Faxed From Heaven?

From the point of view of biblical scholarship, there are a lot of problems with The da Vinci Code. Supposedly long lost documents, hidden by the church in a grand conspiracy, are now at last revealed to tell us what the “real” deal is with the Bible. The picture Dan Brown paints is of careful historical research correcting what the Bible and the church have distorted over the centuries. 

A lot of biblical scholars have chimed in on this. I don’t know of a single one who supports the book’s take on things. On this website (http://www.thetruthaboutdavinci.com/), you can read about how some specific issues are being addressed by scholars. What I would like to do here is take a step back away from some of the details and look at the big picture. What role does historical research play in how we understand our Bibles? 

I think this is a very important question. The da Vinci Code certainly misuses historical research. The problem, though, is that some might get the unfortunate impression that any type of historical research is destructive. Quite the opposite is true.  

Think about it this way. Every piece of literature, ancient or modern, is written by people (are you with me so far?). And people live in particular places in particular times with customs, institutions, ways of looking at the world, etc., etc. By reading those literatures, you get insights into the world of the writers. And, the more you understand about the world of the writers, the better you understand what the writers are getting at.

Well, that goes for the Bible, too. Even though the Bible is the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit inspired the people who wrote it, it was still real live people who did the writing—at certain places, in certain times, and who wrote for certain reasons. That is how God designed his Bible to be.

You’ve probably all noticed, when you read the Bible, that some things are very easy to understand but others things seem very difficult—even foreign—and need explaining. That’s because when you read the Bible, you are looking back at times that were—well—very long ago. Jesus walked the earth 2000 years ago—a different time, a different place. King David lived about 3000 years ago. To get to Moses, we have to go back another 500 years, roughly. And Abraham, about another 500 years further back, taking us to about 2000 B.C., 4000 years ago. It’s actually staggering when you think about it.

When you read the Bible you are actually learning something about people and events from cultures very different from ours today. The Bible is a window into history.  But, just like with any other literature, the opposite is true, too. It’s not just that the Bible teaches us about history, but a study of history will help us understand the Bible. The more you understand of the world of the Bible, the more you understand what the Bible is saying in some of those difficult places. This is why biblical scholars spend a lot of time studying not only the Bible itself but everything they can get their hands on that will help them understand better the world of the Bible, to help clarify the Bible.

If you have a Bible that has study notes written in the lower margins (these are called “study Bibles”), you will see how often historical scholarship has helped us understand the Bible better. Just to give one example, the New International Version Study Bible is packed with maps, charts, and explanations that help us understand the history of the biblical world. And Christians benefit greatly from this information.

Back to The da Vinci Code. The big problem is that Dan Brown sets it up so that the Bible and historical research are at odds. It is true that sometimes historical research can make us think differently about something the Bible says—it can even be a bit challenging at times. That’s fine, but The Da Vinci Code goes much further than this.

Dan Brown implies that the more you know about history, the less believable the Bible is—that history is the enemy of the Bible.

“The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not God.…”

“…The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds. Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times, and it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book.”

Do you see the move?

He says the Bible is a human product, not a divine one. Teabing thinks that for the Bible to be considered the Word of God, it must have dropped out of heaven with no connection to history. And, since it is so clearly a human book, well that means it isn’t divine—can’t you see?

Well, Mormons believe something like this, but Christians don’t—never have, never will. Christians believe that the Bible is neither a book dropped out of heaven nor a creation of man. Rather, it is both a book that comes from God and is written by real people. God is the source of the Bible, and he inspired real people to write it. That is what it means to say “the Bible is the Word of God.” 

That is why, when you read the Bible, the times, and even personalities, of the writers shine through. That is why, when you read the Bible, you are thrust right into the middle of history rather than being isolated from it. And this is why serious historical study of the times in which the Bible was written is a plus, not a negative.

Historical research should never be shoddy and careless, and this is a problem with The da Vinci Code that biblical scholars have pointed out often. But Dan Brown’s poor treatment of historical issues goes beyond sloppiness. He makes a claim at the very beginning of Teabing’s speech that places the whole issue on a very bad path: “Word of God” means “dropped out of heaven.” He makes an assumption about what the Bible is that no one should accept, and one that the Bible itself seems designed to warn us against.

The da Vinci Code’s poor handling of this very important issues should not put us on the wrong path of thinking that careful history study is a threat to the Bible. The opposite is true. Find a good study Bible with notes to see how helpful solid historical research has been for how Christians understand their Bibles.

The best defense against The da Vinci Code is not to be intimidated or shy away from historical research, but to do it better. The Bible itself invites you to!