Da Vinci decodings are getting (today's WSJ) much (Wright's "post-modern fantasy" article) better (even the archbishop of Canterbury weighs in). I'm beginning to think God commissioned Dan Brown in order to spur Christians onto more effective catechism.
The key in responding is to have that illusive light touch, as the book is, after all (while claiming to be fact-based), still a work of fiction. I used to link to Bart Ehrman's excellent lectures on the subject. This was rhetorically effective because no one (including Ehrman) would accuse Ehrman of being a defender of the faith, and he did such a nice job of showing Brown's "fact-base" to be also fiction. But alas, the T.C. took 'em down (though there's still his book).
But now U of Chicago and U of Bologna trained art historian Elizabeth Lev lets Brown have it Renaissance style.
And speaking of art history - Princeton Chapel tour tomorrow (Sat.) at 2:30pm (with an organ recital before at 2pm). If Dan Brown fans come expecting to hear that Gothic is "a secret pagan tribute to a woman's womb [and then some]"(326), they should anticipate disappointment.