Presence

When I read The Da Vinci Code, I was at once intriguied and skeptical; while the theories presented in the book were fascinating, little red lights started going off as well. While I'll admit to being close to ignorant of a lot of the history the book deals with, the small bits of Jewish lore that, as far as I know were incorrect, led me to believe there might be some issues with the rest of the information. Turns out, others think so too.

That is not to say that parts of the book might not be correct; some of it likely is. The greater issue, I think, is the massive amount of people ready and willing to believe, with religious-style leaps-of-faith, anything popular as fact, particularly when the subject matter touches the ever-present and possibly tedious, such as history or Bible studies, where levels of ignorance are at their highest. The general public makes no effort in researching the issues presented, preferring the spoon-feeding of pop-culture. This is so dangerous, it makes me dizzy just thinking about it.

On the other hand, Dan Brown's got a dynamite formula; say what you will about the books' veracity, they are great stories, and Brown does an admirable job of building multi-faceted puzzles and plots. And for those who do take history seriously, the books are excellent starting points for learning about new topics (after reading Angels and Demons, I have a new found appreciation for Roman sculpture - just where are all those statues pointing, anyways?). There's got to be a way to transform my knowledge of Judaism into a best-selling thriller. Perhaps an American Yeshiva bachur visiting Israel teams up with a young, attractive Bar Ilan graduate student to uncover the centuries-old mystery behind the lost volumes of the Babylonian Talmud, which contain the long-lost commentaries on Tractate Demai, which relates the rise to power of the Pharisees and details their often-rumored but never-confirmed fabrication of an "Oral Law," essentially hijacking Judaism from its traditional roots and subjugating the masses of Israel to their will?

History be damned, I want the money.