Cracking Da Vinci's Code

by James L. Garlow, Peter V. Jones

Was Jesus merely human and not divine?

Did Jesus and Mary Magdalene marry and have children?

Is there a Holy Grail? If so, what is it and where can it be found?

Cracking Da Vinci's Code provides the answers to these and other questions that may have troubled you—or readers you know. Authors James L. Garlow and Peter Jones present compelling evidence that Brown's assertions are not only historically inaccurate, but may also contain a hidden agenda.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Religion, Christian, Christianity, Theology, Catholic

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Jim Garlow is an American evangelical leader, author, and former Senior Pastor of Skyline Church in La Mesa, California. Known for his outspoken political activism and theological conservatism, Garlow has played a prominent role in efforts to influence public policy from the pulpit, particularly through his leadership in the "pulpit freedom" movement. He was instrumental in mobilizing religious support for California’s Proposition 8 and later served as chairman of Renewing American Leadership, a nonprofit founded by Newt Gingrich.
A frequent commentator on social and political issues, Garlow advocates for a return to what he calls “authentically biblical” Christianity and has urged evangelicals to abandon the term “evangelical” altogether. He has controversially equated political disengagement among Christians with moral failures of the past and maintains that biblical values must guide political decisions. He has publicly supported Donald Trump and collaborated with figures like Glenn Beck, despite criticism over interfaith alliances.
In addition to his activism, Garlow has authored numerous books, including the New York Times best-seller Cracking DaVinci’s Code. He holds advanced degrees from Drew University, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Asbury Theological Seminary, and has served as a professor at Oklahoma Wesleyan University.
Following the death of his first wife, Carol, in 2013, Garlow married Rosemary Schindler in 2014. Together, they have a blended family of eight children and nine grandchildren.

Reviews

[Tiffany · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars-- More than just "it was okay," but less than I "liked it."

I have a few problems with this book.
1) Every chapter after the first has a cheesy little story as an introduction. We meet Carrie, a college student, who obviously is going through some issues. And somehow she doesn't have her head on straight enough to not be persuaded by friends about the sacred feminism, sex, and whatnot. She does have her head on straight enough, though, to tell her boyfriend that she wants something more spiritual than just sex. Oh my god, beat me in the head. Okay, so this little story is a waste of two to four pages at the beginning of every chapter. I'm just skipping them. Uck.

2) The authors sound like they're lumping all "feminists" together and characterizing them all as angry radical feminists who shout at men. We're not all like that, really. And then they seem to classify feminists with pagans, too... Where'd that come from??

3) Okay, fine, the Bible doesn't (in your view) "demonize" and "repress" women. Okay, so we can say that, in your interpretation of the Bible, Dan Brown got that one wrong. Can we address, then, the issue of what some Bible-believers have done to demonize and repress women, and yet still call themselves good Christians? Even though the book, itself, may not specifically say "Women are bad" some followers say "Women are bad. The Bible says so." Let's look at that, and at least acknowledge that, and then say that those people who read the Bible that way are incorrect. Don't just gloss over it and say Dan Brown is the only one who's wrong. Sure, he interpreted your literature incorrectly one way, but many of your followers are interpreting it incorrectly, just in a different way.

4) The authors make some claims that I find completely outlandish. Their *two* chapters on sex made me laugh so much I now don't remember most of them (sex in marriage is good, sex not in marriage is bad and heathenish, homosexuality is baaaaaaad). And at one point, they claim that the Church/Christianity saved women in different cultures by convincing the cultures that their treatment of women was wrong. Somehow, I just don't believe that. Granted, I don't know, but am I really supposed to believe that there was no more "sex-selection infanticide" in China after the Christians came and "saved" the country in the 1880s?

