The Da Vinci Code

So the Church *finally* came out to call The Da Vindi Code blasphemy (as Maureen Dowd said in her nytimes op-ed, its relatively soon, considering it took them a few centuries to change their stance on Galileo)!

I tend to be quite skeptical about books/movies/music that become a rage only because everyone else has read/seen/heard it and is uncool to not be part of the wave. But, this was a good read, a good page-turner. The ending was a bit of a letdown, but what was I expecting anyway?

There is the oft-repeated phrase, "history is written by winners". While some of the stuff in the novel may have some legitimacy about it, to go all the way to claim that a sangreal exists would be going a bit too far, I would think. Its interesting that the bible was written decades after the events actually happened - so, its what those saints WANTED to tell everyone else. Is the bible a bestseller at best (did quite well didn't it?), and no religious text? What about the other religious texts then? But then is religion anything more than faith in something meant to comfort & strengthen (debatable in itself..)?

I liked how the ideas in the novel seem truer, the farther back in history & time the writer goes..as in, the Mary Magdalene stories seem most plausible to me, the more recent stories in the novel abt all those sects seem on shaky ground. This also a noble attempt to redefine the position of the woman in christianity (which is what Maureen Dowd would harp about - was a great fan of her stinging humor, but of late she is increasingly just serving up the op-ed version of sex-in-the-city).

Greatest credit to the guy for his superb research. Look forward to the movie..
Dan Brown's FAQ - very interesting