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Ya, ya I know. I just finished reading this, and it’s formulaic and silly like his other novels. I just wanted to throw down this thread to anyone with comments on the content of the novel and it’s connections with LDS theology. The plot delves into the ideas of the Masons, and therefore, hits a major point of LDS theology. I won’t ruin it for those who haven’t read it. But I found an awful lot of accidental Mormon stuff in this book, which, if anything, put a grin on my face. Though the story kind-of sucks. I’m about half way through it…and so far I love it! I’ve learned to read Brown’s stuff as pure fiction and let it open my mind to possibilities. I think he does a great job of putting enough “truth” into his books that it makes us wonder if what he says is possibly true! Very entertaining!
(I’ll give more comments as I finish it….)
I actually like Brown’s stuff, for the same reason as Rix. It’s well written, compelling – and fun to let speculation run wild. 
Okay, done now, so I have many thoughts…but it seems hard to say much without giving the story away… 
I will say that I think it is his best book yet…some twists and turns that I didn’t see coming, but looking back, made much sense (is that vague enough?). I love that about his books.
I also LOVE that the story, like DaVinci Code, etc., makes you think and wonder how much is “true.” If 20% is, it is quite a powerful message. It makes you think about religion in a very different way — ultimately quite positive, IMO.
Bottom line, it gripped me as I read it, just like his others…and that’s not easy to do with me!
I don’t know anything about the book, but Masons believe that their final “secret” was lost. So they have a substitute secret. This would be the similar to the 2nd token of the Melchizedek priesthood in our temple ceremony. Is that what the lost symbol is about?
I enjoyed the Divinci Code movie. I never read the book because I had already read almost all the source books he used to write it. There’s nothing wrong with weaving conspiracy and esoteric wisdom school mysteries into a good story. I think it makes for exciting ideas, even if Dan Brown runs “wild” with it.
Valoel wrote:I don’t know anything about the book, but Masons believe that their final “secret” was lost. So they have a substitute secret. This would be the similar to the 2nd token of the Melchizedek priesthood in our temple ceremony.
Is that what the lost symbol is about?
Not that I can see…at least directly. It is about finding the “secret,” but I can’t see how “it” would be compared to the 2nd token. But maybe I need Robert Langdon to help me read the code?!
😆 Warning: Possible spoilers ahead… I had read in a Time magazine article (I think) that there was supposed to be a connection to Mormonism and I was very disappointed, upon finishing the book, to find that there was no direct connection at all. However, it was very interesting to see Brown’s incorporation of apotheosis (comparable to Mormon exaltation).
Did anyone else catch that this book was totally a herald for the New Age movement?
MapleLeaf wrote:Warning: Possible spoilers ahead…
I had read in a Time magazine article (I think) that there was supposed to be a connection to Mormonism and I was very disappointed, upon finishing the book, to find that there was no direct connection at all. However, it was very interesting to see Brown’s incorporation of apotheosis (comparable to Mormon exaltation).
Did anyone else catch that this book was totally a herald for the New Age movement?
Yes, I loved how it made me think of “possibilities,” however impossible they may be! And yes, the apotheosis was an interesting comparison to Joseph’s doctrine…probably brought on by his association with freemasonry, along with so many other teachings.
But yes, I was also thinking there would be more mention of Mormonism — much indirectly, but not as much as had been gossiped about.
I just finished this and I liked it as well, though I’ve tired of the self-mutilating antagonist. I also thought it was very enlightening to read of the genesis of apotheosis in the era of the enlightenment and specifically in the pre-modern masons. The book is not implicit in comparisons to mormonism but alot of that theology (if you can call it that) of the free masons was VERY mormon. I actually wonder if Brown used mormon concepts to create more of a spiritual/theological paradigm in the masons because from the little I know of masonry, it’s not as omnipresent in current free mason practice as it felt in the book.
I guess that would be an argument for how JS made religious practice more interesting than the masons of his era. I know that the masons in this book were much more spiritual (on a humanistic level) than probably the average mason (my boss is a mason). So Brown had to inject more theology and in the book it became predominantly the theology of apotheosis which is almost exclusively a mormon idea at this point. Interesting, I guess.
I loved most the history of free masonry and humanism in the founding fathers of the U.S. I’ve been studying alot of their history and writings in the last couple years and felt that Brown nailed that as well as anyone has in non-fiction. That was fun.
And, it was great to feel the paradigm of “man is God is man” in a practical belief system, though not religious. That, of course, is the beauty of symbolism, creating transcendent ideas around all aspects of life, whether literal or mythical.
I have to agree with Swimordie. I’m about 2/3 through the book. I loved Da Vinci Code. Angels and Demons was a little more violent than I would have liked, but still very good. Reading this book seems like the same Dan Brown formula, and I’m seeing so many similarities of plot twists that it is a little disappointing so far. (I was hoping for more Mormon info–a little disappointed it wasn’t there….) Wow, great book! I really enjoyed it. This is my first Dan Brown read (I saw the other movies). I like the way he gives life to symbolism, and promotes spirituality in a way that academics should even be able to accept.
I got given this at Christmas, and although it’s a load of hooey (most of the history is, certainly), it was a guilty pleasure. (Much better than the Da Vinci Code, which had me wincing continually.) It was a good page turner, but I thought the ending was a bit weak. (Yes, I know there is a tie in with some Mormon thought, but that’s not why)
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