In fact, the story rings so true that New Testament scholar Darrell L. Bock felt compelled to respond, particularly after Brown appeared on an ABC prime-time special on "The Da Vinci Code."
"I thought, 'Well, this isn't just a novel, a guy having fun,' " said Bock, who also was interviewed for the "Primetime Live" special in November. "When he said he thought this was true, and millions of people were in effect raising questions, I thought, 'This needs to be dealt with.' " In response, Bock, a research professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, wrote a nonfiction book, "Breaking the Da Vinci Code" (Nelson Books), which will be released April 22. The first printing is a hefty 100,000 copies.
Other forthcoming spin-offs include "Secrets of the Code," edited by Dan Burstein and due in April from CDS Books, and "Cracking Da Vinci's Code" by James L. Garlow and Peter Jones, also due in April, from Victor.
At John Carroll University in Cleveland, Joseph Kelly, chairman of the department of religious studies, has been booked for so many speaking engagements that, by the end of spring, he will have spoken to 10,000 people about the book. Kelly, a professor at the Jesuit university, tried to delay one public library engagement in Holmes County until the weather improved.
But he was persuaded to brave the icy roads to accommodate the work schedule of the county majority. In the spring, he was told, the Amish would be too busy in the fields.
Kelly, who has written three scholarly books on early Christianity, said his religious studies colleagues have never been this popular. "What this book does," he said, "is enable someone like me to get these issues out in front.... We're getting a chance to do what we could never do."
Meanwhile, Brown is holed away, working on a sequel scheduled for release in summer 2005.
