I was reluctant to read this book for several reasons. First off I’m not a big fiction reader. I like to think of reading as educational and usually seek out books that teach substance or improve ones state of mind. Second, this is a book that a lot of people have read and that just made me think of here today gone tomorrow fads, which I don’t like. But after reading Voltaires Bastards I felt a nice, easy, fun read was in order, so I relented and turned the first page.

The books main character, Robert Langdon is a Professor of Religious Symbology. Robert happens to stumble into an intriguing secret society – "The Priory of Sion" – A European secret society founded in 1099, which functions as the keeper and protector of a religious secret that would shake the foundations of Christianity as it is known today. Throughout the story Langdon is tracked by a member of the Opus Dei – A deeply devout Catholic sect, whose soul purpose is to prevent the "secret" from being exposed to the general populace.

The book is comprised of 105 Chapters, all of them very short so its easy to pick up and read a few pages when ever one has a moment. I would describe the story as fast, exciting and thought provoking. It would seem a great deal of time has been spent trying to "prove" some of the claims made in the story. The book has also upset the Catholic church enough to generate Many official statements “Enjoy the read, but discount the history.” Cardinal George notes that The DaVinci Code, in the name of historic accuracy and scholarship, pushes an attack on the Catholic Church. The claims made in The DaVinci Code, the cardinal says, are preposterous."

As usual I feel compelled to share a couple of paragraphs from the story that struck me as very interesting.

"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."

The Catholic Inquisition published the book that arguably could be called the most blood-soaked, publication in human history. Malleus Maleficarum-orTheWitches’Hammer-indoctrinated the world to "the dangers of freethinking women" and instructed the clergy how to locate, torture, and destroy them. Those deemed "witches" by the Church included all female scholars, priestesses, gypsies, mystics, nature lovers, herb gathers, and any women "suspiciously attuned to the natural world." Midwives also were killed for their heretical practice of using medical knowledge to ease the pain of childbirth-a suffering, the Church claimed, that was God’s rightful punishment for Eve’s parinal Sin. During three hundred years of witch hunts, the Church burned at the stake an astounding five million women."

"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 throughout countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book."

Months ago I had a conversation with a fellow who had a "Christian weblog" the title of my post was "Does God have a Penis?" After reading this book and some of the other books on philosophy I think the answer to my question is –Yes, god has a Penis and it belongs to man. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good thriller. Its fun, captivating and thoroughly enjoyable. And for arguements sake, yes it is fiction.