PUBLISHERS WEEKLY -- Religion Bookline
"ABC Special Examines Da Vinci Code Ideas"

Author Dan Brown was interviewed at length for an ABC News special based on his bestselling mystery novel "The Da Vinci Code." The hour-long program, "Jesus, Mary and Da Vinci," which aired last night (Nov. 3), explored controversial historical questions considered in the novel, such as whether Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had a family together.

"The topic of Mary Magdalene is a heated one, and scholars fall passionately on both sides of the argument," Brown wrote in an e-mail response to questions BookLine posed last week. "The exciting thing about incorporating contrary points of view into a compressed television hour is that viewers will be able to watch both the believers and the skeptics simultaneously and formulate their own opinions." In investigating the novel's theories, ABC reporter Elizabeth Vargas traveled to locations around the world to examine evidence.

Brown, who hadn't seen the special before it aired, said he doubts scholars ever will reach consensus over whether Jesus and Mary Magdalene married. "There is simply too much contradictory documentation in existence... much of which seems to spring from reputable sources. At the same time, it's interesting to note that since the beginning of recorded time, history has been written by the 'winners' (those societies and belief systems that conquered and survived). Despite an obvious bias in this accounting method, we still measure the 'historical accuracy' of a given concept by examining how well it concurs with our existing historical record. Many historians now believe (as do I) that in gauging the historical accuracy of a given concept, we should first ask ourselves a far deeper question: How historically accurate is history itself?"

Brown wrote that he's still "a little bit in shock" over how immensely successful "The Da Vinci Code" has been. "While I had hoped readers would find these topics as enthralling as I do, I never imagined that so many people would become so engrossed." After a whirl of publicity demands for the book, he said, as of this week he is "hiding away" to work on the sequel. "As for the topic, I'd rather not say too much... except that it focuses on the brotherhood of the Masons, deals with themes of mysticism, and is partially set in Washington, D.C."

--Juli Cragg Hilliard