(AgapePress) - Seated across the aisle from me on a small regional jet out of Houston, a young woman pulled out a brand new paperback copy of Dan Brown’s bestseller, The Da Vinci Code. I had just purchased a copy, confident that Sony would not be providing screenings for Christian cultural analysts (I have since been proven wrong), so I asked her how she liked it. She said that she had picked it up at the airport bookstore: “I just wanted to see what all of the fuss was about.”

When books reach the kind of critical mass generated by The Da Vinci Code, they take on a life of their own. People, who ordinarily never would have dreamed of picking this thriller out of a sea of similar titles offered up each year, find themselves drawn to the cultural event. They want to know, what is the big deal? What is it about this book that has generated so much controversy? A desire to be “with it,” to be culturally included, has driven Dan Brown’s book into the stratosphere, and spawned a blockbuster film, starring Tom Hanks and directed by Ron Howard.

With dozens of books addressing problems with, or defending attacks on, The Da Vinci Code populating the Borders or Barnes & Noble near you, the question remains, “What is all the fuss about?” The question is emphatically not a request for more information; instead it centers on significance. And questions concerning the significance of spiritual things ricocheting across Western culture should excite every Christian that ever wanted to share his faith with the skeptical or otherwise disinterested. Sure, Hollywood may laugh all the way to the bank while the controversy over the film drives the box office. But that should be of limited concern to prepared Christians who will be presented with an evangelistic opportunity that might prove even more potent than that which followed The Passion of the Christ.

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