Novelist Dan Brown has let all hell loose by selling Hollywood the rights to adapt his book The Da Vinci Code. The film version starring Tom Hanks opens to the public in Hong Kong today. It has already caused a furore in the Christian world and scholars say there is increasing evidence for an academic review of the life of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene based on research underlying the novel and movie.
Although there have always been doctrinal disagreements between Christian sects, mainstream churches have tended to sing off the same hymn sheet when it comes to the basic story about Jesus, his crucifixion and resurrection. But their agreed version could now be challenged by an alternative one.
A central theme of the book is that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalene and that they had children. The Roman Catholic Church and Protestant Christian groups have responded that that idea is fictitious at best and blasphemous at worst. Magdalene scholars argue, though, that there is circumstantial and documentary evidence to support a large part of the story.
And an alternative version of Jesus' life is not necessarily bad news, according to Stephen Palmquist, associate professor in the department of religion and philosophy at Baptist University, himself a Christian, who sees the new stories emerging as an opportunity rather than a challenge.
'I don't see what these guys are doing as anti-religious,' he said. 'It's only so if religion means we have to practise what people 1,000 or 1,500 years ago thought was the only true religion and that what they ossified is what we have to keep to.' He welcomed the opportunity to learn more about a 'different side' of Christ.
Not everyone agrees with Dr Palmquist. The book, which has sold more than 60 million copies and been translated into 44 languages, stands accused of seriously misrepresenting Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church.