 television in San Francisco and the online outlet Cinematical....

One especially melodramatic line uttered by Hanks drew prolonged laughter and some catcalls, and the audience continued to titter for much of the film's remainder.

A friend of mine has been predicting the movie's a stinker based on its ubiquitous advertising campaign.  If there's one thing the filmmakers don't need to spend money on, it's publicity...unless, of course, they know something we don't.

Now granted, the reaction of Cannes critics may be far from that of the person on the street, but maybe not.  We've been fighting it with truth, but it could very well be that this movie has enough weapons of cheese to bring itself down.  Which leaves us with this disturbing question…have we Christians now ensured that everyone will see this movie regardless of how bad it is?

Before analyzing the novel, Lutzer provides a summary of the narrative. The following six chapters address the Council of Nicea, the Gnostic Bible, Jesus’ relationship with Mary Magdalene, the New Testament canon, the “Historical Jesus” debate, and the accusation that Christianity borrowed from pagan mythology. He concludes with a presentation of the Gospel based on the real Jesus and what He did. At the end of the book is a short list of resources and some discussion questions for each chapter.

Erwin Lutzer’s book, The Da Vinci Deception, covers the most of the major problems with Dan Brown’s novel, including Gnosticism. It is very accessible, but also very simplistic. This is a good book for those who just want the basics, but readers should look elsewhere for a more in-depth critique of The Da Vinci Code.

The DVD curriculum follows the material of The Da Vinci Deception book. Thus, it is primarily divided into the seven chapters of the book, each forming a session on the DVD. The first session is a 17-minute introduction to the material. The following six sessions are six minutes each addressing the Council of Nicea, the Gnostic Bible, Jesus’ relationship with Mary Magdalene, the New Testament canon, the “Historical Jesus” debate, and the accusation that Christianity borrowed from pagan mythology. The airtime in these sessions is given almost completely to Erwin Lutzer who addresses the concerns in each of these areas.

The leader’s guide provides a thorough schedule for working through the material. For each season, it includes suggested group questions, games, handouts, chapter summaries from the book, teaching material, homework assignments, and lists of additional resources.

On one hand, the material covered is very simplistic. It may work for people not very familiar with the academic discussions, but will probably not do for dealing with some of the more thoughtful critics. Though the DVD is very accessible, it’s also tedious. On the other hand, the leader’s guide is exceptional. I don’t think there’s anything more a leader could ask for in a curriculum.

The Da Vinci Deception Experience will be useful for those church or small group leaders who want to educate their people will the very basics of responding to Dan Brown’s novel. Though the leader’s material isn’t as good, I recommend Lee Strobel’s curriculum (Discussing the Da Vinci Code) as a richer educational experience.

While the novel is actually fiction, our culture is such that many people treat it as non-fiction. “What Dan Brown says he believes is fundamentally incompatible with historic, orthodox Christianity. However, in a pluralistic society such as ours, millions of people seem to think you can pick and choose your beliefs like toppings on your pizza.” (2)

Through their introduction and 12 chapters, Boa and Turner analyze the problems The Da Vinci Code presents in our current culture and how Christians should respond. “So what is the gospel according to Dan Brown? Simply put, ‘Everything you’ve ever heard about Jesus is wrong.’” (23) They discuss postmodernism, truth, and history, while pointing out Brown’s problems and errors.

The authors ask, “What Would Jesus Do With Dan Brown?” (90) They essentially boil down the proper Christian response to “We’ve got to stop being foolish. We’ve got to stop being tacky. And we’ve got to stop being mean.” (118) Though they deal a few of the errors in Brown’s novel, they point to Darrell Bock’s Breaking the Da Vinci Code for a more thorough critique.

There are a number of great points throughout the book, such as, “Saying that Dan Brown’s book is about Christianity is like saying Finding Nemo is about marine biology. We have just as much evidence to suggest Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene as we have that clown fish talk.” (25) The authors also get points for using Jack Bauer as an illustration (102-103).

Unfortunately, these good points are counterbalanced by poor ones. In at least one case they esteem a cheesy slogan as good methodology: “people do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.” (106) The book doesn’t appear to have a logical structure and often switches focus without reason. The authors make some brief points about Gnosticism and “the sacred feminine,” but no thorough analysis of those topics is offered.

The Gospel According to the Da Vinci Code has periodic good points to offer, particularly in regards to the status of our culture. In that sense, it succeeds in dealing with the big picture. However, readers would be better off reading a book responding to the historical claims and pagan worldview of The Da Vinci Code.

The books eight chapters are divided into two parts: Constantine and the New Testament, and Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Dr. Ehrman makes it clear in the Introduction that while he found the novel to be “a terrific page-turner” (xix), he found many historical inaccuracies that needed to be dealt with.

In part one, Dr. Ehrman expounds on the role of Constantine in early Christianity, the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi Library, the non-canonical gospels, and the formation of the New Testament Canon. Part two investigates our sources for the historical Jesus and what they say about him, his relationship with Mary Magdalene, and the view of women in early Christianity.

Dr. Ehrman sums it up quite nicely: “The problem is that people who read a book like this have no way of separating the historical fact from the literary fiction… [The author’s] a novelist, not a scholar of history.” (189) I was surprised to find myself agreeing with the author throughout the book, and even enjoyed some of his quips. In speaking of the Gnostic gospels he notes, “the Jesus portrayed here is not merely human; he is a superhuman wunderkind.” (52)

There were however significant points where I disagreed, such as: “In fact, we don’t have any document written by a single eyewitness to the life of Jesus.” (103). Even if Dr. Ehrman believes the evidence for Matthew and John having written their respective Gospels is weak, there’s still a reasonable chance they actually did write them. On pages 116 to 117, he rants a lengthy list of differences between the Gospels. Some that he offers do (initially) appear to be serious challenges to agreement between the Gospels, but some are also very easily resolved.

From a literary perspective, Bart Ehrman did a good job of bringing academic discussions to a layman level. Even having studied the Dead Sea Scrolls in college, I found his discussion of them and the Nag Hammadi Library intriguing. In some cases, I think, he waters things down a bit too much in that he becomes very repetitive with his points- as if a non-academic reader could not keep up with his line of reasoning. Overall, Truth and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code is a great read for those looking to find out what a non-Christian thinks of Dan Brown’s novel. Though it has its weaknesses, it stands together well with other critical works that show the problems with The Da Vinci Code.