The Da Vinci Code

✦ “The Da Vinci Code” is a novel by Dan Brown based on the theory that Jesus survived the crucifixion. This is a reasonable assumption, which agrees with the discussion and evidence presented in this website and free journal paper. However, Dan Brown goes on to theorize that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children through her. This appears to be fabrication with little basis in known historical venues. This claim severly distracts from other historical aspects of Brown's theories. Brown also postulates that the divinity of Christ was a Roman fabrication brought on by Emperor Constantine.

✦ From a November, 2003 article in Christianity Today:

Brown is right about one thing (and not much more). In the course of Christian history, few events loom larger than the Council of Nicea in 325. Brown correctly points out that “the Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven.” Indeed, the Bible's composition and consolidation may appear a bit too human for the comfort of some Christians. Early Christians overwhelmingly worshipped Jesus Christ as their risen Savior and Lord. The term Lord, Kyrios, was used by the Greeks to denote divinity. The Romans also used it to denote the divinity of their emperor. The Christians took over this usage of Kyrios and applied it to Jesus, from the earliest days of the church. In the Didache, which scholars agree was written no later than the later 100s, the earliset Aramaic-speaking Christians refer to Jesus as Lord.

✦ Inscriptions unearthed at Megiddo support the idea that early Christians considered Jesus divine, with a Roman military officer referring to him as such.