And I guess we have to begin with the big one. Good to be here.ĬONAN: Professor Pagels is with us from her office in Princeton, New Jersey. Professor ELAINE PAGELS (Professor of Religion, Princeton University): Thank you. And the e-mail address is Elaine Pagels, nice to have you on TALK OF THE NATION today. If you've read the book or seen the movie, what are your questions about what's true or not in The Da Vinci Code. In this Sunday's San Jose Mercury News, she wrote an op-ed piece arguing that Brown's story is a work of fiction, but what makes it so compelling is not the parts he made up but those parts that are true. She's also the author of The Gnostic Gospels and Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas. The central theme of both the novel and the movie revolves around the controversial idea that Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene were married and had a child, and that the Catholic Church covered up the truth.Įlaine Pagels is a Professor of religion at Princeton University. Despite some bad reviews and claims of historical and theological errors, the movie version of The Da Vinci Code topped the weekend's box office sales, taking in $77 million. Time now for the TALK OF THE NATION Opinion Page.