5) Some of their examples seem weak, too. In the chapter about women and how much the Bible and Christianity says they're wonderful, they list different women the Bible speaks about or who were influential in the Church's history, including: Tamar (a widow who sleeps with her father-in-law), Rahab (a prostitute), Ruth ("a woman with sterling character"), the woman who had an affair with King David, Mary, and St. Augustine's mother. In these three pages, they list (with only a brief description) twelve women: one prostitute, two women who have affairs, and two women who seem to only be included because they are mothers to men who advanced the Church (and that doesn't even include Mary, Jesus' mother. Okay, let's count her, too. Now we have three mothers). That count doesn't seem very convincing about what great roles women have played in the Church. And if the women who had affairs did so for noble reasons, please tell me those reasons. Otherwise, you've just implied that they, too, are ... disreputable. So three tramps and three mothers? Those are your stellar models of what Christianity thinks of women? They also use the example of "Katherina von Bora [without whom] Martin Luther could never have become the leader of the Protestant Reformation." Okay, I'm dumb -- who is she? Why couldn't he have lead the Reformation? If you're going to cite an example, could you please explain why that example is relevant? Otherwise, you haven't really made your case, which means your case against Dan Brown is also weak, since you're not *completely* proving your point against his point.

6) The authors make a couple of claims about Dan Brown that I find completely wacky, and they are later summed up in one sentence: "...what Robert Langdon in The Da Vinci Code told his Harvard undergraduates to do: enjoy illicit sex and invent a spirituality to go with it". Wait, say what? Where was that in the book?? I missed it! Dude, if Dan Brown/Robert Langdon had *told* me to enjoy illicit sex, I would have remembered that!

7) Their citations in the last few chapters get sloppy -- way too many end notes don't match the text they're supposed to refer to. It makes me wonder if it's just sloppy layout or if they're signs of errors in the research.

8) The chapter on symbols cites lots of sites (ha!) that seem a little ... odd. I'm not going to look at these sites myself (I don't want to get on some weird "You visited our site, thanks for worshiping the devil!" mailing list), but I *hope* that the authors did the proper academic research into the background of the websites they used to make sure they were valid, reputable sites.

9) The authors seem strongly intolerant of other belief systems, like paganism, Wicca, and Buddhism. Okay, paganism and Wicca I can understand (these are God-fearing authors, after all), but Buddhism? I didn't know there was anything controversial about the peaceful Buddhists!

10) The last few chapters sound like they're trying to completely scare the Christian readers. Hell! Fire! Devil! Pagans! Witches! Buddhists! They're all trying to change our world! They're going to take over!! Run! They even strongly imply that the hippies of the 1960s led to paganism of today. Whaaaa? And the quote they use of that culture is Bob Dylan lyrics. Okay, wait... Bob Dylan led to paganism?!?

11) "The Bible's claim to uniqueness is not motivated by narrow-mindedness, intolerance, or fear" (228). But your book/claims/proof seem to be. *eyebrow raise*

********************
Okay, breathe. Strangely, this book is still better (in my opinion) than The Da Vinci Hoax: Exposing the Errors in the Da Vinci Code. I'll definitely keep reading it I did finish reading it, because it *does* have some valuable points. There are just points that I have to say "Wha?!?" or roll my eyes, and there's definitely a whole lotta propaganda.

[Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I started reading this book blindly for the most part. I have seen the movie version of the Da Vinci Code but have yet to read the book. Even if I had read the book I would have still disagreed with a number of statements that are mentioned with in this book and the lack of research done by the authors on the Pagan religions that they are condemning is an insult to scholars everywhere!

[Roberto Codin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely awful. Just a book for brain washed church fanatics.

[Jules · Rating 2 out of 5]

THIS IS ALL BULLSHIT

[Adam Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Garlow manages to debunk in barely 100 pages what Brown has taken well over 300 (if I remember right) to set up as a truth claim, and Brown's position is based on very dodgy, shaky, and questionable evidence. While Garlow's book is rather short and may feel abrupt, it establishes sufficient factual evidence to render Brown's thriller entirely a work of fiction. Unfortunately, many, many people are stupid enough to buy Brown's claims. That's why The Da Vinci Code was such a sensation. I read it myself and must agree that it is rather an engaging thriller, and Dan Brown is a writer of considerable talent (I much prefer Digital Fortress, however, as Brown's religious thrillers are outright infuriating in their shameless audience manipulation. He's getting rich off the childish ignorance of the masses). If you want more factual support for the truth and validity of Christianity and the deity of Jesus Christ, read the works of Lee Strobel. And don't feed me that line about how the bias of authors like Garlow and Strobel drive their presentation of the evidence. So does Brown's, but at least the truth pretty much speaks for itself, even stripped of bias. There is no truth to Brown's claims. None.

[Dava Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I purchased this book for 2 reasons. One is because when I lived in San Diego, James Garlow was the pastor at my church. Two, because the Davinchi Code made me angry.

