medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I think this original question highlights a general problem that has not
been successfully resolved by the scholarly community. A book like the Da
Vinci Code, which purports to be fiction, and the earlier Spear of Destiny,
a pseudo-history, are not taken seriously by scholars because they don't
claim to be scholarly. Hence they are not reviewed. Yet their claims are
taken seriously by many people, and they proliferate all over the internet.
Because they go unchallenged, lots of people assume they contain true
statements. I think it's very important to use pop culture works like this
in our classes and deconstruct them, just as I think it's important for us
to teach students how to evaluate internet sources. Dismissing them doesn't
mean their claims will be dismissed by others. Everyone loves a good
conspiracy theory. The key is to analyze how such conspiracy theories work
to find out why they are so attractive.
There was actually a fairly nice shorthand appraisal of some of the Da Vinci
code claims in a past issue of Newsweek: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3606237/.
It's a good place to start anyway.
-- Mary Suydam, Kenyon College
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