If you live on this earth you’ve probably heard something about the “DaVinci Code.” For those of you who are curious, I’d like to give a bit of information. First of all, The DaVinci Code is a recent book on the best-seller list. It is definitely fiction but based on some facts. This seems to be where the controversy or confusion begins. Let’s start with a simple question. In the Bible, who was Mary Magdalene? I’ve been taught that she was a prostitute whom Jesus forgave. This misconception occurs in Catholic and Protestant churches worldwide. In fact this is not who Mary Magdalene was. To my surprise she was a follower of Jesus and much more. I was fortunate to see the Prime Time special broadcast Nov. 3 before I read The DaVinci Code. It lays out exactly what is fact and what is fiction regarding Mary Magdalene who is the main subject of the book. Luckily I taped the special and have donated a copy to the Litchfield Library. I’ve made several more copies and have loaned them out to friends and family across the United States. Following are some of the facts discussed in the Prime Time special that the author, Dan Brown, used to build his fictional book. o The early church respected Mary Magdalene as a leader. o For the first 100 years after the death of Jesus, women administered communion, baptized people and also taught. o During the years 150- 200 A.D., women started to lose these rights. o Around 350 A.D. the books of the Bible were chosen. The gnostic gospels of Thomas, Philip, Mary and many more were specifically excluded. These gospels contained most of the information about Jesus’ childhood and his relationship with Mary Magdalene. The Church then systematically destroyed all the copies of these gospels. What is key here is this: there was no reason to destroy these gospels. They could have been excluded but not destroyed. The reason they were excluded and destroyed had more to do with the position Mary Magdalene held and not because these gospels were somehow flawed. The problem the Church had with Mary Magdalene was that in fact she held the position of an Apostle, and possibly the lead Apostle. This was something the male-dominated Church wanted to destroy. In 591 Pope Gregory the Great falsely stated that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. That effectively removed her and all women after that from holding any position in the Catholic Church and Protestant churches that came after. For the next 1,400 years the world believed that Mary Magdalene was simply a repentant follower of Jesus. Around 1950, copies of the gnostic gospels were discovered in Egypt. It seems a monk decided to hide these copies instead of destroying them. (I personally believe there are copies of these gospels hidden in the Vatican archives.) At this point the church wasn’t too concerned. They simply blew off this discovery. However, when the Dossier files were discovered in France in the early 1960s, they must have realized something needed to be done to get ahead of the lie they perpetuated in 591. In 1969 the Vatican quietly recanted their story and stated that Mary Magdalene was never a prostitute. Now let’s return to the fictional book, The DaVinci Code. Dan Brown takes the above facts and turns them into a modern-day mystery. Needless to say, many of today’s religious leaders wish Mr. Brown would not have written this fictional story since it brought to light the reason women have no position of authority in most (not all) Christian churches. Of course, the Prime Time special was just my first exposure to this information. It is easy to follow the many other sources that contain the same information. Just recently I purchased a Time magazine, and a U.S. News & World Report magazine which deals with this subject. Also the Discovery and History channels have had lengthy programs on this subject. I expect we’ll be hearing about this information for a long time to come. Audre Kramer
