discussion is couched within mass communication theories, particularly that relating to crisis management and impression management on the part of

Transcription

1 P REFACE On March 4, 1966, the London newspaper The Evening Standard published a rambling interview with John Lennon of the Beatles, in which he infamously proclaimed, Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink I don t know what will go first, rock n roll or Christianity. We re more popular than Jesus now. Lennon s remark that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus was a slap heard round the world. Radio stations in Christian communities banned Beatles music, and hundreds of Beatles bonfires were staged globally to burn the group s albums and memorabilia. Death threats against the Beatles became common, as did attempts to block their public appearances and concerts. That was then this is now. Forty years after Lennon s remark, it could lightheartedly be said that Jesus is more popular than the Beatles.

2 xii Preface As the 21st century unfolded, popular culture had embraced a reexamination of the life and times of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Mainstream spiritualism has remained remarkably alive through the expansion of Christian radio and television as well as by the publication of dozens of manuscripts and books about Jesus and the early Church. The Internet has allowed the global community to take part in blogs, informational Web sites, listservs, and Churchbased messaging about prayer and religion. Since the events of September 11, 2001, an increased number of Americans report an affinity for spiritual exploration. One cornerstone book and movie, released (respectively) in 2003 and 2006, stirred unprecedented interest in Christendom and ignited a debate about the divinity of Christ, the authenticity of the Bible, and the role of the Catholic Church across the past two millennia. The Da Vinci Code rocketed to the top of best-seller lists in 2003 and held the spot so long that one book reviewer joked that author Dan Brown is going to have to start paying mortgage on the place. Sony Pictures released a film version in 2006, which was dubbed the hottest movie of the year by Newsweek magazine even before its release. While the film did not demonstrate the stellar staying power of the book, it played to large audiences and helped to spread the word some would say spreading more questions than answers about the subject. The present work attempts to frame the phenomenon by examining how Christian churches, theologians, and the public responded to Da Vinci s mass market splash, with an emphasis on Web entries available in Much

3 Preface xiii discussion is couched within mass communication theories, particularly that relating to crisis management and impression management on the part of the Church. With the advent of widespread computer-mediated communication, agencies of many types have discovered the need for fast reaction to crises, and have sought to control the debate over issues affecting their interests. However, the study is not inhibited by general aspects of inquiry beyond these techniques. The hope is to provide the reader with a background on the popularization of the Dan Brown book and movie and to help address the question, How was it handled in popular culture by key stakeholders in the controversy those people representing Christian religions? And yes, according to the world s most popular Internet search engine, Google, the search term DA VINCI CODE in 2006 elicited several million more hits than did the search term BEATLES. Indeed, John Lennon s 1966 statement would likely be proven wrong today. Part of the reason may be The Da Vinci Code. John F. Dillon, PhD William J. McKeel, MS March 2007

4

5 C HRISTIANITY ONLINE

6

7 C HAPTER 1 THE DA VINCI CODE CONTROVERSY My first reaction to Dan Brown s novel, The Da Vinci Code, was: It s a work of fiction, a thriller, a page-turner. Everybody knows that. I was wrong. Archbishop George H. Niederauer, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops 1 B ACKGROUND IN POPULAR CULTURE Among the best-selling fiction works of all time, The Da Vinci Code rode a crest of controversy from its initial publication as a hardcover novel in 2003, through subsequent incarnations as a paperback mass-market edition in March 2006, and then a major Hollywood movie starring

8 2 CHRISTIANITY ONLINE Tom Hanks, released weeks later. The hardcover book edition held the number one spot on The New York Times best-seller list for more than two years, and the paperback flew off the shelves according to MSNBC, commanding an initial print run of 6 million copies and selling 500,000 editions the first week (Associated Press, 2006a). The movie version debuted in the United States to both cheers and jeers, taking in $224 million worldwide in its opening weekend, which placed it well within the top five movie openings of all time. Ticket sales in predominantly Catholic countries such as Italy and Mexico were described as similarly spectacular, and producer Sony Pictures pegged it as among the most popular movies ever to open internationally ( LA Weekly, 2006). This historical thriller about the life and divinity of Jesus Christ brought early praise when the book was released. It was lauded by book critics, including those at major news and entertainment publications, who described it as enlightening, brain-teasing, and a work of blockbuster perfection. 2 At the outset, it was considered oddly non-controversial, according to Stone (2006), although theologians, historians, and members of church hierarchies soon came to realize a virulent outcropping of the Da Vinci message: Brown s mystery fiction was being taken as fact by many constituents. The story, if taken as fully accurate, can certainly be considered historical and biblical revisionism. It suggests that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and that she bore his children also that Leonardo da Vinci s famous portrait Last Supper shows not the Apostle John near Jesus right

