Unlocking the DaVinci Code

The Relative Value of the Sacred Feminine (Session 1)

Scripture Focus

1 Timothy 4:1-10; Luke 15:8–10

Theme

The value of using feminine images for God

Sermon Summary

The author is quite provocative in this novel, knowing that this will attract interest and sell books. As an artistic work, however, one cannot disengage the meaning, symbolism, and personal opinions of the author from the art. Therefore, it is not incorrect to assume that the author's intention with this novel is to belittle the authority of the Church and to present pagan worship of the sacred feminine as an alternative to Christianity.

We will investigate the challenge to the authority of the Church in the final weeks of this series. During this introductory session, however, we will consider the author's basis for presenting pagan religion and The Gospel of Mary Magdalene as legitimate history and religious alternative by describing the positive regard for women found both in Jesus and in the early churches. It was precisely this positive regard for women and their health issues that was such an important factor in the rapid early spread of Christianity: the teaching of the apostles was backed-up with a practical and holistic lifestyle, thus winning converts from the dominant, patriarchal, pagan culture.

Introduction

⇨    discussion:   What did you most like about Dan Brown’s book, The DaVinci Code (herein, “DVC”)? What did you most dislike?

There is no doubt that this is a novel worthy of being popular. It is provocative, a real page-turner, with action, suspense, intrigue, the whole kit-and-caboodle of a good novel.

No one wants to be preached at in a movie theatre. Movies that raise issues are more interesting than movies that try to give answers (Ralph Winter, Christian movie producer).

But when is a novel only a novel? At what point does a novel become a cultural phenomenon that challenges and/or, hopefully, enhances our worldview?

Dan Brown’s purpose for this book, as indicated on his website, was to instigate debate on spiritual matters:

My hope in writing this novel was that the story would serve as a catalyst and a springboard for people to discuss the important topics of faith, religion, and history.

Let the biblical scholars and historians battle it out [...] It's a book about big ideas, you can love them or hate them [...] But we're all talking about them, and that's really the point.

So what are those spiritual matters? For our purposes, I have summarised the questions raised in this book into four topic areas:

1)  The Relative Value of the Sacred Feminine

2)  The Credibility and Formation of the Christian Bible

3)  The Story of Jesus

4)  The Holy Spirit and Truth

Let us begin by identifying Dan Brown’s personal religious persuasion.

The Return of Gnosticism

1)  Brown’s promotion of The Gospel of Mary and The Gospel of Philip highlights his gnostic disposition

      •    Gnosticism is an interweaving of Christian mysticism with Greek dualistic philosophy, emphasising knowledge, over faith, for salvation

The Gnostics accepted the Greek idea of a radical dualism between God (spirit) and the world (matter). According to their world view, the created order was evil, inferior, and opposed to the good [...]

The Gnostics also taught that every human being is composed of body, soul, and spirit. Since the body and the soul are part of people’s earthly existence, they are evil. Enclosed in the soul, however, is the spirit, the only divine part of this triad. This “spirit” is asleep and ignorant; it needs to be awakened and liberated by knowledge.

According to the Gnostics, the aim of salvation is for the spirit to be awakened by knowledge so the inner person can be released from the earthly dungeon and return to the realm of light where the soul becomes reunited with God [...] One must understand certain formulas that are revealed only to the initiated.

      •    Gnostic sects arose from within Christianity, and gained prominence, in the second and third centuries

            –    condemnation of Gnostic theology can be identified both within the Bible and in the writings of early Christian theologians.

      •    Contemporary archeological research is piecing together the writings, as well as the history, of gnostic movements

            –    the discovery of the Nag Hammadi documents in 1945 was the most significant to date

      •    Like most postmoderns, Brown enjoys a good controversy

            –    we will look at the postmodern challenge to authority in next week’s session, but, for know, we can ask ourselves:

⇨    discuss: Is the pursuit for secret spiritual knowledge simply an expression of consumerism?
Does this not reflect a superficial desire for ‘quick fixes’ and D.I.Y. remedies?

