Books

by Dan Brown

Lynn suggested this book for book group, but it was rejected in favor of Dirt Music by Tim Winton. This book was a quick read, but I'm not sure it would be a very good group discussion book. I think there are 4 Catholics in our group (I am including Stepan since he was raised Catholic), but I doubt we could shed much light on the what was fact or fiction in regards to how the Catholic church was portrayed...but that's a topic for my journal.

The main character in the book, Robert Langdon, a symbologist, becomes the number one suspect in the mysterious death of the curator of the Louvre, who happened to be the Grand Master of a secret society, The Priory of Sion. The Priory is nearly two-thousand-years old and guards the secrets of the "other" gospels that the politicos of the Catholic establishment deemed heretical at the time of the Niacin Council (sometime in the 700s). It all evolves around the "real" life of Jesus Christ and his relationship with Mary Magdalene, the gradual assimilation by the Catholic church of ancient pagan rites and rituals, and the power of women (goddess worship). I think my sister, Meredith would really relate to certain parts of this book! (She has issues with the Catholic Church's stance on women in the priesthood.)

Upon finishing the book, one of my first thoughts was to discover the Catholic response, but I wasn't able to find much of anything on that topic...though I got side-tracked in several discussion groups while looking. However, the book does have an interesting website that is all about answering clues and solving riddles to advance to the next screen. Opus Dei is a real organization, though I doubt it's leaders are interested in holding absolute power over the Vatican. And does anybody know why the Pope is called the Holy See?