9 The Da Vinci Code Controversy 3 arm but Mary Magdalene. The Holy Grail of antiquity was not a chalice at all but the womb of Mary a bloodline sprang from her union with Jesus. This theme is derivative of a hypothesis set forth in a 1982 book by Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, which was posited as nonfiction scholarship. Nevertheless, the marital Jesus notion is antithetical to Vatican doctrine and has been dismissed by many prominent historians. There is not the slightest hint in the New Testament that Jesus ever married, according to one religious studies scholar. Jesus own teachings from his days as a prophet of the kingdom of God rule out the possibility (Pearson, 2005, pp. 33, 47). A matter of contention, also, is Da Vinci s suggestion that Roman emperor Constantine collated today s biblical canon to suit his own purposes and that he ordered the burning of noncanonical gospels and the editing of other gospels. Another controversy surrounds the novel s depiction of the group known as Opus Dei, an actual Catholic institution (with a) mission to help people turn their work and daily activities into occasions for growing closer to God, for serving others and for improving society (Opus Dei, 2006). The group reports it comprises mainly lay members in support of church activities, although the Brown work describes it as a monastic order. Of prime contention is the novel s depiction of the Opus Dei protagonist named Silas, who is seen as a murderous monk involved in sacrificial mortification of the self or masochistically bloody self-flagellation. His is an albino character, quick with a

10 4 CHRISTIANITY ONLINE handgun and working through a powerful and secretive church cult to protect the integrity of the Holy Grail. Whereas it is true that certain former members of Opus Dei (literally, the work of God ) have accused the organization of cultish behavior, and while it maintains a deserved reputation for secret tradition, the success of The Da Vinci Code caught the organization by surprise, and they soon realized they had an image problem on their hands (Goodstein, 2006). When group leaders learned that the movie was being produced, they tried to persuade Sony Pictures to omit any mention of Opus Dei or at least to implant a label within the film suggesting that it distorts the reality of the actual organization. Ultimately, their effort failed (Goodstein, 2006). Opus Dei is also depicted as a handmaiden of the Vatican, with conspiracies spiraling into the ranks of certain bishops and the Pope himself. According to Brown s tale, there has been a type of Vatican-gate going on for centuries. When confronted with a question about whether the Roman Catholic Church could be responsible for a certain murder, Da Vinci character Sir Leigh Teabing replies (Brown, p. 287), It would not be the first time in history the Church has killed to protect itself. The documents that accompany the Holy Grail are explosive, and the Church has wanted to destroy them for years. Teabing goes on to say that the Church s version of the Christ story is inaccurate and that should the truth come

11 The Da Vinci Code Controversy 5 out, the Vatican faces a crisis of faith unprecedented in its two-millenium history (p. 288). F ASCINATION AND CRITICISM It appears that The Da Vinci Code had either engaged the fascination of readers and viewers or set them afire with criticism of the work. In some cases, it did both. Some wanted to learn more about Da Vinci; some found it offensive or antithetical to the history of the Church; some embraced its tenets outright; and others sought to find why Dan Brown s work did not square with their preexisting historical and biblical knowledge. It is interesting to note that the National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation had also petitioned the moviemaker, noting that albinos should not be depicted as demented religious thugs. One cinema writer asked, Will it never end? It seems that The Da Vinci Code cannot NOT offend everyone on the planet (Lim, 2006). Indeed, exposure to the Da Vinci message has been widespread. According to a Zogby poll commissioned by the Center for Missional Research, a majority of Americans are familiar with the content, either by exposure to the book or movie, or through news and entertainment reports (Stetzer, 2006). A Barna Group poll suggested that one in five American adults had read the book even before the movie s release and that a significant number were persuaded by it. Christian researcher George Barna reported that any book that alters one or more theological views

12 6 CHRISTIANITY ONLINE Figure 1. The Truth about Da Vinci Westminster Theological Seminary hoped users would fi nd the truth about Dan Brown s work. Copyright 2007, Westminster Theological Seminary. Used by permission. among two million people is not to be dismissed lightly (Foust, 2006). If one takes into account release of the book, published in more than 40 languages, and the movie, DVD and pay-per-view release as well as global advertising and spirited news reporting across the span of four years it is not unreasonable to assume that a majority of adults in

