The Da Vinci Code: Sex, the Path to God?

Sophie Neveu’s grandfather, Jacques Suaniere, was the leader of the goddess worship cult which was part of his work as the grand master of the Priory of Scion. As the grand master he participated in a religious ceremony which included having sexual intercourse with one of the female leaders of the cult. Sophie became alienated from her grandfather when she witnessed this strange and terrifying ceremony as a child.

Though the movie does not make this a major issue, the book has many references to the religion of this feminine goddess. Unfortunately, Dan Brown gives a more favorable depiction of these ancient fertility religions than he does of Christianity. For example, he claimed that the “church launched a smear campaign against the pagan gods and goddesses, recasting their divine symbols as evil.” (p.37)

What were these religions like and is Brown’s depiction of them accurate? These pagan fertility cults were found in nearly all ancient cultures. This female goddess of fertility had various names (Asherah, Ishtar, Astarte, Ba’alat, etc.) and was thought to be responsible for the fertility of the land. The idea in these religions was that sex was the means of connecting with and receiving blessing from the goddess. The sex ritual that Sophie’s grandfather participated in was like the ancient practice of “Hieros Gamos” (i.e., “holy marriage”) in which the head priestess had sexual intercourse with the head priest or king. Brown claims that this “holy marriage” was a spiritual act. Historically, intercourse was the act through which male and female experienced God. Physical union with the female remained the sole means through which man could become spiritually complete and ultimately achieve gnosis -- knowledge of the divine. Since the days of Isis, sex rites had been considered man’s only bridge from earth to heaven. (p.308)

Wow! Brown (through the voice of Harvard professor Robert Langdon) apparently believes that these “joyous rites to celebrate fertility and the Goddess” (p.453) are a means of experiencing God. This is sex as salvation. Sex as a god to be worshipped. Sex as the means of escape from this painful world. Lest anyone think this is mere fiction, Brown assured his fans in the Parade Magazine article that the “sacred feminine” ideas were maintained in the movie script.

But were these pagan rites truly joyous? Did those who worshiped the goddess truly experience God? See the next post.