Sony Gives The Microphone to Da Vinci Code Critics

Anticipating the May 19th release of its The Da Vinci Code film, Sony Pictures is has created a website for critics of Dan Brown's book to make their case:

The site, thedavincichallenge.com, will post essays by about 45 Christian writers, scholars and leaders of evangelical organizations who will pick apart the book's theological and historical claims about Christianity.

Among the writers are Gordon Robertson, the son of the television evangelist Pat Robertson and co-host of their television show, "The 700 Club," who is writing about how early Christianity survived; and Richard J. Mouw, the president of Fuller Theological Seminary, a leading evangelical school in Pasadena, Calif. (source)

George Barna, Darrell Bock, and Hugh Hewitt are among the other contributors.


I'm in complete agreement with a point Richard Mouw makes about why Christians should see the movie:

"It's going to be water cooler conversation, so Christians need to take a deep breath, buy the book and shell out the money for the movie. Then we need to educate Christians about what all this means. We need to help them answer someone who says, 'So how do you know Jesus didn't get married?' "

About two years ago our church offered a short class about the book. One of the benefits was that it provided an occasion for many believers to learn about early church history and the development of doctrine for the first time. Now we're talking about effective ways to prepare our teens and adults to intelligently converse with their non-Christian peers who see the film. The Da Vinci Code Deception DVD and this companion guide to the movie from Josh McDowell are among the resources we're thinking about using. 

Is your church doing anything to equip your people to interact with those who will be seeing and talking about the film? If so, please share your plans in the comments.