How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Nobody could deny the enormous good the modern Church did in today's troubled world, and yet the Church had a deceitful and violent history. Their brutal crusade to "reeducate" the pagan and feminine-worshipping religions spanned three centuries, employing methods as inspired as they were horrific. (28.13)
Should the Church be held responsible for the sins of it's past? It's an interesting debate, especially considering all the different viewpoints on what constitutes sins, and how they are dealt with within varying sects of Christianity. The Da Vinci Code does criticize the Catholic Church pretty heavily, and although Brown has protested that it's not meant to be a scathing review of the organization, one does come away from the book with a bit of a bad taste in one's mouth.
Quote #5
"And everything you need to know about the Bible can be summed up by the great canon doctor Martyn Percy." Teabing cleared his throat and declared, "The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven."
"I beg your pardon?"
"The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not of God. The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds. Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times, and it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book." (55.17-19)
Teabing isn't being facetious about Martyn Percy (we thought he was going to be someone made up). He's a Reverend and a professor of religion with Christ Church in Britain who writes and teaches on modern ecclesiology. (Source)
Quote #6
"Transmogrification," Langdon said. "The vestiges of pagan religion in Christian symbology are undeniable. Egyptian sun disks became the halos of Catholic saints. Pictograms of Isis nursing her miraculously conceived son Horus became the blueprint for our modern images of the Virgin Mary nursing Baby Jesus. And virtually all the elements of the Catholic ritual – the miter, the altar, the doxology, and communion, the act of "God-eating" – were taken directly from earlier pagan mystery religions."
Teabing groaned. "Don't get a symbologist started on Christian icons. Nothing in Christianity is original. The pre-Christian God Mithras – called the Son of God and the Light of the World – was born on December 25, died, was buried in a rock tomb, and then resurrected in three days. By the way, December 25 is also the birthday of Osiris, Adonis, and Dionysus. The newborn Krishna was presented with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Even Christianity's weekly holy day was stolen from the pagans." (55.28-29)
Dan Brown didn't make this stuff up, either. It's pretty fascinating how much Christianity "borrowed" from its predecessors.