I delved into this book, and was very surprised. It is now he said, she said. I was expecting much more "evidence" to support the cause of the book, but it seemed more like personal opinions. Keep in mind, this is a short little book. I noticed when I was done reading it, that you could offer a larger book that allowed for Bible study or personal growth. So maybe the smaller book didn't have what I was looking for.

[Mark A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book addresses a number of inconsistencies between Christian doctrine and the Da Vinci Codes book by using historic documentation and theological scholarship. The book puts much of its terminology in layman's terms and is relatively easy to understand, but it extends its position beyond evidence at times. As a result, the text becomes argumentative and preachy. Still it is a good read that logically refutes many of the claims made in Dan Brown's book. Interesting and good, but not great. Three stars.

[Lila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why anyone would think Brown's book, The DaVinci Code, was factual, with historical evidence is beyond me. Cracking Da Vinci's Code is a fascinating read and debunks the greater of Brown's claims in clear, understandable language. To refute all of the fallacious claims would require a vast tome.

Cracking Da Vinci's Code is worth reading.

[Dogeared Wanderer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title is a play on words. Instead of explaining the secrets and decoding codes supposedly hidden in the Da Vinci code as described in Dan Brown's book, this book literally cracks the code and confronts its claims with truth.

This book answers the core attacks of Brown's book and addresses them for what they are: promotion of goddess paganism and a direct attack against the truth of God's word. This book takes a careful look at Brown's claims of the Bible's demeaning treatment of women, patriarchal vs. matriarchal societies, lost "gospels", church control over books not included in the canon, church suppression of individual expression, church shame related to human sexuality, the "truth" about Christians which ignores true/false conversions (and lumps all Christians under many of the atrocities of so-called Christians, especially during the time of Roman Catholic church control), enlightenment discovered in mysticism, and encouragement of doubting the Bible even as he misrepresents it.

Each of the main issues are answered unashamedly and biblically. As the authors also note, many of the issues revived in Brown's book are nothing new and are confronted in the New Testament with the rising popularity of Gnosticism and syncretism even in their generation. The fact that many of these issues are reviving today shows a connection to a larger spiritual battle in which Satan is actively working through deception, attacking authority of Scripture, and destroying God's people. This book gives helpful counterattacks to Brown's book and flips the deceptive secret knowledge to its proper place as shown in the light of the true knowledge of the Bible.

🦝Please note that I recommend books based on their content, and do not claim association with those who endorse it.

🐙 Study questions included for each chapter.

[Andrew Holmes · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Christian the Da Vinci Code left me with alot of questions. This book gave me the answers I needed.

3 star rating only because some of the "arguments" were difficult to follow (which, I admit, may be a result of my intellect or lack thereof).

I'd probably give it 3.5 if I could. The .5 is that I enjoyed how they had a narrative component bu following a character named "Carrie". Her story helped to pull me through the book.

At the end of the day, Jesus is Lord 🙏🏽🙌🏽

[Migsasua Cínico · Rating 1 out of 5]

Teología barata hecha por cristianos asustados para asustar a más cristianos.
Imaginense un "Dios no ha muerto" pero en libro... haciendose las victimas, sacando to de contexto y con un montón de falacias.
Le pongo una estrellla porque hay que ponerle nota.

[Jennifer Snodgrass · Rating 1 out of 5]

The second chapter starts with a girl getting dumped and then her lesbian roommate using Dan Brown’s book as an almost cult-recruiting tool. I stopped reading after that because it was already waaaay too “I-know-better-than-you” in the first chapter.

[Juan Firex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nos da bastante bibliografía para derrumbar mitos entorno a lo que dice el libro del código Davinci además de llevar a las nefastas implicaciones prácticas del pensamiento de Dan Brown expuesto en el código Davinci

[Tarjei Skille · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nei. Det er nok Dan Brown og Da Vinci nå for wn stund

