Bible Scholar to Take Aim at Dan Brown Novels at Tuesday Talk

COLUMBIA, Ky. -- If you're one of the tens of millions of people who read the controversial books The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, Tuesday night's speaker at Lindsey Wilson College might punch a few holes in your knowledge and beliefs about biblical history.

Bible scholar Ben Witherington has had best-selling writer Dan Brown and his two bible-based blockbuster books in his cross hairs for years. Brown's latest novel, The Lost Symbol, which came out Sept. 14, is about the mysteries of Freemasonry.

Witherington will bring his views of Da Vinci and his alleged code to LWC on Tuesday. He will discuss "The Gospel Code and the Dan Brown Series" at 7 p.m. CT Tuesday, Sept. 22, in the Norma and Glen Hodge Center for Discipleship. His talk - which is part of the 2009-10 Lindsey Wilson Cultural Affairs Series - is free and open to the public.

 Witherington said Brown's Da Vinci Code makes wild and historically inaccurate claims. Witherington, a New Testament scholar at Asbury Seminary, in Wilmore, Ky., is a world-renowned theological writer and leading critic of Brown's novels. 

Armed with historical facts, Witherington asserts that Brown's novels, although they employ real-life characters to act out wild biblical fantasy, are nothing more than works of fiction.

Witherington has shared his views in numerous interviews and special appearances on several media outlets, including the History Channel and Discovery Channel.

Witherington describes Brown's books as "more hysterical than historical fiction." In his view, those who buy the logic of the books are "biblically illiterate" and "naïve to believe the hysterical fiction in Brown's novels."

Bible scholar Ben Witherington will discuss "The Gospel Code and the Dan Brown Series" at 7 p.m. CT Tuesday, Sept. 22, in the Lindsey Wilson College Norma and Glen Hodge Center for Discipleship. His talk is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Cultural Affairs Chair Phil Hanna at hannap@lindsey.edu or (270) 384-8250.