BOOK REVIEW: The DaVinci Code

Last night I finished reading the DaVinci Code for the first time. I finally got some time for some leisure reading and decided to start with this book. The book was a gripping read, had a good pace, kept me interested enough to stay up until 3 am to finish, and had good resolution. I though Dan Brown was an exceptional author for moving through a story quickly while giving you the necessary details and without stalling out on elaborate explanations, etc.

That aside, I felt that the author was pushing an agnostic point of view, which I don't agree with personally. I didn't understand why the "divine feminine" or "goddess" was set up in the book to be the 'true religion' and Christianity was explained away as a creation of Constantine and the Catholic Church. I guess I don't understand what Nature worship is entirely -- it seemed that worshiping the "goddess" meant simply glorifying sex, especially the woman half. To me that doesn't seem like religion, it seems more like a fetish. In contrast, religion's purpose in my mind, is to acquaint us with higher laws and the eternal nature of man's soul, not to dwell on they physical desires of the natural man.

Mixed in with that was the seeming contradictory theme that Mary Magdalene and her descendants were to be protected like they were sacred or royal. What made Mary Magdalene important in this book was her marraige to Jesus and her role as the bearer of his royal bloodline. I understand that both of them descended from royal jewish bloodlines, but if Jesus wasn't divine as the book proposes, what make his and Mary Magdalene's progeny any more important than the rest of humanity? I don't get it.

The purpose of the message of the book seemed to be to discredit Christianity and uphold pagan worship of mother nature and women (the "goddess"... I still don't undersand who she really is). I can't reconcile the great story telling with the message told either, so I don't know how to recommend this book to anyone. I think I'll pass on further Dan Brown novels even though he is a great story teller. He seems to be more interested in 'exposing' weaknesses in Christianity than in making sure that alternatives he proposes actually make sense.