[Windyasari Septriani · Rating 3 out of 5]

mencoba membeberkan kembali kebenaran yang dianggap salah oleh novel The Da Vinci Code. tapi tetap saja kedua buku itu ada salahnya...sebelum mereka membaca al Quran. maaf buka bermaksud membela Islam, tapi...ada hal2 yang mereka tidak ketahui dan membuat mereka sendiri malah bingung sehingga begitu banyak versi2 injil dan alkitab, itu disebabkan krn perbedaan bahasa yg digunakan dan disebar oleh Paulus, bukan oleh Yesus (nabi Isa). sehingga hingga saat ini selalu timbul perdebatan. Kata buku ini maklum saja kalo alkitab modern menjadi berbeda dgn alkitab awal2 Kristen krn para Rasul (yg dimaksud mereka sbg Kristiani adalah murid Yesus) menyebarluaskan ajaran Kristen ke berbagai negara dlama bahasa yang berbeda2. Sedangkan al Quran, hanya 1 bahasa, bahasa Arab dan jikapun diterjemahkan dalam Al Quran harus tetap mencantunkan versi bahasa aslinya untuk menjaga keasliannya. Sedangkan penulis buku ini mengatakan wajarlah jika terjadi perubahan sedikit pada alkitab...
Nabi Isa (Yesus) pernah menatakan yang juga dicantumkan pada buku ni bahwa, akan ada Seseorang yang akan meneruskan Aku, yang akan menyebarkan ajaranNya". Di mana yg tak lain dan tak bukan yg dimaksud Nabi Isa adalah Nabi Muhammad sebagai nab terakhir, tetapi para murid Yesus menganggap bahwa merekalah yang akan menyebarkannya sebagai saksi2 hidup di masa itu..
banyak ajaran Isa yang diubah oleh Paulus termasuk danjurkannya sunat bagi lelaki diganti menjadi baptis, berdoa dengan cara bersujud diganti dengan duduk atau berdiri dgn menyatukan kedua tangan, berdoa tanpa memakai sepatu menjadi pakai sepatu

[Lisa James · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was given this book because I loved the whole Dan Brown Series. I ended up skimming through it. Everywhere I turned a page & let it drop open to read, more "facts" from the Bible were presented as to why it's not a true story. Basically it points out what everyone already knows. That the series is fiction. HELLO!!! What a revelation! Pardon the pun :) It points these things out by using Bible references, yada, yada. I find it VERY funny that 2 such learned men as the authors actually felt the need to write a refutation book like this. To me, it simply points out that they felt threatened by a series of books that were simply designed to be a great set of adventure stories. Even funnier, the Bible is also a great set of adventure stories, even if you don't believe that much of it's actually true. Now, from my perspective, I do think "parts" of it are true, there's enough archaeological evidence to prove certain things, but not enough to make me a believer in all of it without question, especially since what's IN those covers is incomplete, & what was thrown out was thrown out for socio-political reasons of the time. So that gives THIS book a lot less credibility in my mental book.

ANYWAY, I was pretty bored with it, it's a lot of needless repetition & rhetoric.

WHY can't people let a good story just be what it is?

[Bladestryke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two words describe this book. Lame and preachy. I got the feeling early on that since da Vinci code was so popular that some just wrote books on it just to cash. In. I loved the da Vinci code and thought it was an awesome ride and yes it did make me question my faith but not in the catastrophic way the writers of this book seem to believe. The writers of this book seem to think that dan browns book will shatter the pillars of Christianity. I suppose with all the backlash from the book some Christians would feel threatened and this book feels like a defense. It just comes off being preachy and the beginning of each chapter I felt I had to start ducking with the bible bashing. I'm Christian but I think people need to find their own way to the truth no one should smash them with it. Maybe in some cases dan browns book might bring people to god. Wonder if the writers ever entertained that idea. This book would probably be best used in a bible study or religion student not for the casual reader.

[Togar Silaban · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tidak mudah membaca buku ini. Secara struktur dan bahasa, terasa sangat berat. Kedua pengarang, DR. James L.Garlow dan DR.Peter Jones adalah dua teolog kenamaan.

Buku ini bermaksud menjelaskan tentang hal-hal yang dibeberkan oleh Dan Brown dalam NOVEL nya, "The DaVinci Code". Kalau target buku ini adalah orang yang tidak beriman Kristen, kemungkinan besar buku ini tak membantu apa-apa. kalau targetnya adalah orang Kristen, buku ini bagus untuk memperdalam keyakinan tentang Yesus. Tapi bisa juga orang semakin bertanya-tanya setelah baca buku ini.

Jadi menurut saya, buku ini sebenarnya agak berlebihan merespon suatu novel, dengan penguatan iman.
Boleh jadi dalam konteks Amerika, orang sekarang banyak yang mencari aliran "New Paganisme", sehingga James Garlow dan Peter Jones memerlukan menulis buku seperti ini.

