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The Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction?

hank hanegraaff paul l. maier

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Offers historical background on the Bible, the life of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, secret societies, and other elements in "The Da Vinci Code" to refute many of the novel's claims about the history of Christianity.

82 pages, Paperback

First published April 19,2004

This edition

Format
82 pages, Paperback
Published
January 1, 2004 by Tyndale House Pub
ISBN
9781414302799
ASIN
1414302797
Language
English

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About the author

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hank hanegraaff

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Hendrik "Hank" Hanegraaff, also known as the "Bible Answer Man", is an American Christian author and radio talk-show host. Formerly an evangelical Protestant, he joined the Eastern Orthodox Church in 2017. He is an outspoken figure within the Christian countercult movement, where he has established a reputation for his critiques of non-Christian religions, new religious movements, and cults, as well as heresy in Christianity. He is also an apologist on doctrinal and cultural issues.

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Community Reviews

Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 15 votes)
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15 reviews All reviews
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Ririka
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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A religious rebuttal of Dan Brown's FICTIONAL book... pretty much amounts to saying, "Nuh-UH...!" or "I know you are, but what am I?" like a bratty 6-year old. The authors use biblical passages to make their points, which still provides NO proof in my humble opinion. Both sides are just talking about theories and mythologies, neither with irrefutable historical evidence.
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grymcrit
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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Discovered this book on my parents' bookshelf and immediately found it intriguing having read Dan Brown's novel years ago. I was not in the slightest convinced of Brown's "Christianity" despite its popularity in the media having spawned shows in Discovery and NatGeo in search for the truth of the "Uncrucified" and the "Married Jesus" all in vain. Numerous cults including that that worship Magdalene even denies Christ was ever married.

Actually it was quite appalling for every Christian out there conscious of their history, authenticity of scripture and not only was this a ridiculous assertion of our past it was popularized and considered factual by some who are surprisingly not aware of the historical writings of Josephus, Tacitus and other early historians - none by the way even made the slightest notion of a Married Jesus.

Dan Brown's book was a good fiction, a page turner. But to anyone not familiar with Christianity and its history it can lose you with its dangerous new-age sex-induced sensationalism that you might believe anything said to you by the novel's Sir Teabing.

If you read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. I highly recommend you read Hank Hanegraaff's The Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction.
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Kr1m1naL
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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I would recommend this as a follow up to "The DaVinci Code". Both authors are credible and provide answers to some questions about Christianity that emerge within the novel.
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juneboba
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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Um...so. First, I would like to say that I KNOW The Da Vinci Code is fiction, and while I enjoyed it, it was only an okay book. I think it had some excellent publicity (as has Angels and Demons .. also just an okay book). with that said -- this book is Christian propaganda.

It purports to be truth because it has a historian write about the errors in The Da Vinci Code, so? why do I care if a work of fiction isn't completely accurate? I have ready many alternate histories -- I have even written one.

So, what I found most entertaining (and keep in mind, I am not a Christian -- in fact, I am on the other end of the spectrum as a practicing Pagan) are these lines from the second half of the book, written by Hank Hanegraaff, host of the popular Bible Answer Man radio program.

"Thus, we now move on to demonstrate what we know to be truth - namely, that the Bible is not merely human but divine in origin, that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh, and that amid the religions of the ancient world, Christianity is demonstrably unique." pg 42-43 Actually, I don't know any of that to be true. In fact, I know that Christianity is NOT demonstrably unique -- many of the stories from Christianity were borrowed from earlier faiths (this author says that really, the other faiths borrowed from Christianity, and pretended they had it first -- not a quote) -- but really, it does -- as does any other faith. They are all very similar, and well, that is not surprising because as humans we all desire similar things, and so look for those similarities in our Gods/esses.

Okay, funny line #2 "Furthermore, the reliability of the Gospel accounts is confirmed through the eyewitness credentials of the authors." I work in the law enforcement field...and while witnesses can steer you in the right direction, they are never completely accurate. An eyewitness relates their tale based on their history, their needs and wants, their personal perspective. In a law enforcement text book they talk about a traffic accident that happens in the middle of the intersection, and on one corner is a little old lady, another corner has a teenage boy, another corner has a wife and mother -- with her kids, and on the last corner is an ex-military officer (okay, I don't remember exactly, but...) And each and every EYEWITNESS account will be a different. They all will remember, and dis-remember various facts -- so which one has the truth? None of them and all of them. So, eyewitness credentials really don't go that far for me.

so, this little piece of propaganda just was that -- propaganda. But it did make me think, so, I guess it isn't all bad.
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RegalRascal
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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Meh. Another book in my pile of The Da Vinci Code-related books. This one was similar to The Da Vinci Hoax at times (most times) with respect to tone -- it's as if the authors set out right from the start to just scream and yell and rant at/about Dan Brown. Okay, I get it. I really do. He's offended your beliefs and your way of life; however, if you're going to refute things he wrote, do it academically, not viciously.

The book is broken down into two sections: "The Da Vinci Deception" by Paul Maier and "But What Is Truth?" by Hank Hanegraaff. Both sections go through claims Brown makes in his book and then say why they're wrong. They're really quick, though -- it's like a hit-and-run. Point1-counterpoint-point2-counterpoint, etc. There's no time to breathe, and very little explanation, either, especially in Maier's section. Rather than explaining much about the counterpoint, they just tell you what the counterpoint is, and then move on to the next topic. Even though the book is written in paragraph form, I felt like it could have just as easily been written as bullet points, given how little depth there is to their explanations/claims.

Also, they don't back up their claims as much as they should. A lot of it felt like "Well, this is just the way it is. We know Jesus did such-and-such, and these people were alive," etc. Obviously that's me being the skeptic, but if you're going to try to tell me that a book is wrong, you need to be able to really back up your claims that it's wrong. It's not enough to say that Jesus did something; you better tell me why and how you "know" it.

Plus, the book is really short (69 pages of actual text), so it totally doesn't seem worth paying for. It's definitely a book to get from the library or the 10-cent bin at a used book store.

Bart Ehrman's Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We Really Know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene & Constantine still seems the best of these books that argue against The Da Vinci Code.
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ADud
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
March 26,2025
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Der berühmte Bestseller "Sakrileg" ("The Da Vinci Code") von Dan Brown beruht leider auf vielen Lügen über den christlichen Glauben. So behauptet Dan Brown zum Beispiel, dass Jesus mit Maria Magdalena verheiratet gewesen war. Dieses aus zwei Teilen bestehende Büchlein setzt sich kritisch mit "Sakrileg" auseinander. Im ersten Teil werden die bedeutsamsten Fehler aufgezeigt und anhand der Bibel richtig gestellt. Der zweite Teil begründet, warum es so wie es in der Bibel steht, richtig sein muss.

Wer sich dafür interessiert, dem würde ich dieses Büchlein sehr empfehlen. Es scheint gut recherchiert zu sein und erklärt die einzelnen Punkte gut verständlich. Allerdings ist die Thematik natürlich extrem speziell. Ich hatte "Sakrileg" weder gelesen, noch war mir bislang bekannt, dass es sich dabei um ein derart antichristliches Buch handelt. Daher hielt sich mein Interesse an diesem Büchlein auch in Grenzen. Der Verlag "cLv" hatte es mir bei einer Buchbestellung kostenlos mit dazu gelegt und deshalb habe ich es dann halt gelesen. Immerhin bin ich jetzt über "Sakrileg" informiert und weiß, dass von diesem Buch abzuraten ist.
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