Bart D. Ehrman examines the major historical claims made in Dan Brown’s novel, including the idea that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, that Constantine selected the New Testament gospels to suppress Jesus’s humanity, and that the early Church hid alternative texts promoting a more human Jesus. Drawing on scholarly evidence from early Christian sources, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Gnostic gospels, he systematically separates documented history from the novel’s speculative assertions while providing clear background on how the Christian canon and early Church developed.

Ehrman offers a calm, accessible, and authoritative corrective that is both informative and engaging. Rather than simply listing errors, he uses the novel’s claims as a springboard for a readable introduction to historical method and early Christianity, making the book valuable even for readers who have never opened The Da Vinci Code. Its balanced, non-polemical tone and solid scholarship make it one of the more useful responses to Brown’s bestseller.