''The Da Vinci Hoax'' is a non-fictional book written by Carl E. Olsen and

Sandra Miesel Sandra Louise Miesel (born Sandra Louise Schwartz on November 25, 1941) is an American medievalist, writer, and science fiction fandom, science fiction and fantasy fan. Her early work was in science fiction and fantasy criticism, fields in which ...

for the express purpose of critiquing

Dan Brown Daniel Gerhard Brown (born June 22, 1964) is an American author best known for his Thriller (genre), thriller novels, including the Robert Langdon novels ''Angels & Demons'' (2000), ''The Da Vinci Code'' (2003), ''The Lost Symbol'' (2009), ''In ...

's novel ''

The Da Vinci Code ''The Da Vinci Code'' is a 2003 mystery thriller novel by Dan Brown. It is Brown's second novel to include the character Robert Langdon: the first was his 2000 novel ''Angels & Demons''. ''The Da Vinci Code'' follows symbologist Robert Langdon ...

.'' The book was first published in 2004 by

Ignatius Press Ignatius Press is a Catholic publishing house based in San Francisco, California, US. It was founded in 1978 by Father Joseph Fessio, a Jesuit priest and former pupil of Pope Benedict XVI. Ignatius Press also produces ''Catholic World Report'', ' ...

. According to Olson and Miesel, they wrote it out of concern that Brown's novel is popularizing theories, history and beliefs, which are used as the basis of the novel's plot, and defended by its author as factual, and that purport to expose

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

as founded on lies that have been kept secret by the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

throughout the centuries. The authors state that the theories, while presented as great revelations of hidden knowledge, are actually based on elements of

gnostic Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized pe ...

and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

ideas. They contend that the theories transparently contradict serious scholarship, and present detailed arguments and expositions against them.

Quote from the book

*''The misrepresentation of Christian beliefs in ''

'' is so aggressive and continual that we can only conclude that it is a result of willful ignorance or purposeful malice and hatred.'' (p. 37)

External links

Publisher's webpage for ''The Da Vinci Hoax''
Da Vinci Hoax, The Da Vinci Hoax, The Literature controversies {{The Da Vinci Code

Quote from the book

See also

External links