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<DIV class=post_title><FONT face=Arial size=2>Here's my blog on The Da Vinci
Code. Mainly used it to change the subject, but there are a few good links
in it too. A lot of groups, though, will continue with the Constantine
theme, I think.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=post_title><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=post_title><FONT face=Arial size=2>God bless, Stephen</FONT></DIV>
<H1 class=post_title><A title="Permalink : Da Vinci Code - Adventist Review"
href="http://www.theotokos.co.za/blog/post/index/204/Da-Vinci-Code--Adventist-Review"><FONT
size=5>Da Vinci Code - Adventist Review</FONT></A></H1><SMALL
class=post_date><FONT face=Georgia size=4>May 7, 2006, 8:43 pm</FONT></SMALL>
<DIV class=post_text>
<P>The Adventist Review's <A
href="http://www.adventistreview.org/article.php?id=452" target=_blank><FONT
color=#3300cc>response</FONT></A> (by David Marshall) to The Da Vinci Code is
critical of the book/movie, but still continues on to agree with it on matters
that have long formed part of Adventist mythology.</P>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<P><FONT color=#666600><EM>Yes, Constantine created a religion that
represented a mix of Christian and pagan practice. No, he did not rewrite the
New Testament.</EM></FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>No, Constantine didn't create a new religion. Historians today do not
subscribe to that opinion, which has long since been condemned to the archives
of mythology. However, because it helps support the anti-Catholic position
of Adventism, it's accepted by many Adventists.</P>
<P><A
href="http://billcork.blogspot.com/archives/2006_05_07_billcork_archive.html#114702422375799697"
target=_blank><FONT color=#3300cc>Bill Cork writes</FONT></A> on his blog:</P>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<P><FONT color=#666600><EM>Fortunately, the church historians I had as
professors at Atlantic Union College and Loma Linda University knew
better.</EM></FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>So not all Adventist historians subscribe to this view.</P>
<P>But of those who do, what exactly did Constantine add?</P>
<P>The Trinity? Some Adventists are Arian or semi-Arian, and
non-Trinitarian, and would accept this position. Adventism, as a whole, is
Trinitarian, although this took a few decades to reach formal consensus.
Although Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea in 324 AD, he did not
dictate its outcome. The Trinity had been developing in clarity long
before Nicaea in the writings of early Christians, and what needed to be done at
Nicaea was decide between two views - the older view that Jesus was fully God,
and the later view that he was not.</P>
<P>Sunday observance? Samuele Bacchiocchi - <A
href="http://www.theotokos.co.za/blog/post/index/200/Bacchiocchis-thesis--the-Gregorian-Controversy"
target=_blank><FONT color=#3300cc>whose credentials for his thesis/book are
being questioned</FONT></A> - leads the Adventist voice of disagreement
here. No credible historians claim this any more - it's left for those who
avoid historical facts because they disrupt their world-views.</P>
<P>Infant baptism? This can be dated to long before Constantine in the
early Christian writings.</P>
<P>The Catholic clergy? The basis for deacons, priests, and bishops in a
ministerial role is strongly supported by the Bible. All three words are
derived from words used to describe the ministry of Christian leaders in the New
Testament. And Christian witnesses from long before Constantine show that
this leadership was recognised from the start. Not to mention the witness
of the New Testament.</P>
<P>I would say that while Dan Brown has rewritten history, so have
Adventists. It was not Constantine that fashioned a new religion out of
Christianity and paganism, but Adventism, and other similar fundamentalist
groups, who have fashioned a new religion for themselves - out of historical
Christianity, adding in myths and legends to support whatever views have no real
historical support, and removing history from the equation.</P>
<P>
<HR>
<FONT face=Arial size=2></P></DIV>
<DIV>--<BR>Stephen Korsman<BR><A
href="mailto:skorsman@theotokos.co.za">skorsman@theotokos.co.za</A><BR><A
href="http://www.theotokos.co.za">www.theotokos.co.za</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>IC | XC<BR>---------<BR>NI | KA<BR></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>