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Wednesday, October 13, 2004
The power.
I finally caved into the pressure and read The Da Vinci Code. If you haven't already read this book, you're likely in the minority of the book reading population. You would likely be one of the few people who hasn't read the Harry Potter books (notably, I've only read the first one and I'm holding off on the remaining six until their all done, dammit).
TDVC is not a bad book. It's chapters are very short so even though the book has 450 pages or so, you could almost cut out 75 of those as blank due to the book having over a hundred chapters. Some of Dan Brown's writing style grates on my nerves. But what the book lacks in quality, it makes up for in substance, which does not mean that I took everything he said about the Holy Grail and the Christian church for fact!
The great thing about TDVC is that it has popularized an idea we too often forget: human beings are unavoidably dogmatic. We believe things we hear from those with authority. The more authority we vest in those people or those writings, the more adherently we hold onto the ideas thereby conveyed.
When it comes to religion in the U.S. of A., the Christian tradition rules supreme. Accordingly, the notion that Jesus might have been married, had sex, and had kids is a pretty insane concept to most people. The paradox is that so many hardcore (and even softcore, if you will) believers can coexist with the complications, problems and even contradictions within the Bible. Some read the Bible literally and simultaneously accept four Gospels that do not tell the exact same story. How can literalness and incongruency coexist? Faith? I don't know.
I could go on. I probably will at some point, but not today. Read TDVC because it reminds us that the history we've learned and the traditions we may hold sacred are most certainly incongruous with what actually happened. Whether that matters or not is for you to decide. As for me, I'm going to continue to take 20th hand information with a grain of salt (if I can afford to - if you understand my meaning).
- posted by autodogmatic.com @ 5:36 PM 2 comments
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Well said. I count myself in the minority of individuals who have not read TDVC (if there really is a minority), and therefore, am unable to comment on its content.
However, I can comment on the issue of Biblical authority. The primary problem with issues of Biblical authority lies simply in the fact that all of its books, letters, poems, songs, and legal documents spanning thousands of years of history, culture, ethnicity, and language happen to find themselves bound into one volume that is commonly known as "The Bible."
The real tragedy with Biblical interpretation developed during the Enlightenment years when, ironically, the principles of scientific inquiry began to be applied to the texts of the Bible ACROSS SOURCE MATERIALS. By that I simply mean that readers were beginning to compare facts from one writing of the text with facts about the same event in another writing altogether. Unfortunately, the Bible cannot withstand this kind of congruity test because it was never intended to be bound as such.
Human beings are prone to over-invest power into those they deem "authoritative." Does that make their advice and teachings baseless or ludicrous? Hardly. When it comes to the Bible and many teachings from ancient religious traditions, it is rarely the historicity of the documents that matter most, but rather the timelessness of their insights into the human experience. The beauty of it all is that we should feel free to add to the great pages of religion and philosophy rather than simply resign ourselves to an admiration of "the book."
However, I can comment on the issue of Biblical authority. The primary problem with issues of Biblical authority lies simply in the fact that all of its books, letters, poems, songs, and legal documents spanning thousands of years of history, culture, ethnicity, and language happen to find themselves bound into one volume that is commonly known as "The Bible."
The real tragedy with Biblical interpretation developed during the Enlightenment years when, ironically, the principles of scientific inquiry began to be applied to the texts of the Bible ACROSS SOURCE MATERIALS. By that I simply mean that readers were beginning to compare facts from one writing of the text with facts about the same event in another writing altogether. Unfortunately, the Bible cannot withstand this kind of congruity test because it was never intended to be bound as such.
Human beings are prone to over-invest power into those they deem "authoritative." Does that make their advice and teachings baseless or ludicrous? Hardly. When it comes to the Bible and many teachings from ancient religious traditions, it is rarely the historicity of the documents that matter most, but rather the timelessness of their insights into the human experience. The beauty of it all is that we should feel free to add to the great pages of religion and philosophy rather than simply resign ourselves to an admiration of "the book."
This is too long of a post to read... but I liked the book... Hey Justin!
-Liz
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-Liz
# posted by 
: October 14, 2004 5:07 PM
: October 14, 2004 5:07 PM<< Home
