One Jesus Twelve Apostles example essay topic

Before I even begin to deconstruct Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, I think it is very appropriate to explain my perspective. I attended Catholic schooling for my first nine years of education. The school I attended taught the Catholic faith in a very conservative and orthodox manner. I still do practice the Catholic faith, but at the current time, I am very impressionable with it comes to my faith and beliefs.

My first impression after reading The Da Vinci Code was that Brown is very blasphemous towards the Catholic Church. Before the novel even begins, Brown states, "All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate", which can be very misleading, making the reader think that the descriptions of the Catholic Church are also very accurate. Throughout the book, on numerous occasions, Brown talks about how Jesus could have been married to Mary Magdalene, and possibly could even have fathered a child. In one instance Teabing says", the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is part of historical record. Jesus as a married man makes more sense than our standard biblical view of Jesus as a bachelor" (245). This goes against many of the Catholic teachings and traditions that say that Jesus was single and chaste the entirely of his life.

The Bible says, "Nevertheless he that stand eth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well" (1 Corinthians 7: 37). It is even more preposterous when Brown asserts that Mary Magdalene could have been one of the twelve original disciples. "The Last Supper is supposed to be thirteen men. Who is this woman? ", Brown writes (243).

Historically, The Last Supper was Jesus' last meal with his twelve Apostles. Brown is saying that one Jesus' twelve apostles may have been a woman. To begin with I would have to guess when Brown uses the word "disciples", he really means "apostles". The word "disciple", in the Bible, literally means follower of Jesus. Under that definition, Jesus has had and still has an uncountable number of disciples. The Apostles were the twelve mean that followed Jesus during his lifetime and helped him teach his message.

I think Brown was trying to say that Mary Magdalene could have been one of the twelve apostles. Even so the Bible says that the twelve original apostles were men. "And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Joseph called Barnabas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James" (Acts 1: 13). As one can see, this list does not include Mary Magdalene, and all the names listed are men's names. Judas later hangs himself and is replaced by Matthias, another male. In chapter fifty-five, Brown talks about how the Catholic Church was only after power when naming Jesus Christ as the Messiah.

His character Teabing says, "It was all about power, Christ as Messiah was critical to the functioning of Church and state. Many scholars claim that the early Church literally stole Jesus from his original followers, hijacking His human message, shrouding it in an impenetrable cloak of divinity, and using it to expand their own power" (233). It is true that the Catholic Church is a very powerful organization, but this power does not come from naming some common man as a Messiah. Regardless if Jesus Christ was the Messiah or not, the Catholic Chuch truly believes the He is the true Messiah. This can be seen in the following Bible passage, "And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone" (Matthew 4: 6).

The Catholic Church gets its power from the over one billion members worldwide. I think that is why it is so widely criticized. Christianity encompasses more of the world's population than any other religion, having more than two billion believers, and 33.1 percent of the population in 2000. (ci am. org). The Catholic Church's power comes not from naming a common man Messiah, but from having over two billion people truly believing that Jesus Christ was the Messiah.

I also find Brown's criticism of Opus Dei to be a little out of touch. Brown makes it seem that Opus Dei is a very greedy organization focused solely on wealth and power. The exact opposite is true, "Opus Dei is focused on helping people grow in their faith and integrate it with their ordinary activities" (opus dei. org). One month before he was elected, Pope John Paul 1 quoted, "Newspapers give [Opus Dei] a lot of coverage, but their reports are frequently quite inaccurate. The extension, number and quality of the members of Opus Dei may have led some people to imagine that a quest for power or some iron discipline binds the members together.

Actually the opposite is the case: all there is the desire for holiness and encouragement for others to become holy, but cheerfully, with a spirit of service and a great sense of freedom" (opus dei. org). I think a lot of the false ideas that people get about Opus Dei come from the great number of wealthy members, but that means absolutely nothing, Opus Dei does many things to help and benefit the poor and less fortunate. I think Dan Brown should have thought a little more about what he was saying about the Catholic Church before he published this novel. It is very insensitive to make such assumptions of a real world religion or organization without having any kind proof. Any author should take into account that impressionable minds will be reading their works. If an author feels that he or she needs to incorporate information that is not true, or that has not been proven as true, they should make it clear, in the form of some kind of disclaimer, that states that much of what they are saying is not factual and should only be taken in relation to their story and nothing beyond.