Customer Reviews

The Da Vinci Deception Experience

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The Da Vinci Deception Experience is a media curriculum kit that consists of three items: the book The Da Vinci Deception by Erwin Lutzer, a leader's guide, and a DVD-ROM. Since the book is primarily marketed independent of this curriculum, I will be reviewing it separately.

The DVD curriculum follows the material of The Da Vinci Deception book. Thus, it is primarily divided into the seven chapters of the book, each forming a session on the DVD. The first session is a 17-minute introduction to the material. The following six sessions are six minutes each addressing the Council of Nicea, the Gnostic Bible, Jesus' relationship with Mary Magdalene, the New Testament canon, the "Historical Jesus" debate, and the accusation that Christianity borrowed from pagan mythology. The airtime in these sessions is given almost completely to Erwin Lutzer who addresses the concerns in each of these areas.

The leader's guide provides a thorough schedule for working through the material. For each season, it includes suggested group questions, games, handouts, chapter summaries from the book, teaching material, homework assignments, and lists of additional resources.

On one hand, the material covered is very simplistic. It may work for people not very familiar with the academic discussions, but will probably not do for dealing with some of the more thoughtful critics. Though the DVD is very accessible, it's also tedious. On the other hand, the leader's guide is exceptional. I don't think there's anything more a leader could ask for in a curriculum.

The Da Vinci Deception Experience will be useful for those church or small group leaders who want to educate their people will the very basics of responding to Dan Brown's novel. Though the leader's material isn't as good, I recommend Lee Strobel's curriculum (Discussing the Da Vinci Code) as a richer educational experience.