13 The Da Vinci Code Controversy 7 developed nations may have undergone media exposure to the tenets of Da Vinci.3 The Roman Catholic Church, initially in Italy, broke the silence against the shameful and unfounded lies of the work, and conclaves of church leaders met to decry Dan Brown and to design a public relations strategy with which to manage the situation (BBC News, 2005; Associated Press, 2006b). It is argued that some elements of public relations crisis management were deployed but that over the longer run these Christian groups engaged in a broader program of impression management, or a communications framework that they hoped would contain and mold how the public interpreted aspects of Da Vinci so that they should do the least damage to the interests of stakeholders. The prime stakeholder, given the nature of Da Vinci s supposed sacrilege, would be the Roman Catholic Church. Much of this Church-inspired impression management communication occurred by way of the World Wide Web. 4 The present study analyzes some of these messages from key constituencies in an effort to better understand the dynamics involved. How is the crisis of tens of millions of consumer exposures to blasphemy, with its potential to erode faith, to be handled? But there are indications that Da Vinci has cut both ways (Morris, 2006). Though the spectacle of nuns dragging huge wooden crosses back-and-forth outside movie theatres on opening night captures media interest, it also provokes cultural introspection. One should consider the adage any publicity is good publicity to appreciate that Dan Brown has turned a spotlight on an integral question

14 8 CHRISTIANITY ONLINE for our age: How do we know what we know about Jesus and his times? The dogma of Christianity is widely known and deeply felt by many, but evidence and context about Christ and his humanity, the chosen gospels of the Bible, and the mythic power of the Church have been less wellexplored. It would appear that the Zeitgeist of the nation has become more questioning on these matters and no number of calls for boycotts of the film could adequately address them. Ours is a time of skepticism. R ELIGION, RHETORIC, AND CHURCH ETHOS Special techniques may be required if churches are to communicate to followers using the World Wide Web. One way of assessing this is through an examination of online ethos, much in the tradition of ethos-driven persuasion. Going back to Aristotle, ethos has been among the triad of available means of persuasion, which also include logos and pathos (Frobish, 2006). Generally, logos was an appeal to the reason of the message receiver, whereas pathos appealed to emotion. The third leg of this early persuasion model has been used by the Vatican for a long while: ethos or an appeal based upon the reputation or character of the message sender. Ruling authorities or those in power often pump the ethos component, an example of which would be an assumption such as the Church, with its dominance and unique holiness, knows best. An 18th century philosopher and minister, George Campbell, detailed the link between religion and ethos

15 The Da Vinci Code Controversy 9 in his seminal work The Philosophy of Rhetoric (1776). Much has been written on the topic since, but Campbell outlined a few precepts for consideration. To be sure, four categories make the leap into new technologies of the 21st century: One Community identification; Two Moral character and virtue; Three Intelligence and knowledgeability; and Four Verbal design and competence of the message. These four principles constitute an evolved model of ethos starting with ancient rhetorical thought about spoken discourse, and ending with multimedia and hypertext (Frobish, p. 40). This is to say that church messaging aimed at confronting assaults on church orthodoxy should strive to meet these goals in the area of message-sender ethos. Such a consignment would have to frame the message sender as of reputable moral character, with qualities of candor and benevolence. Empathy ( community identification ) is subsumed by understanding the baseline interests of the faithful. The variable of knowledge should be patently explicit, with no attempts made to conceal truth. We are finally left, under the ethos design, by the character of the message. Might it be petty or punitive? Instructive? Salvation oriented? Helpful or chastising? Friendly, or filled with damnation? For a polarizing example of a low-sophistication message also imbued with low ethos (but high pathos), we could look at the Hell-Fire-and-Brimstone approach of

16 10 CHRISTIANITY ONLINE the Rev. Billy Sunday, an American church revival leader of the early 1900s. His main assault targeted alcoholic beverages, which he viewed as demonic: I m against sin. I ll kick it as long as I ve got a foot. I ll fight it as long as I ve got a fist. I ll butt it as long as I ve got a head. And I ll bite it as long as I ve got a tooth. When I m old, fistless, footless and toothless, I ll gum it til I go home to glory and it goes home to perdition. 5 Such a paroxysm of passion against a perceived evil is not without merit but would be of limited advantage for the message sender under most modern considerations of church rhetoric. Pathos is certainly there. But the speaker evinces little evidence of the vaunted qualities of logos and ethos. To what degree will modern Christian response to Da Vinci rely upon the tri-partite rhetorical devices, and what are the characteristics of such messaging? Also to be considered in rhetoric is whether the argument is presented one-sided only or whether both (or more) avenues of polemic are employed. It is generally understood that two-sided messages are preferred for audiences with higher educational levels and that two-sided messages seem to work better than one-sided messages when the audience initially disagrees with the communicator s position (Hovland, Lumsdaine, & Sheffield, 1949). Twosided messages are also a good proposition when there is a possibility that the audience will be exposed to messages opposing the source s position.

