Book Review: The Da Vinci Deception Experience by Erwin Lutzer

Date May 14, 2006 Posted by Roger Overton

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.

Related posts:

  1. Book Review: The Da Vinci Deception by Erwin Lutzer
  2. Book Review: Discussing the Da Vinci Code Curriculum Kit
  3. Book Review: Comparison of Da Vinci Code Response Books
  4. Book Review: Exploring the Da Vinci Code
  5. Book Review: De-Coding Da Vinci by Amy Welborn
  6. Book Review: Cracking Da Vinci's Code

Category Posted in Book Reviews, Main Page, Roger's Posts, The Da Vinci Code

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