From the beginning of the establishment of the Christian church there have always been controversies about how the organization has been run. The Da Vinci code and The Secret Supper deal with an alternative interpretation of early Christianity and the gospels, far different from that of the orthodox Catholic Church, both novels also deal with mysteries behind some of Leonardo Da Vinci’s most famous paintings. The Da Vinci code describes the attempts of Robert Langdon, Professor of Religious Symbology at Harvard University, to solve the murder of renowned curator Jacques Saunière of the Louvre Museum in Paris. The title of the novel refers to, among other things, the fact that Saunière's body is found in the Denon Wing of the Louvre, naked and posed like Leonardo Da Vinci's famous drawing, the Vitruvian Man, with a cryptic message written beside his body and a Pentacle drawn on his stomach in his own blood (Brown 10-37). The novel has several concurrent subplots interweaving the lives of different characters; eventually all the characters are brought together and the subplots resolved in the conclusion. The unraveling of the mystery requires the solution to a series of brainteasers, including anagrams and number puzzles. The ultimate solution is closely connected with the possible location of the Holy Grail and to a mysterious society called the Priory of Sion, as well as to the Knights Templar. The story also involves the Roman Catholic organization Opus Dei. As explained by Leigh Teabing to Sophie Neveu (in the Da Vinci code), the figure at the right hand of Jesus is supposedly not the apostle John, but Mary Magdalene. According to the book, Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus Christ and was in fact pregnant with his child when Jesus was crucified. The absence of a chalice in the painting supposedly indicates that Leonardo knew that Mary Magdalene was actually the Holy Grail (the bearer of Jesus' blood). The letter “V” that is created with the bodily positions of Jesus and Mary, as “V” is the symbol for the sacred feminine, represents this (Allen1). The apparent absence of the "Apostle John", under this interpretation, is explained by identifying John as "the Disciple Jesus loved", allegedly code for Mary Magdalene. The interpretation of hidden messages in Leonardo's famous works, (which relate to the concept of the sacred feminine) including the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, figure prominently in the solution to the mystery.
Lawrence S. Cunningham's The Catholic Faith: An Introduction is a difficult book to muster up a response to. One is tempted to quip "there it no there there,"although more accurately I would say that there is little there that inspires much more than an indifferent shrug in response. Perhaps the blame lay in the purpose of the book, which is set out first to not be "an encyclopedia of Catholic trivia" (Cunningham, 8). I was disappointed to read this, since while an explanation of the meaning of the different titles and offices in the Catholic hierarchy, or an explanation of the various vestments and ceremonies may be "trivia" to some, at least it is information. Had I spent my time with this book acquiring a knowledge of these facts, I could claim to have added something to my education, albeit maybe only some banalities, lacking in profundity. Instead, what does the book set out to be? Cunningham seeks to "provide an account, as fully as space allows, of the texture of the Catholic experience and the bases for that experience" (9). I have learned to be a little nervous on reading words like "texture" used in this way; usually the author is unintentionally trying to warn the critically-trained reader away. Doubly so with the word "experience," as in hackneyed phrases like "the African American Experience" or the "Gulf War Experience." Such writings have established that they do not wish do deal in facts, nor in reasoned argument to support their conclusions. They deal in "impressions," to complement the "textures" that they will be skimming the surface of. Their primary justification for their existence is that each person's "experience" is of value, and no one...
What information from this week’s articles might be helpful as you think through this case?
Kallen, Stuart A., and P.M. Boekhoff. The Importance of Leonardo da Vinci. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, 2000.
The most famous Renaissance man was Leonardo Da Vinci who was born on April 15th 1452 in Florence, Italy. Da Vinci was truly recognized by many to be a Renaissance child and later a Renaissance man because of his many talents. He revealed his artistic talents at the age of 17 when he was hired as a studio boy to Andrea Del Verrocchio, the leading Florentine painter and sculptor of his day. In Verrocchio workshop, Da Vinci was introduced to main techniques, from the painting of altarpieces and panel pictures to the creation of large sculptural projects in marble and bronze. His ‘’Last Supper’’ and ‘’Mona Lisa’’are among the most widely popular and influential paintings of the Renaissance. At the same time his scientific interests deepened: his concern with anatomy led him to perform dissections. After a period of time, Da Vinci’s scientific research began to dominate his other activities so much that his artis...
When Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is called to The Louvre on account of Jacques Sauniere's death, he is greeted by a carefully placed arrangement of clues the curator all so strategically left behind. One clue was an anagrammed grouping of the Fibonacci sequence. At first glance the structure seems like randomly strewn numbers, but Langdon knows that Sauniere is a smart man, and that they must mean something. Before he can possibly make any sense of it, Agent Sophie Neveu from the DCPJ's Cryptology Department arrives to break the code. While at the museum she reveals privately to Langdon that they are both in great danger. The Judicial Police think that Langdon has killed Sauniere - Sophie's grandfather.
