The 37th Twitter clue, sent at about 1:15 p.m. PDT, Thurs., July 9th:
http://twitpic.com/9tc89
The URL in the clue is a hot link to a TwitPic, a detail of Michelangelo's utterly breathtaking work on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, specifically a detail of the face of God in a section dealing with the creation of the Sun and the Moon (shown above).
However, in the TwitPic, the face of God is overlayed with five numbers in Roman numerals. John Stump reported the solution to this code on Dan Brown's Facebook fan page, within a few minutes of the clue's posting. (Congratulations, John Stump!)
The five Roman numerals represent the 4th, 5th, 9th, 19th, and 13th letters of the English alphabet, thus spelling out the word DEISM.
[I quote below, with some modifications, from one of my other blogs, "Freemasonry: Reality, Myth, and Legend," where I recently considered the matter of Deism in a post at some length.]
Theism vs. Deism
There are many ways to conceive of God. One set of ways comes under the heading of Theism, a group of ideas about God that encompasses Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
A theistic notion of God takes the position that God created the universe and is vitally concerned with its affairs, including the affairs of humankind; God watches over us, individually and collectively (part of the meaning of the 'Eye of God' symbol, incidentally). A theistic God communicates the Divine Will to people from time to time, for their benefit -- the process of revelation, which may result in the accumulation of scriptures as records of revelation. A theistic God may work miracles to serve divine purposes. Those who believe in a theistic notion of God are called theists.
A different way to conceive of God is the position of Deism. In the deistic perspective, God created the universe, but does not particularly intervene in the affairs of the universe or humankind. To some extent, humankind may come to know a deistic God through the workings of human reason, but a deistic God does not communicate through revelation; thus, whatever people designate as 'scriptures' are merely human creations and interpretations. A deistic God does not interfere with the workings of natural law, and so does not work miracles. A deistic God gave reason and compassion to all of humankind, but otherwise does not actively intervene in the lives of individuals. Those who believe in a deistic notion of God are called deists.
The Founding Fathers and Deism
Some prominent American founding fathers were deists. Certainly this is so for George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe; the case for their being deists is made convincingly by David L. Holmes, in his brief, excellent, and accessible book, The Faiths of the Founding Fathers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006). (Of course, the French philosopher Voltaire was a noted deist. Voltaire was a major intellectual influence on the Founding Fathers, so much so that I have nominated him as the answer to Clue #29 as the French 'honorary founding father.')
Relevance to The Lost Symbol
It is clear that the U.S. Founding Fathers will play a major role in this novel in some way. As I have mentioned, several of them were deists. Dan Brown likes to bring up different positions on matters of faith, religion, and spirituality; no doubt he will address deism as a potential position, perhaps one agreeable to his hero, Robert Langdon.
One thing I hope Dan Brown does not do is perpetuate the oft-repeated falsehood that Freemasonry is inherently deist. It is not; if anything, Freemasonry is skewed in the direction of theism, a case I make here.
In any case, it will be a welcome experience to see religion addressed seriously in popular literature.
http://twitpic.com/9tc89
The URL in the clue is a hot link to a TwitPic, a detail of Michelangelo's utterly breathtaking work on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, specifically a detail of the face of God in a section dealing with the creation of the Sun and the Moon (shown above).
However, in the TwitPic, the face of God is overlayed with five numbers in Roman numerals. John Stump reported the solution to this code on Dan Brown's Facebook fan page, within a few minutes of the clue's posting. (Congratulations, John Stump!)
The five Roman numerals represent the 4th, 5th, 9th, 19th, and 13th letters of the English alphabet, thus spelling out the word DEISM.
[I quote below, with some modifications, from one of my other blogs, "Freemasonry: Reality, Myth, and Legend," where I recently considered the matter of Deism in a post at some length.]
Theism vs. Deism
There are many ways to conceive of God. One set of ways comes under the heading of Theism, a group of ideas about God that encompasses Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
A theistic notion of God takes the position that God created the universe and is vitally concerned with its affairs, including the affairs of humankind; God watches over us, individually and collectively (part of the meaning of the 'Eye of God' symbol, incidentally). A theistic God communicates the Divine Will to people from time to time, for their benefit -- the process of revelation, which may result in the accumulation of scriptures as records of revelation. A theistic God may work miracles to serve divine purposes. Those who believe in a theistic notion of God are called theists.
