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I'm Krista Tippett.

Today, deciphering the Da Vinci code.

The wildly popular novel turned movie reimagines the New Testament in part as a cover-up.

So what really happened in the fluid early years of Christianity?

This hour, we'll separate fact from fiction in the Da Vinci code plot.

I'll speak with Luke Timothy Johnson, who knows the New Testament as well as any living scholar.

He says the process by which it came to be is both simpler and more interesting than conspiracy theories can suggest.

Also, recent scholarly discoveries about women in the New Testament world.

It's true that Mary Magdalene was not a prostitute, but the evidence suggests she was something far more liberated than a mistress.

This is speaking of faith. Stay with us.

I'm Krista Tippett.

The actor Ian McKellen is proclaiming now at a theater near you that the greatest story ever told was a lie.

The Da Vinci code's mix of fact and fantasy is dizzying.

But this hour, we take on some real questions it raises.

Why were some of the ideas of early Christians included in the Bible while others were left out?

And how did it happen that modern Christians inherited a false view of women in the early church, including Mary Magdalene?

From American public media, this is speaking of faith, public radio's conversation about religion, meaning ethics and ideas.

Today, deciphering the Da Vinci code.

At the core of the Da Vinci code plot is a secret that Mary Magdalene was Jesus' wife and the mother of his children.

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