The first word of the fictional Da Vinci Code is the word Fact. Following that sentence is a huge lie that states “The Priory of Sion – a secret European society founded in 1099– is a real organization. In 1975 Paris's Bibliotheqe Nationale discovered parchments known as Les Dossiers Secrets, identifying numerous members of the Priory of Sion, including Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and Leonardo da Vinci" (Brown 1). The truth of the Priory of Sion began in France in 1956, which is hard to show that Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo and Leonardo da Vinci to be in this group when they have all died before this group was formed. From here on out the author Dan Brown continues to lie. The Da Vinci Code is a mystery-detective novel that came out in 2003. It is about a secret society that is made to protect the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail is the cup that or platter used by Jesus at the Last Supper. The story follows two characters as they investigate a murder in a Paris Museum and follow clues through Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings to discover a battle between the Priory of Sion and ...
The Da Vinci Code is about the journey Robert and Sophie take to find the Holy Grail. It begins in the Louvre Museum of Art where Jaucques Sauniere who was a curator in the Louvre. He was also the master of a secret organiza...
The major theme of the novel is “Mystery and Wonderment That Serve Our Souls” .The novel is a part of exploration of alternative religious history. The protagonist of the novel is a symbolist Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu as they investigate a murder in Paris’s Louvre Museum and discover a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus D. The novel nonetheless became a worldwide best seller that sold 80 million copies by 2009 and has been translated into 44
Most everyone knows of, or at least has heard, of Da Vinci. He was a man ahead of his time, a great scientist as well as artist, and although he may h...
When people hear the term “Renaissance” two things generally come to mind The Mona Lisa and Leonardo da Vinci. The Mona Lisa is one of the most well-known paintings of all time and Leonardo da Vinci, its creator, is one of the most recognized painters, engineers, inventors and scientists of all time. There are much mystery and awe concerning The Mona Lisa but to fully understand where the awe and mystery surrounding this painting originated one must first understand a few things about the man who made it, Leonardo da Vinci.
According to Dr. King the proper role of the Christian Church should be seen as a force for social change and human betterment. He makes specific points about how the Christian Church should still follow the same organized religion as they once did in the early Christian times. In the early Christian times we saw people risk their lives and even persecution to help build the world into a better place and create justice within. King argues that the Christian Churches are becoming irrelevant as they seek to maintain their status quo rather than to help encourage their church members to transcend their weaknesses. King being a minister, sees how the Christian Churches are choosing to support a group mentality of injustice rather than justice. According to King, justice is something that upholds the dignity of the human spirit while injustice is working against it. By the Christian Churches choosing to support injustice they are no longer forcing individuals to confront their failures and change.
A leaders last words and commands to his followers encompass the heart of his message and mission. Jesus’ final command to his disciples in Scripture was to, “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19-20 ESV). This emphasis on disciple making was the impetus for the development of an organized disciple-making program for new believers during the Patristic period called the Catechumenate. Jesus charges his disciples not only to proclaim the gospel and baptize new believers, but emphasized "teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you" (Matt 28:19-20). The Catechumenate developed by the Church Fathers was the initial spiritual training ground
One of the earliest trends in Christianity was the need for Councils to settle disagreements on the religion. There have been many times where Christians had disagreements on what to consider as the base concepts of Christianity. Some
... scenes give insight into “the bulls” motivations that the novel did not detail. The style is kept similar to the elements Brown uses in the novel just on a different character. The similarites the film keeps are pivotal to the novel, the style of Saunière death, the lead characters and their personalities and the excitement of discovering the secret of the Holy Grail all stay the same, but the movie ends with a different motivation for the plot. The “plot twist” ending leaves a bit of a sour taste, Saunière is no longer protecting his granddaughter and passing on their family history, instead he is defending and hiding Sophie solely for her “royal blood.” Ron Howard’s The Da Vinci Code is an acceptable, even enjoyable adaptation of Dan Browns novel, but just like in any film, some of the magic of the novel is lost when it is transferred into a different medium.
Christianity most specifically, the Holy Roman Catholic Church has been involved in the world throughout time. Since Christianity, when if first became a major religion in society the involvement of the Roman Catholic Church has affected many areas of history. The Roman Catholic Church has affected the world historically, as demonstrated by it's impact upon the historical figures like Hypatia, Joan of Arc, and Jan Hus, historical events such as the Salem Witch Trials, and many other eras and events. The Roman Catholic Church slowed down scientific advancement during the Middle Ages when they had the greatest control over society, due to their personal beliefs. Finally, the Roman Catholic Church for a time changed the world ethically for women and homosexuals, although this is not inclusive. Without the extreme control the Roman Catholic Church had, the world would be a completely different place to live in. To prove this, topics such as the effect the Roman Catholic Church has had throughout history, how science has been affected by the Roman Catholic Church, and how the Roman Catholic Church has affected society ethically to a small and temporary degree.