Tuesday, March 28, 2006

DaVinci Code discussion in Staten Island

On Sunday I spoke at an IPC meeting on Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and the DaVinci Code at St. Francis Church on Staten Island. The discussion was reported in the press yesterday.

I'm thrilled to see from participants' comments in the article that my two-fold approach in the talk seems to have been successful. First, through a handout with expanded paragraphs from the Gospels of Philip and Mary describing the relationship of Jesus and MM, one can see what the implications of Dan Brown's shorter paragraph choices are. That doesn't mean that we need to abandon investigation of the relationship between Jesus and MM.

So I turned to a presentation and discussion of medieval typological depictions in the Biblia Pauperum of MM at the tomb in John 20 through the lens of the bride searching for and finding her lover in the Song of Songs. Its easier to look at illustrations from the Bible of the Poor than it is to read interpretations of MM at the tomb as the bride in the Song of Songs searching for and finding Jesus in writings of Cyprian or other church fathers. Besides, a picture speaks a thousand words.

No one seems to have found this discussion undermined their faith. And it enhances appreciation for questions raised by the DVC.

1 comment:

Lydia Agnew Speller said...

How nice to see your blog here!
I do see accounts of your MM/DaVinci Code presentations in the press from time to time. Will you be at GC?

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