April 14, 2005—Since its publication two years ago, Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code has sold millions of copies around the world. It also has inspired book-length responses, discussion groups, specialty tours, illustrated editions, a film script, television and video presentations, articles, sourcebooks, and even an official response from a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.

"The primary question is why? Can we escape the Code or does the Code have us?" wonders Geoff Chaplin '99, visiting professor of early Christian history at Oberlin College. "Does the best-selling novel present a real challenge to religious beliefs?  Or does it have more in common with the works of Tolkein and Stephen King?" 

On Wednesday, April 20, Chaplin will explore these questions via a scriptural, theological, and historical critique and discussion of the Da Vinci phenomenon in a talk on Oberlin's campus. The event will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Room 101 of Wilder Hall.

Chaplin's talk is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the First Church in Oberlin and the Oberlin College Department of Religious and Spiritual Life.