17 The Da Vinci Code Controversy 11 In the current evaluation, a one-sided message from a church group may argue only for the dominance of its own position. A two-sided message would take on the fuller controversy over Da Vinci by stating the position to be opposed and then attacking it. Generally, it seems that a Web audience (given the nature of the technology) may be sophisticated and fairly well-educated, and it is likely that such an audience would have been preexposed to at least some of the tenets of Brown s novel. W HAT ROLE LEONARDO? Even as a premier artist of the High Renaissance in Europe, Leonardo da Vinci ( AD) was known to embed within his work some perceptual mischief. Always admired as a Renaissance man, as well as scientist and inventor in his later years, his two most famous paintings continue to inspire appreciation. But they also raise a few questions that no scholar has been able to answer with absolute and definitive resolve. For the reader, a task: Look at the portrait Mona Lisa (circa 1504) and ask why is this woman smiling? especially against a backdrop of confused landscape and endless roads. Erudition cannot be applied to determine her motivation to smirk. (Given Leonardo s alacrity in painting androgynous figures, one cannot even be sure that Mona Lisa is female. Look again.) Now gaze at Leonardo s The Last Supper (circa 1495), and the questioning mind can detect more artistic playfulness. Other Last Supper paintings had been rendered (such

18 12 CHRISTIANITY ONLINE Box 1. A Mirror for Leonardo Some analysts maintain that Leonardo da Vinci used mirrored images as a guidepost to successful painting. Lillian Schwartz (1992) digitized likenesses of Leonardo as seen in his self-portrait and compared them with the facial structure seen in the artist s Mona Lisa. Schwartz submitted that, by flipping the self-portrait, the image of Mona Lisa provided a near-mirror-image of Leonardo himself. Mark Harden s Artchive online provides an interpretation of the philosophy of Leonardo on the topic of painting, to include the subject of reflected images. The Renaissance man s writings, according to the Artchive, say this: To see if your painting conforms to what you are depicting, take a mirror and look at the reflection of the model in it, then compare this reflection with your painting, and examine closely the entire surface to see if the two objects are similar. Since the mirror can, through line, light and shadow create an illusion of relief your work will doubtless appear similar to reality as seen in a large mirror. This brings the inquisitive back to the question of who Mona Lisa was in reality and whether she could be a manifestation not only of Leonardo s mirror but be a Da Vinci object code herself. Schwartz, L. (1992). The Computer Artist s Handbook (1st ed.). New York: Norton & Co. The Artchive material derives from artchive/l/leonardo/leonardo_notes.html, retrieved on August 20, as that by Andrea Del Castagno, done in roughly 1445 AD), but none with the sfumato or smokiness seen in some of Leonardo s work (Janson, 1973, pp. 328, ; Tansey & Kleiner, 1996, p. 734). There are numerous questions about the painting, made all the more difficult to answer because of the rough condition of the original. But the debate continues about whether

19 The Da Vinci Code Controversy 13 Figure 2. Inspiring ire. Some felt that Brown demeaned Leonardo Da Vinci s work Used with permission

20 14 CHRISTIANITY ONLINE the character at Jesus right, possessing some androgynous qualities, was in reality his companion, Mary Magdalene. Strenuous arguments have been made that this must be the 12th disciple and therefore could not have been a woman. But Leonardo may have implanted at least one other suggestion about womanhood in the painting, depending upon the perspective of the viewer. Or was Leonardo simply exercising an eccentricity derivative of his training in the Florentine school of painting, which was known to depict young men as effeminate? What is absent is as interesting as what is present in The Last Supper. A chalice, a formidable cup as legend would have it, the Holy Grail is not to be seen. Dan Brown s book links Leonardo da Vinci to the group invested with keeping the secret of the real Holy Grail for the past several hundred years. Voila! A conspiracy theory is forwarded. Yet others claim that the grail-as-actual-chalice concept was meant to be metaphorical and so we should not expect to see it as an item in the painting. Numerous books and multimedia titles have been marketed to debunk suggestions made in The Da Vinci Code, but part of the appeal of Da Vinci seems to be the cleverness with which Brown interweaves questionable symbols, allegories, and anagrams. He attributes membership in the secret society of the Priory of Scion not only to Leonardo but to Botticelli, Sir Isaac Newton, and other supposed grand masters of history. Some observers claim that the fascination over the Dan Brown work is tied to the means in which the author

21 The Da Vinci Code Controversy 15 strings out the reader, similar to the way a video game uses action by a doorway or pathway to engage the user. Patrick Moody, pastor of a Baptist church in Florida, notes that Brown s technique is every bit as artful as that of those who write video games such as Myst. He refers to the Da Vinci book and movie narrative style as formulaic to the video game concept: You go here and get a little bit of information, then you go there for another nugget If you have grown up on video games rather than real literature, the formula works. 6 Tie that in with the secrets provided about the greatest story ever told, and Da Vinci was almost sure to be a marketplace hit. Of course, stories of the Priory and so many other clues laid out by Brown are clearly fantastical. Fantastical unless one comes to believe them.