More Da Vinci Responses

by Jana Reiss, Religion BookLine -- Publishers Weekly, 2/1/2006

The CBA market is seeing a second round of Da Vinci Code-related products, as publishers prime themselves for the much-anticipated theatrical release of The Da Vinci Code movie in May. Cook Communications is repackaging its 300,000-copy-selling book Cracking Da Vinci's Code in a youth edition, scheduled to release in May. And at CBA Advance, the Tyndale booth, conventioneers and Tyndale staff sported stickers that read, "Da Vinci Didn't Convince Me," the tag line of a massive spring promotion that encompasses fiction, nonfiction, and a seven-week DVD-based class that churches can utilize to help debunk Dan Brown's historical interpretations. The DVD is based on Erwin Lutzer's popular book The Da Vinci Deception.

The Tyndale strategy also includes repackaging a previous nonfiction title (The Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction? by Hank Hanegraaff and Paul Maier); introducing a new nonfiction title in April (Jesus, Lover of a Woman's Soul, by Lutzer and his wife Rebecca); and offering three new fictional renderings of Mary Magdalene by hot authors Karen Kingsbury, Angela Hunt, and Dandi Daley Mackall (all April).

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Da Vinci wars, Harper San Francisco will publish the, um, veritable Holy Grail of Da Vinci titles in March with The Jesus Papers: Exposing the Greatest Cover-Up in History by Michael Baigent. Baigent is best known as one of the authors of the controversial bestseller Holy Blood, Holy Grail, on which Dan Brown based much of his speculative novel.

Zondervan joins the fray with a small group discussion guide packaged with a DVD. Discussing the Da Vinci Code by Lee Strobel and Gary Poole releases in April. "We filmed part of the DVD portion in England, at some of the sites that are mentioned in the book," Zondervan president Doug Lockhart told RBL at CBA Advance. He added that the one they did on The Passion of the Christ sold over 250,000 units.

This article originally appeared in the February 1, 2006 issue of Religion BookLine. For more information about Religion BookLine, including a sample and subscription information, click here »

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