A different way to conceive of God is the position of Deism. In the deistic perspective, God created the universe, but does not particularly intervene in the affairs of the universe or humankind. To some extent, humankind may come to know a deistic God through the workings of human reason, but a deistic God does not communicate through revelation; thus, whatever people designate as 'scriptures' are merely human creations and interpretations. A deistic God does not interfere with the workings of natural law, and so does not work miracles. A deistic God gave reason and compassion to all of humankind, but otherwise does not actively intervene in the lives of individuals. Those who believe in a deistic notion of God are called deists.
The Founding Fathers and Deism
Some prominent American founding fathers were deists. Certainly this is so for George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe; the case for their being deists is made convincingly by David L. Holmes, in his brief, excellent, and accessible book, The Faiths of the Founding Fathers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006). (Of course, the French philosopher Voltaire was a noted deist. Voltaire was a major intellectual influence on the Founding Fathers, so much so that I have nominated him as the answer to Clue #29 as the French 'honorary founding father.')
Relevance to The Lost Symbol
It is clear that the U.S. Founding Fathers will play a major role in this novel in some way. As I have mentioned, several of them were deists. Dan Brown likes to bring up different positions on matters of faith, religion, and spirituality; no doubt he will address deism as a potential position, perhaps one agreeable to his hero, Robert Langdon.
One thing I hope Dan Brown does not do is perpetuate the oft-repeated falsehood that Freemasonry is inherently deist. It is not; if anything, Freemasonry is skewed in the direction of theism, a case I make here.
In any case, it will be a welcome experience to see religion addressed seriously in popular literature.
[The image was obtained from Wikimedia Commons via Wikipedia. It is in the public domain, at least in the United States.]
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Sorry Mark, but I think this is all pointing towards a link between Freemasonry and Deism in The Lost Symbol. Brown won't let accuracy get in the way of a good conspiracy.
ReplyDeleteI think the link being made between Deism and Freemasonry is only that the two have a similar concept of the "Supreme Being." I hope MKR will correct me if I am incorrect (whenever he can get online), but I believe both Deism and Freemasonry view "God" as the Supreme Architect—one who lays out the framework or builds the structure but doesn't interfere or get involved with the day-to-day issues of humans. Many (if not most) of the Founding Fathers were Deists AND Masons, but that doesn't equate Deism with Freemasonry.
ReplyDelete"UDbmas said...
ReplyDeleteI think the link being made between Deism and Freemasonry is only that the two have a similar concept of the "Supreme Being." I hope MKR will correct me if I am incorrect (whenever he can get online), but I believe both Deism and Freemasonry view "God" as the Supreme Architect—one who lays out the framework or builds the structure but doesn't interfere or get involved with the day-to-day issues of humans. Many (if not most) of the Founding Fathers were Deists AND Masons, but that doesn't equate Deism with Freemasonry."
I think it is an absolute error to label any of the founding fathers as "deists." Some had deistic beliefs, but none as far as I'm concerned were "pure" deists. At best some were quasi-deists who had no qualms about mixing deistic tenets with more traditional Judeo-Christian theological beliefs.
As far as Freemasonry having a deistic concept of God, that is totally off base. A deist does not pray to the god in which he believes because one of the core tenets of his conception of deity precludes god from acting to affect or alter that which he has set into motion. Prayer and seeking the guidance and wisdom of the G.A.O.T.U is central to the work of every Lodge, and "The Book of Sacred Law" rests on every Lodge altar. A deist believes that god has never revealed himself or his will in a "book of sacred law."
Hi Esquire.
ReplyDeleteThere does seem to be a lot of discussion around the religious philosophy of our founders, and a lot depends on the religious belief of those making the arguments. Many appear to take the stance that a politician's PRIVATE philosophy is the same as the PUBLIC one. That isn't always true today, and not likely to have been true then either. There also seems to be a safe middle ground arguing that some embraced and incorporated Deism into other orthodox sects in varying degrees. Paine was a deist, and according to Franklin's autobiography Franklin was a deist at least temporarily. But then again, in Franklin's case, Who knows? Jefferson is usually considered a Christian-Deist (probably closer to theism), and the jury is apparently still out on Washington (he refused communion as an adult).
Here is one very good, concise article by David L. Holmes. (Scroll down to the heading "Sidebar: The Founding Fathers, Deism, and Christianity")
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1269535/Founding-Fathers/1269535suppinfo/Supplemental-Information
All those are goddess? I'm not sure but I know that god created the universe and everything here.
ReplyDelete