Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Rebuttal to DaVinci Code
Review: Mr. Abanes does simply a terrific job diagramming the heresy and myths created in the work of fiction, the novel "The DaVinci Code" by Dan Brown. He deftly balances scholarship with readability and I found his work very complete as he noted many angles of the novel with its related theories that I never thought about.
It's too bad good evangelical churches are studying a work of fiction which page after page, contradicts clear biblical accounts and teaching. Mr. Abanes does a very credible job organizing lists, scriptures, etc. to confront the themes and threads throughout the novel.
Clearly Mr. Brown struck a nerve and tapped into a market hungering for experience and something to justify their own preconceived notions and falsehoods. The most important market he exploited was the feminist movement who are absolutely dazzled by the theory that Jesus Christ wanted Mary Magdalene to lead the church. (See 2 Timothy 3: (6-7) to see a description of Dan Brown.)
With Ron Howard currently producing "The DaVinci Code" for movie release in 2005, Mr. Abanes' book is all that much more important to have as a handy, readable reference.
I would not be the least bit surprised that when the Antichrist of Revelation Chapter 13 is revealed to the world, he proclaims some kind of lineage to Jesus and Mary Magdalene to authenticate his messiahship. Obviously, Brown's book goes a long way to laying the groundwork for the public to believe such a lie.
Good job, Mr. Abanes.
Rating:
Summary: No Fluff, Good Stuff
Review: Organization of this short response (although more than adequate) is very nice. Abanes starts with a short intro that lays out The Da Vinci Code plot (warning - spoilers present) and highlights how many people are viewing Brown's book as fact - really, as fact (not the general story, of course, but the underlying historical information). This, of course, is what Dan Brown himself believes (as documented by Abanes).Then, we get 5 short chapters that are laid out in a truly unique way-Abanes first gives a short excerpt sentence or two from Brown's book that provides a historical claim of some kind, then ths is followed up with Abanes' response that pulls from all kinds of sources in order to show just how off base Brown was. The chapters are: 1 - Conspiracy Theories, Mass Confusion, and Rewriting History; 2. Gnosticism, Ancient Gospels, and the Bible; 3 - Mary Magdalene, the Church, and Goddess Worship; 4 - The Grail, the Priory of Sion, and the Knights Templar; 5 - Leonardo, the Mona Lisa, and The Last Supper. Pretty complete. And one great thing about this book is that Abanes does NOT pull only from Christian or Roman Catholic sources. He actually draws information from Christian, non-Christian, Wiccan, Gnostic and other sources to show that no matter what views you personally take on spirituality, the issue is NOT one's religious beliefs per se, but rather, is truth. He even quotes from scholars somewhat hostile to Christianity, whose work on history in general shows that Brown is simply wrong on so many things. This one by Abanes is a major eye-opener, and thank God, he does NOT beat you over the head with the Bible (although he does quote when necessary to demonstrate a point). I never felt like someone was preaching at me, but instead I felt like I was simply hearing someone talk to me and show me documents to back up his point. And, I gotta say, the reading was a breeze. I read it in one day and felt like I had a wealth of information ready to talk to others about The Da Vinci Code. Really interesting style of writing, very refreshing word usage. NOT boring. I enjoyed it very much-and hey, I'm a Dan Brown fan (of his FICTION). Finally, Abanes didn't attack Brown as a person, or belittle his beliefs. This book just offers the facts and let's people take from it what they want to take from it. He has a particularly enlightening section on the European Witch Hunts. Very, very interesting!
Rating: 
Summary: A Piece of Trash
Review: Richard Abanes has a bone to pick with The Da Vinci Code and he proceeds to lay out the biggest piece of dross I have tried to read in very long time. I'm not certain if it is because Dan Brown's novel threatened Abanes' worldview or for some other unknown reason, but he spends all 75 pages of his book skewering every little detail of The Da Vinci code as if the book was a personal attack on his own belief system.
He has divided his book into primary concepts and then breaksdown each section by details and suppositions found in The Da Vinci Code. In many cases he wins at knit-picking, but loses in attempts to refute the overall concept (see the section on the history of the Bible or on Mary Magdalene).
I made it only half way through before a tore the book in half, disgusted by boredom and the time I had spent trying to get a balanced view of the novel.
Do not waste your time with this book when I'm certain any other book on the same subject must be money and time better spent!
Rating:
Summary: Concise critique of the Code
Review: There probably is not any shorter of a critique about the Da Vinci Code that packs as much information than what Abanes has produced. He has a sharp mind and a systematic approach showing how Dan Brown is anything but historical in his approach. This is recommended for those who don't want an extended version but just want to know, why is the Code pure fiction. He has also made this book easy to skim, and for those with only an hour or two to devote to the subject, there is an ability to get the basic information in an easy manner. Christians need to be informed about the truth, especially when something like Brown's work takes off as it has and makes it appear that Jesus is not really the person as described in the pages of the Gospels.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT FACTS!
Review: This is a fabulous book. Not only well-priced, but packed with information for only being 96 pp. Abanes is not an alarmist and does not hit you over the head with any religion. In fact, he plainly says that the problem with Dan Brown's book has nothing to do with whether he believes in Christianity or not, the problem is that Brown is misrepresenting historical facts, as well as a world religion. Abanes says The Da Vinci Code would be just as problematic if its misrepresentions were used to attack any religion such as Buddhism, Islam. I really liked this about the book-balance. No over zealous reaching or evangelizing. This book lets the facts speak for themselves. The format is strikingly easy to use. Five chapters, each of which is split up into simple point-counterpoint arrangement wherein he quotes from Brown's Da Viinci Code, then presents documented historical facts to show where Brown is, in a word, wrong. The way Brown presents history is absolutely appalling. I would be tempted to laugh were not so many people believing what he wrote. Anyway, excellent, excellent, excellent. You will not regret this purchase.