      •    Brown’s promotion of The Gospel of Mary and The Gospel of Philip as legitimate alternative historical accounts of Jesus’ life and teachings is thrown into question by the recent publication of The Gospel of Judas

            –    all three of these writings distort Jesus’ message

            –    while The Gospel of Mary and The Gospel of Philip promote Mary as Jesus’ special disciple, The Gospel of Judas promotes Judas

⇨    discuss: Does the presence of conflicting accounts disturb your perspective on Jesus’ life and teachings?
Is it easier to accept these alternative accounts over the Bible?

We will discuss more about the respective credibility of the sources promoted by Brown with that of the Bible next session.

The Return of the Sacred Feminine

1)  Dan Brown wants to promote pagan worship of the sacred feminine within Christianity

Two thousand years ago, we lived in a world of Gods and Goddesses. Today, we live in a world solely of Gods. Women in most cultures have been stripped of their spiritual power. The novel touches on questions of how and why this shift occurred and on what lessons we might learn from it regarding our future.

2)  The original subtitle of his book claims to expose “The Greatest Conspiracy of the Past 2000 Years”

      •    Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married

      •    Mary wrote her own gospel and was a powerful woman of the tribe of Benjamin, recast as a prostitute to erase evidence of her powerful family ties

      •    it was to Mary, his wife, that Jesus gave instructions on how to build his church

      •    through Mary, Jesus had a royal bloodline —this is the secret Holy Grail of history

      •    the Church systematically removed worship of the sacred feminine and knowledge of Mary’s exalted status, particularly through the Crusades (documents proving Mary’s status were allegedly hidden under the temple of Jerusalem, but recovered by crusaders)

      •    a secret society, known as the Priory of Sion —headed by the likes of Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Leonardo da Vinci — protects the documents and Jesus’ descendants, intending to reveal the secret eventually

⇨    discuss: Brown claims that worship of the sacred feminine was lost to Christianity due to the undermining efforts of patriarchally-oriented leadership in the Church. Notwithstanding, what enhancements do you imagine an increased acknowledgement of femininity and female roles would bring to Christian faith and practice?

Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily this is not difficult (Charlotte Whitton).

I agree with Brown to the extent that something is indeed lost when Christians disregard feminine images of God. The Bible dictates that we should not represent God exclusively by one gender (Deuteronomy 4:15-16). Men and women are equally created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27); therefore, we can reasonably assume that God’s essential nature transcends gender, is not limited by gender. In addition, all believers —without any regard for gender— are to be conformed to the image of Christ Jesus (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18).

3)  The Bible already uses feminine images and language for God

      •    God as a mother bird (Psalms 17:8b; Ruth 2:12)

      •    God as a she-bear (Hosea 13:8a)

      •    God as a midwife (Psalms 22:9)

      •    God as a mother hen (Matthew 23:37b)

      •    God as a woman looking for her lost coin (Luke 15:8–10)

      •    God as a woman baking bread (Luke 13:20–21)

      •    Mother images for God (Deuteronomy 32:18; Hosea 11:3–4; 13:8; Isaiah 46:3–4; 66:13; Job 38:29; Psalm 90:2)

God is self-revealed in terms we can understand through our own experiences, as inanimate objects and sometimes using gender. We should not, however, make these metaphors —these implicit comparisons— absolute. We cannot lock into metaphors as theological absolutes, to render God as male or female. God is not limited by gender, because God is Spirit (John 4:24).

4)  Throughout history, Christian leaders have represented God using feminine images

      •    Clement of Alexandria, 215 ad

This is our nourishment, the milk flowing from the father by which alone we little ones are fed [...] Therefore, we fly trustfully to the ‘care-banishing breast’ of God the father; the breast that is the Word, who is the only one who can truly bestow on us the milk of love. Only those who nurse at the breast are blessed [...] little ones who seek the Word, the craved-for milk is given from the Father’s breasts of love for man [...] The Word [Christ] is everything to His little ones, both father and mother.

      •    Bernard of Clairvaux, 1090–53 ad

Do not let the roughness of our life frighten your tender years. If you feel the stings of temptation [...] suck not so much the wounds as the breasts of the Crucified. He will be your mother, and you will be his son.

      •    Julian of Norwich, 1342–1423 ad

As truly as God is our Father, so is truly God our Mother. Our Father wills, our Mother works, our good Lord the Holy Spirit confirms [...] And so Jesus is our true Mother in nature by our first creation, and he is our true Mother in grace by taking our created nature [...] God Almighty is our loving Father, and God all wisdom is our loving Mother, with the love and goodness of the Holy Spirit.

      •    Teresa of Avila, 1515–82 ad

For from those divine breasts where it seems God is always sustaining the soul, there flow streams of milk bringing comfort to all the people.

      •    Clement, Origen, Irenaeus, Chrysostom, Ambrose, and Augustine and monastic writers such as Bernard of Clairvaux all refer to God as mother

      •    Others include Gregory of Nyssa, The Venerable Bede, Anselm, Peter Lombard, Thomas Aquinas, Mechild of Magdeburg, St. Bonaventure, Catherine of Siena, Martin Luther, John Calvin and Count Zinzendorf

5)  The early Church promoted women’s health and positive lifestyles, which contributed significantly to the early growth of Christianity

      •    the early Christian communities became revolutionary in pagan Roman society, as they opened up social spheres both to men and women, serving as a surrogate family, and provided opportunity for exalted expression to marginalised persons

            –    in the first century ad, women were responsible to maintain the honour of the household, which included children, servants, and associated tradesmen/contractors

            –    since early Christian communities met in homes of wealthy patrons, women were allowed to lead liturgy and accepted as evangelists, prophets, and deaconesses

      •    Christian ethics challenged issues revolving around reproduction and marriage:

            –    men outnumbered women in ancient Graeco-Roman world (ratio of 131:100 in Rome; in whole of Italy, ration of 140:100) due to a preference for males

            –    it was a common practice to "expose" female and deformed male infants

            –    general culture did not favour having more than one daughter

            –    abortion was also a major cause of death among infants and women

            –    marriage held in low esteem

      •    in Christian communities, women outnumbered men, as Christian ethics condemned:

            –    double standards against women

            –    pre-marital and extra-marital sex

            –    promiscuity, incest, cohabitation

            –    polygamy, infidelity, divorce, re-marriage

            –    abortion, birth-control and infanticide

      •    instead emphasised equal conjugal rights and a symmetry of relationship

      •    since the Christian communities sanctified marriage, family and fertility were sustained

      •    widows were supported —even to the point of being maintained— far better then pagan widows, and Christian communities emphasised care for the poor and outcast

While history has favoured patriarchy, following Jesus’ lead, women were included, supported, and enjoyed a status far greater in Christianity than their pagan counterparts —despite Brown’s rosy and misguided picture of paganism. Which, by the way, begs the question: If pagan worship of the sacred feminine promoted sex with women as a route to God, does this not still emphasise the needs of men at the expense of women (e.g. the provision of temple prostitutes)?

As I have demonstrated, it was precisely because Christianity presented and promoted a alternative ethic to that of paganism that Christianity flourished and expanded so rapidly, overtaking paganism as the state religion. Christianity may not worship Mary Magdalene as the wife of Jesus, nor his alleged descendants, but certainly the devotional value of Jesus’ mother, Mary, exists and is not insignificant. The biblical and historical source material for this pro-female tradition has not been lost; although, I must admit, it is fair to say that, in some quarters, it may have been overlooked.

Conclusion

The value of feminine images and language persists and contributes to Christianity, if not emphasised at the expense of masculine images and language. In the end, masculine images have dominated because of devotional, liturgical, and societal emphases. Brown’s critique of Christianity, on this measure, is unfair and ungrounded.

His critique presumes that Christianity was corrupted by patriarchal agendas, that its true history and message was undermined and destroyed. Brown makes this claim based on the existence of two alternative gospels: The Gospel of Mary and The Gospel of Philip. Next week, we will investigate the credibility of this material as compared to that of the Bible.

His theories may seem meritorious because they resonate with personal opinions. Yet, even cursory investigation will reveal that the Bible stands as a credible source of socio-cultural information, as well as holding significant spiritual value for our lives.

While there is no doubt that we can learn much about God through reflection upon feminine images and language for God, even this language cannot be used at the expense of other images. If nothing else, let us get the hint from the popularity of Brown’s novel that all of us are seeking a bigger understanding of God and, hence, of ourselves.

sermon delivered by Ian Forest-Jones
at Hurstville Church of Christ
on Sunday, 11 June 2006 at 6pm
[email]

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