In Australia (as no doubt elsewhere) that film, The Da Vinci Code, is stirring up a hornet's nest. The Sydney Anglican Diocese has funded $50,000 worth of ads to show in cinemas and a website, Challenging Da Vinci. Clearly there is interest in the person of Jesus, but the real question for me is do we take the negative approach of debunking the movie (and book), or can we actually connect positively? In the article above, the Uniting Church President, Rev. Dr. Dean Drayton is quoted as saying that popular culture was an 'important avenue from which Australians may start to search for answers to the deeply spiritual questions they continue to ask today.' This is good.
But even better are the comments of Brian McLaren on SojoMail, where he says,
'For all the flaws of Brown's book, I think what he's doing is suggesting that the dominant religious institutions have created their own caricature of Jesus. And I think people have a sense that that's true. ... I also think that the whole issue of male domination is huge and that Brown's suggestion that the real Jesus was not as misogynist or anti-woman as the Christian religion often has been is very attractive. Brown's book is about exposing hypocrisy and cover-up in organized religion, and it is exposing organized religion's grasping for power. Again, there's something in that that people resonate with in the age of pedophilia scandals, televangelists, and religious political alliances. As a follower of Jesus I resonate with their concerns as well.'
I think that my own response might be to see if I can organise a discussion event entitled 'The Scandalous Life and Words of Jesus' noting that just like Dan Brown, Jesus was someone who regularly aired concerns about the church and was at his most critical when addressing religious hypocrisy.