Rating:
Summary: proof?
Review: what is going on? a religious mind researched a religious topic? It is bias at best.... this is very boring!!! Bible itself has more fables, history and exciting stories than this one......
Rating:
Summary: As good a response as you'll find
Review: While Brown's novel, as fiction, is mediocre at best, it's fairly obvious that what gives the book its "legs" is a combination of two things: first, it presents a revision of Christian history that turns received wisdom upside-down, which appeals to the elitism and radical individualism of many, many readers. (By elitism, I mean that, like the gnostics, Brown offers readers a "secret wisdom" that makes them feel elect--Christianity becomes the ultimate secret society of insiders, and Brown takes you inside... unlike orthodox Christianity which says that the faith is open to everybody and completely accessible for all peoples in all times. By individualism, I mean that it presents a fictional world in which all authority figures are part of a dark cabal, so that only by rejecting authority and placing oneself as the absolute measure of all things can one find the godhead.) Second, like the Left Behind series of books, it stakes out a kind of liminal genre between fact (the author says 'all is true') and fiction (the author says 'it's only a novel'). So, if you try to critique The Da Vinci Code's historical premises as ludicrous or unscholarly, Brown's acolytes deride you for being too much of a literalist, treating a work of fiction as if it is trying to be more than fiction. It's a perfectly unassailable heresy, in other words, because no one has the right to take it seriously (except Brown and his cult-like following). Abanes' book is very good at showing how laughable most of Brown's "discoveries" are, but we should not kid ourselves into thinking that Brown's "expose/novel" will soon wither on the vine just because it's been shown to be a fake. If Dianetics is still selling, you have to know this "new age" ego trip will spawn yet another goddess cult. The perfect sign of that is the fact that every one of the books showing that The Da Vinci Code is fiction from start to finish has several one-star reviews by obvious Brown cultists. I suppose with 33,000 denominations spawned since the Reformation, one more won't matter.
Rating: 
Summary: Concise and Organized Debunking
Review: While I've disagreed with Abanes' conclusions in other writings ('Harry Potter and the Bible'), the information he presents in 'The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code' is the same data provided in numerous other books published to answer Dan Brown's flaw-riddled conspiracy theories. The reason I recommend this book above the others that I've read ('Breaking the Da Vinci Code' by Darrell Bock, 'Cracking the Da Vinci Code' by Garlow and Jones, 'The Da Vinci Deception' by Erwin Lutzer, and 'The Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction' by Hanegraaff and Meyer) is that the information here is concisely presented; Brown's claims are quoted verbatim from 'The Da Vinci Code' and reproduced in shaded boxes (with page references), followed by the facts which contradict Brown's claims. Abanes' book is also the only among these volumes I've already mentioned which deals with the person of Leonardo da Vinci to any degree. Da Vinci's own writings tell far more about the Renaissance Man's religious convictions than Dan Brown's imagined "secret messages," and those historical documents are helpfully quoted here. Again, the facts that Abanes lists here are available in many other books on this same subject, but I recommend 'The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code' specifically for those who want to learn as many of the facts in as short a time as possible (it's a quick read, at 96 pages with footnotes. Those who care to do deeper research can easily begin an investigation of their own starting with these footnotes, or with some of the lengthier books on the subject. For the individual who wants to learn what's wrong with 'The Da Vinci Code,' there's certainly no shortage of information available.
Rating: 
Summary: Abanes rebuttal to Dan Brown
Review: With the publication of "The Da Vinci Code," Dan Brown certainly struck a nerve with the public. The book remains on the NY Times bestseller list nearly two years later. Richard Abanes "challenging response" strikes me first as someone's attempt to ride the coattails of someone else's success, especially when his other titles are books responding to Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings.
"The Da Vinci Code" is a work of fiction, with some interesting ideas about the origins of the Christian and later Catholic church, such as Jesus being married to and having children with Mary Magdelene. DVC brings out ideas about "the sacred feminine" and paganism, as well as the "truth" of the Holy Grail legend and ideas about the Knights Templar. If I'm to believe that this is true, then I'd also like to have a look in that warehouse where the U.S. government stored the Ark of the Covenant at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. There are lots of conspiracy theories out there, and DVC feeds right into people's love of a good thriller.
I did find the book to have an anti-Christian bent in general and anti-Catholic bent in particular. To that end, Abanes book brings some of this into balance. His arguments are presented clearly and concisely, in an easy to read format that breaks down the various "theories" presented in The Da Vinci Code.
My problem with "The Truth Behind The Da Vinci Code" is that there seems to be a belief that the Bible is infallible, and all that the Christian church has created around the legend is the irrefutable truth. One need only look at a variety of world religions to uncover "virgin birth" stories, and the fact that many Christian holidays/feast days neatly overlap original pagan feast days. Also, the gospels where not recorded during the life of Jesus, so who is to say there was no embellishment on the truth? Since we know little of his life between the ages of 12-30, is it not possible that he could have enjoyed the life of a normal mortal man until then?
Both books raise many arguments about the nature of one of the world's great religions, and this should be questioned and argued. By getting a taste of different viewpoints, we can revise our faith.
Further recommended reading includes: The Last Temptation of Christ and The Hiram Key.
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