Last weekend, he spoke at Princeton, Yale, Wesleyan, St. Johns and SMU—all in five days. "Most of the church audiences just want information, particularly on the first 300 years of church history as it relates to the novel," Bock says. An interview with Bock posted last week explains why he thinks the debate over what is, after all, a book of fiction, should matter to Christians. "On campuses, with almost any audience," Bock says, "their knowledge is minimal, so this information is fresh to them."
Bock even contributed to the Sony-created Da Vinci Dialogue site created to explain and defuse the controversy, but he has yet to see the movie. "They have not made a decision to preview the film," Bock says. "They don't think they need it."
Bock's better known for his commentaries on the book of Luke, but his Da Vinci-debunking book has far outsold any of his scholarly tomes; sales are approaching the quarter-million mark. Bock and wife Sally, who live in East Dallas, have worked out code phrases to deal with the frenzy, which is paying for college tuition and weddings: "If you complain, tell it to Oprah. If something goes good, credit Dan Brown." In other words, count your Da Vinci blessings. Bock's second book on the topic, The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities, comes out in August, also published by Nelson Books. --Glenna Whitley
