'Duh Vinci Code' - A Temptation for Those Who Would Court the World

To clarify for those who may not have heard of it, the Emergent movement is an accretion of the evangelical Church that is characterized by its radical use of cultural camouflage. The Emergent community has self-consciously adapted itself to the culture in which it lives, that is to say, Americana, in an attempt to open channels of communication with unbelievers in terms that they would understand. The idea is that the exclusion implicit in a pronounced orthodoxy and distinctively ecclesial culture is itself a scandal to be overcome by a sensitive seeker; remove the scandal and you have opened the Church to be a force of conversion. A part of the chameleon act involved in this has been the attempt to adapt to and Christianize post-modern philosophy. Much of the rationale for this movement is predicated, I suspect, on honest and earnest and self-consciously devoted Evangelicals who trusted their ability to navigate the darkness of contemporary American culture, and emerge unscathed. It is all the natural conclusion of the 'seeker friendly' heresy.

The result so far, unfortunately, is the production of massive churches that appeal to thousands who want belief without doctrine, a pastor without a crook, the Body of Christ without bones. This is not the cost of dialogue; this is the cost of compromise.

This compromise which follows the quest to 'engage the culture' has interesting corollaries that ought to make us wary of a dialogue that does not begin with the first principles of fidelity. Richard Neuhaus posted today in On the Square: Observations & Contentions on the behavior of some evangelicals in reference to the movie, 'The Da Vinci Code'. There is a fine line between 'engaging the culture' and discovering that you have adopted the culture and what follows is, in my opinion, a case study of the sort of thinking that has spawned the Emergent movement:

"Both Catholic and evangelical blogs have been exercised by the number of evangelicals who are encouraging people to see The Da Vinci Code, the movie. (The movie is known in some circles as the Duh Vinci Code.) This is, we are told, a “teachable moment” in which the patent falsehoods of the book and film can provide an occasion for opening people to the truth about Christ and the Church. Put me down as among the skeptical.

Sony is paying an organization called Grace Hill Media to sell the film to evangelicals. Among the films that Grace Hill has promoted to the evangelical Christian audience in the past are “The Producers” and “Elf.” Go figure. In the material put out by Sony and Grace Hill, we are informed that all kinds of “experts” on Christian history and theology have been enlisted to explain the significance of “The Da Vinci Code.” It has not gone unremarked that some of these experts are associated with evangelical groups that are distinctly critical of Catholicism. The book and, it is assumed, the film provide rich material for the peddlers of sinister theories about the ways of the Whore of Babylon. The experts “correct” the film by referring viewers to their own accounts of the errors of Rome.

Critics of Grace Hill and others who are party to this game are understandably puzzled about why evangelical Christians are plugging a story that alleges that the gospel accounts of Jesus are fraudulent. Of course, the line is that you can’t criticize something without having seen it. Which is nonsense with respect to more conventional pornography, and with respect to the spiritual pornography that is The Da Vinci Code. In addition to the suspicion of anti-Catholicism, one might also “think low” and ask just how much Grace Hill Media is getting paid to do Sony’s dirty work. Most poignant, of course, are those evangelicals who think they are “engaging the culture” and have hit the big time when Hollywood gives them “a place at the table” to discuss the pros and cons of blasphemy against their Lord and Savior."