Oklahoma Panhandle State Plans To Study "The Da Vinci Code"

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Oklahoma Panhandle State University plans to offer an elective class this fall focusing on the biblical and historic relevance of "The Da Vinci Code."<br/><br/>A Tulsa minister developed

Monday, May 29th 2006, 4:42 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Oklahoma Panhandle State University plans to offer an elective class this fall focusing on the biblical and historic relevance of "The Da Vinci Code."

A Tulsa minister developed the course materials related to the new film, which is based on a best-selling novel by Dan Brown.

"There is so much that a student can learn about the evidence of Christ and Christianity inside 'The Da Vinci Code,"' said Sam Collins, a Church of Christ minister who teaches adjunct liberal arts courses at Oklahoma Panhandle State University in Goodwell.

The Christian Evidences class will provide an in-depth examination of the movie and its social, religious and historic relevance. However, Collins plans to debunk Brown's claims, including those that Jesus was not divine and married Mary Magdalene.

"It's pure fiction," he said. "I can show evidence and through the Bible that it is not correct."

Timothy Paul Jones, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Rolling Hills, said he has already sold 70,000 copies of his "Answers to The Da Vinci Code" coursework series, published by Rose Publishing. Most are being used by churches but the series is also appropriate for college classrooms.

"Whether students come out thinking that 'The Da Vinci Code' is true or false, they've been forced to think critically and historically about the issues," Jones said.

John Harrison, a professor in Oklahoma Christian University's College of Biblical Studies, said he plans to add clips of "The Da Vinci Code" to the curriculum in his "Jesus: From Scriptures to Screen" class, which compares biblical portraits of Jesus with those created by Hollywood. "The Last Temptation of Christ" and "The Passion of the Christ" are already part of the class.

"I try to use (movie) clips to show the basic question 'Does the film industry reflect our culture or does it help to shape our culture? Will this shape people's ideas about religion or does it reflect people's ideas about religion?"' Harrison said.

Harrison said his course also will refute the claims made in "The Da Vinci Code."

"In higher education, we should be interested in the pursuit of truth," Harrison said. "There's nobody within biblical scholarship that would take the claims made by Brown as very serious."