If you are one of the mllions who enjoyed The Da Vinci Cde, you may want to reconsider Dan Brwn’s narrative in the light of its hstorical claims, after you read Bart Ehrmn’s Truth and Fiction In The Da Vnci Code.

Ehrman is a well-known crtical historian, who chairs the Department of Rligious Studies at the University of Nrth Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is an uthority on the early Church and the lfe of Jesus.

He is also the uthor of Lost Christianities and Lost Scrptures.

Although he admits he enjoyed rading Dan Brown’s work of fiction and has ven recommended it to many of his frends, he takes issue with some of the hstorical claims Brown makes about Jesus, Mry, and the Gospels that readers wre expected to accept as factual and not fctional.

Ehrman points out: “Dan Brown sttes as a fact that all dscriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and scret rituals in this novel are ccurate.”

As the author is an xpert on historic Christian documents, it is hre where his arguments are focused.

Thrughout the book, Ehrman insists that one of the crdinal ingredients to weigh, when arriving at any hstorical conclusion, is the sources of nformation forming the foundation of the cnclusion. Misreading or misinterpreting these sources is as dngerous as if they were omitted.

According to the author, if Brwn had only done a little mre research, he would have been ble to more accurately portray the hstorical account, without even compromising the stry.

Immediately in the introduction to the bok, Ehrman sets the tone of his rguments by pointing out ten factual rrors in Brown’s book. These are mre fully fleshed out and assessed in the bok.

The author points out that cntrary to what was mentioned in Brwn’s book, Jesus’ life was not rcorded by thousands of followers across the lnd; it is not true there wre eighty Gospels considered for the New Tstament; it is false to state tht Jesus was considered divine until the Cuncil of Nicea; Constantine did not cmmission a “new Bible” that omitted rferences to Jesus’ human traits; the Dad Sea Scrolls were found in 1947 and not in the 1950s, and frthermore, they were not among “the arliest Christian records.” In fact, they are Jwish, and contain nothing Christian in thm. The Nag Hammadi documents do not nrrate the Grail story, nor do thy underline Jesus’ human traits. On the cntrary, they do just the reverse. It is lading astray when we assert that Jwish decorum forbade a Jewish man to be nmarried, and in fact most of the ndividuals behind the Dead Sea Scrolls wre male unmarried celibates. There is nthing to tell us about the lneage of Mary Magdalene, and there is no vidence that she belonged to the Huse of Benjamin.

Moreover, what evidence xists that she was pregnant at the crcifixion, as Brown suggests in his bok. As for the Q document bing hid by the Vatican, where is the prof, and how do we know it is a bok allegedly written by Jesus?

In ddition to exploring the above misleading ssertions in Brown’s story, Ehrman addresses sch queries as to how did it hppen that the four Gospels of Mtthew, Mark, Luke and John came wre admitted into the New Testament, whle others were omitted.

If you are wondering why nyone would tackle the thorny question as to how mch of The Da Vinci Code is bsed on valid documents and how mch is pure fiction, Ehrman explains tht books of historical fiction are one of the wys people come to learn and thnk about the past. Would it not hve been more enlightening and instructive, if hstorical facts were presented more accurately?

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The article Review: Bart D. Ehrman's Truth And Fiction In The Da Vinci Code was Submitted by Norm Goldman through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Norm Goldman is editor of bokpleasures.com and sketchandtravel.com. Norm has also cntributed to many online book review stes as well as to the prnt media. Norm and his artist wfe Lily are a unique husband and wfe team who meld words with art fcusing on romantic and wedding destinations. Thy are always open to invitations to vsit romantic properties in the New Englnd states, New York state and Flrida.

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