On His Childhood

One of the reasons he’s so comfortable dealing with multiple disciplines is that two subjects the rest of the world might view as polar opposites—science and religion—coexisted peacefully and, in fact, even thrived in the Brown household. His father made his living by teaching and writing about math while his mother studied sacred music and played the organ, and they meshed seamlessly; neither one was more or less important than the other. Dan Brown was raised as a Christian and he sang in the church choir, attended Sunday school, and spent summers at church camp.

He would later reveal how his childhood had shaped him.

“Since I grew up the son of a mathematician and a church organist, I was lost from day one,” he said. “Where science offered exciting proofs of its claims, whether it was photos, equations, or visible evidence, religion was a lot more demanding, constantly wanting me to accept everything on faith. Faith takes a fair amount of effort, especially for young children and especially in an imperfect world. So as a boy, I gravitated toward the solid foundations of science. But the further I progressed into this solid world of science, the mushier the ground started to get.”

Copyright © 2005 by Lisa Rogak