Decoding 'Da Vinci'

But ancient texts discovered and translated within the past century — including the "Gnostic gospels" named after Christ's disciples including Thomas, Philip and Mary — have rekindled debate not only about Mary's relationship with Christ and her life after his death, but whether he told her information before his Crucifixion that had been withheld from his apostles. Much of the book's conjecture about Mary comes from such noncanonical texts, including the "Gospel of Mary."

Current liberal scholarly discussion about such questions is presented in "The Da Vinci Code" as factual information, shared during the quest by the book's protagonists to find Magdalene's remains and the documents that accompany them. Those documents — which Brown tells readers were retrieved from the Holy of Holies in ruins of the ancient Jewish temple by a real secret society known as the Knights Templar — purportedly show how the early Christian church subverted the role of women.

He makes sweeping statements about an early Christian conspiracy to burn 5 million women as witches throughout Europe and another to cast Mary as a prostitute. There is some truth in both characterizations, but scholars dispute the details.

Huntsman, whose scholarly background is in classical Greek and Latin, is writing a book about the Gospel of John. In the Greek text of John's gospel, Huntsman said Jesus calls Mary "the apostle to the apostles," a reference that also appears in Brown's book in a discussion about how the early apostles were jealous of her unique relationship with Jesus.

Huntsman said he was contacted by several people before the lecture, concerned about what he would or wouldn't say regarding questions the book raises with relationship to LDS theology.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may be particularly intrigued with the book for a variety of reasons, including their belief that men and women can only be "exalted" with God in the afterlife if they are married "for eternity" in the faith's temples. The church has no formal doctrinal position on Mary Magdalene or her relationship to Jesus, but the concept of a "mother in heaven" as a partner to God the Father has been discussed intermittently by top church leaders.

Latter-day Saints are also unique among Christians in their acceptance of scripture beyond the Bible, some of it translated by church founder Joseph Smith from ancient papyri he obtained in the 19th century. They believe in the Bible "as far as it is translated correctly," and also that "many ancient scriptures have been lost. Some contents of these sacred records are known, but much remains obscure. Latter-day Saints look forward to a time when all things revealed from God will be restored and made known again," according to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism.