My Quick Takes:
- 3.75/5 stars
- Genre 📚 Action Thriller
- Language 🤐 moderate, God/Jesus/Christ name in vain
- Spice ❤️🔥 kisses only
- Content 🤔 murder, violence, secular worldview, past religious sex right*
Book Information
Title: The Da Vinci Code
Author: Dan Brown
Publication: 2003
Genre: Action Thriller
Series: Book 2 in the Robert Langdon Series
Robert Langdon is back for a second high stakes adventure. The Harvard professor takes on the symbols and secrets of a secret religious society called The Priory of Scion that begins in the Louvre.
My Thoughts
I am re-reading this series with my husband. He’s never read it and I’ve wanted to revisit it, so here we are. He is a read-a-series-all-the-way-through-without-stopping type reader, so we went straight from Angels and Demons into this second title in the series. The plotting in this book is spectacular, and as a plot focused type reader it was a wild ride. We both listened to the audiobook which helped us stay on pace with each other. The majority of my thoughts regarding The Da Vinci Code fall under the Biblical Worldview and Themes category so I’ll address them below:
Biblical Worldview & Themes
Whew, where to start. First, its funny how reading books in different times of your life changes how you perceive them. I don’t remember any religious themes or qualms I had with these titles when I think back on them. I read them in my early 20’s in college and remember loving them. Like I mentioned above, I am a “do it for the plot” reader, and this series is no exception. However, now that I have a fully formed brain, this book made me realize I am actually slowly turning into my mom.
Before I continue, I want to make it clear that Dan Brown did not write these books with a biblical worldview or in any capacity to bring people to any type of belief in Christ or religion in general. I fear this book probably creates more questions than it gives answers. It is not a book I would recommend to a new believer or a sensitive reader because the worldviews it contains are very contradictory to my personal beliefs.
I had to approach the themes in this novel as learning what religious sects and non-religious scholars believe. Some people, likely a lot of people, hold the differing beliefs found throughout the narrative in this book. It is hard to share exactly what those beliefs are without spoiling the plot, but it runs along the lines of Jesus not being a deity, being married, and the church deifying him and covering up the original teachings of Jesus during the Council of Nicaea. I personally do not believe anything this book says, so it can be hard and challenging to read this book as a bible believing Christian. Like I said above, this is not a book I would recommend to just anyone.
What is interesting, is that Dan Brown grew up with a father who was a math professor, and a mother who was a church organist. With parents who, I can assume, had different worldviews, the reader can see that come out in his books. His plots revolve around the relationship (or lack thereof) between science and religion. His first book in this series, Angels and Demons, personally bugged me less than the themes in this novel did. About halfway through the book is when I finally had the mindset shift of not taking the beliefs presented in this book as either personal or what someone thinks I should believe, but as beliefs that a secret religious society believe.
*As noted above in my quick takes, there is a religious sex right in this book. It is presented in the past tense and is something that one of the main characters accidentally sees and is traumatized by (as one would be). When Robert Langdon explains how religious societies view these types of rituals to her she seemingly understands and is less traumatized by her past experience, I really disliked this portion of the narrative. Not necessarily that there was a sexual ritual, because hello, its a secret society within a book with a secular worldview, but how professor Langdon explains away this practice as normal and acceptable. Again, I do not agree with this at all and it is reflected in my star rating of this book.
As the title hints, the root of a lot of these beliefs come from Leonardo Da Vinci, the famous painter who masterfully created The Mona Lisa, which I have personally seen hanging in the Louvre. Again, I’m beating a dead horse with a stick at this point, but this book is using beliefs of a secret religious sect, not beliefs of Christianity, as its main source of “truth”. I’m not sure what I believe when it comes to Da Vinci and his personal beliefs during the Renaissance. I have an art degree and I’m sure the topic of symbology in his work was brought up at some point during my degree plan, but its nothing I retained or remember if so.
My Thoughts (again)
Now that that’s all out there and out of the way, how do I personally read and reconcile this book with my own religious beliefs? At the end of the day, its a fictional book with an intriguing fictional plot so I don’t give it much weight. The beauty of being grounded in scripture and truth is that I can read a book like this, with opposing worldviews, and know that it is not true and where the true truth is found: in God’s word.
There were certain aspects that rubbed me the wrong way in this book, more so than in Angels and Demons, and my star rating reflects that. Overall, I had a fun reading experience with my husband and have enjoyed re-reading this series with more mature eyes. Mature in that it both rubbed me the wrong way and I can also confidently say that I don’t believe the narrative being told to readers throughout the story.
Who I’d recommend this to
Oof, this one is sticky. I would not recommend this to a sensitive reader, or a new believer. As mentioned above, I originally read this book in my early 20’s after a lifetime of being brought up in a solid Christian home and having a firm foundation of faith to stand upon while reading this book. I can easily look back at that time in my life and say it had no moral or religious impact on my life when I read it, and it still doesn’t today. So, I don’t know who I would recommend this to, but I hope that my review is enough to give you the discernment on whether you fall into the small category of people who would both enjoy this novel (as I still did) and also not be affected by it in any type of religious or spiritual way.
Similar Reads
- Angels and Demons by Dan Brown: If you’re looking for book 1 in this series
- Blood and Treasure by Ryan Pote: If you want an action/adventure thriller with a side of religious conflict and military influence.
- The Ghost City by Ryan Pote: If you want an action/adventure thriller that feels like National Treasure.
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