Buat saya, DaVinci Code hanyalah sebuah cerita fiksi, novel yang tidak perlu dibahas terlalu serius.

[Rod Horncastle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I read it in 3 days.

I even liked the fictional story of Carrie and her issues with her Pagan feminist Goddess worshiping room-mate. (these people really do exist - I've chatted with many of them.)

This book is only a beginning to learning the historical truths of Christianity. Garlow and Jones most likely could have easily made this offering 3000 pages long. Personally i would of enjoyed that too.
The issues this book brings up are very relevant to modern Christianity and Biblical scholarship. A day doesn't seem to go by where i'm not trying to undo the mess caused by the Jesus Seminar (especially Pagels and Ehrman.) But as we can see from other reviews of this book: people will believe what they want to believe...Good luck!

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up kind of randomly. I had already read Dan Brown's DaVinci's Code, and had been amused by the fictional nonsense it put out there, but in the past few years I've heard many people spout the same nonsense as if it is historical fact. This book did a good job (although a bit simplistic - I think it is aimed at High School & College kids) of deconstructing the assertions in Brown's book, and identified where the original fallacies came from. And alot of them were crackpot fictional creations within my own lifetime. So much for having predated the Gospels of the Bible.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, whatever you think of the ideology of the authors, they know what they are talking about. Peter Jones has a Princeton Ph.D., Garlow's is from Drew. It is also written in a non-technical, highly accessible style. Another appeal, for me, is that it deals with teh broader cultural issues (Gnostic world-view) as well as just the details of the Da Vinci Code.

I also appreciated Ben Witherington's book on the topic, and D. Bock, both world-class Biblical scholars.

[Kymberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished this book. I have many friends that have read or that are reading the DaVinci Code and I saw the movie and was thinking I really need to read something that explains this book. Cracking the DaVinci Code: You're Read the Fiction, Now Read the Facts was so great with explaning their beliefs. I feel equip now that I can explain to them not only where their beliefs don't line up but, how to explain the true circle of Life.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have only skimmed "The Da Vinci Code". I admit that right now. However, I did get the gist of the book. But before I even peeked at Brown, I had read this book through. This book was incredibly helpful. (Another book I would recommend would be "the Case for the Real Jesus" by Lee Strobel)
At the beginning of each chapter we read a short story about Carrie, a college student who is being introduced to the "Sacred Feminine."
Easy to understand and on the whole enjoyable.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book presents a very important message. It is fascinating as a whole and parts of it are great. But near the middle and end it starts to bog down in extra details and history.

It ends well with a very clear message and conclusion. The authors even throw in a little symbology of their own, a very nice touch. I recommend it.

[Jim Vuksic · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always tried my best to alternate my reading choices so that a non-fiction book follows a fictional story.
Sometimes I do not succeed in adhering to this self-imposed ritual because not as many non-fiction books attract and hold my interest as often as does fiction.
Cracking Da Vinci's Code not only proved interesting, it turned out to be entertaining, educational, and enjoyable as well.

[Gideon Arthur · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that I loved to read. It is a book that cleared the dust from the views of those who have dogmatically accepted the views of Dan Brown. It is not a perfect book, nonetheless it places fiction at where it is supposed to be and facts got their place. It seems that they did the work that the fiction writer could not do. thumbs up

[Riska Damayanti · Rating 5 out of 5]

James L. Garlow wrote this book in a similar way with the novel, which uses a story then he explained. Gives you not only what is fiction fact in Da Vinci's Code, but also all the historical evidence.

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Buku ini berusaha meluruskan kebenaran yang sebenarnya dari novel Da Vince Code-nya Dan Brown...
Cuman buat gue, cara memaparkannya kurang bagus, terkesan berat buat ukuran gue (atau mungkin krn gue baca versi bhs indonesia, penerjemahnya yang kurang oke kali yaa..)

[Putu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, it just an ordinary book, talking about the different perspective of Jesus. For me, I don't care about it anyway. That is why I questioned myself why I was sacrificing my money to buy this so-so book??

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Davinci's Code is a novel that nags ar your head and keeps you guessing 'till the end. When boredom keeps you from doing some activity outside you should pick up this book. You will never regret it.