T(r)oy's Marbles
3. the alternate account
This is part 3 of a multi-part essay dealing with issues related to "The Da Vinci Code" and the Gnostic Gospels.
To start the series at the beginning, click here. From there, you'll find links at the end of each part, directing you to the next post in the chain.
Today, we begin exploring what may be considered the "presuppositional" approach with this issue. Basically, this approach begins from a standpoint of granting certain assertions made by, in this instance, Dan Brown. If you need to review more fully what the presuppositional approach looks like, review the second half of part 2 of this series.
And now, the presuppositional approach as it concerns "The Da Vinci Code and the Gnostics.
Okay, Mr. Brown, I grant you your thesis. Just what is it, again?
Let Dan Brown have a hearing, for Pete’s sake. Let him say what he wants to say.
“Actually,” Dan says, “I’m not the only one—or even the first one—to say it.”
“Okay,” you say, “but I don’t want to talk about that just yet. Just tell me in plain English what it is you want to say.”
“It’s this: there is an alternate story to be told about who Jesus is. Your story says that Jesus is God and that everyone who wanted to call themselves Christians in the first centuries A.D. agreed on that.”
“They didn’t?”
“No, quite the contrary, in fact.”
“How so? and who?”
“Let’s start with the ‘who’ question first, shall we? They’re called the Gnostic Christians.”
“Agnostic?”
“Not agnostic; Gnostic.”
“What’s the difference?”
“A big difference. I can explain it to you now in true Da Vinci Code writing fashion, if you want.”
“How’s that?”
“Well, you know…packing a bunch of technical explanations into dialogue that’s as real as my aunt Mabel’s boob job.”
“Okay, sounds good,” you say.
“Both of the words (gnostic and agnostic) come from a Greek word meaning ‘knowledge’. The word in question is ginosko. Now, let me ask you…what’s the difference between the word ‘typical’ and ‘atypical’?”
“Atypical means ‘not typical’ and the other is its opposite.”
“And how about ‘moral’ and ‘amoral’?”
“The same. One means ‘not moral’ and the other means the opposite. Can we stop with the 20 Questions now?”
“Okay, so…how about ‘gnostic’ and ‘agnostic’?”
“I see. One means knowledge and the other means ‘no knowledge’.”
“Yes, in this case, the agnostic would say, ‘I don’t know’ whereas the Gnostic—“
“…would say ‘I do know.’ I get it. So, what’s the big deal? What does this have to do with the so-called Gnostic Christians?”
“They claim that they have the real knowledge of who the real Jesus is.”
“Oh, really? And who do they say he was?”
“Well, it varies from one Gnostic to the next, but the one thing they all have in common is that Jesus was not God. He was just a man—a great man, mind you, but a man nonetheless.”
“So, how did we come to believe he was God?”
“That’s precisely the point of my book. In 325, the Gnostic Christian message was stamped out by the Christians who said Jesus was God. It just so happens that the Christians who wanted to stamp out the Gnostic message were all men and they were threatened by the Gnostic Christian message.”
“Why?”
“Because the Gnostic Christians said that Jesus was all about uniting the sacred masculine with the sacred feminine. They stressed that that’s what Jesus really was sent to do.”
“Sent? From where?”
“Oops. I didn’t mean to say that. I meant to say ‘that’s what Jesus really wanted to do.’ Let’s move on now, shall we?”
“No, let’s not. Why was that such a big deal to you? Why didn’t you want to say ‘sent’?”
“Well, um, because…I don’t really talk about that in my book. It’s a tangent.”
“Why? Is there something you’re keeping from me?”
Mr. Brown responds with uncomfortable silence.
“What is it?” you say. “What are you trying to hide? What are you not telling me?”
At this point, Mr. Brown begins to sweat nervously, acquiring an enigmatic look on his face not unlike the Mona Lisa. This may be our first clue.
To go on to the next part of "The Alternate Account" click here.
teachings | Comments (0) | March 10, 2007