The Lost Symbol, the latest Dan Brown thriller starring dashing code-cracker Robert Langdon, goes on sale Tuesday. Langdon, a professor of Religious ... field to the fictional area of “symbology.” ...

The Sayyida Zeinab Shrine in Syria is a focal point of both religious devotion and sectarian tensions. Revered by Shiites, ...

explained yesterday on Slate that all the real-life academics who pursue lines of study similar to the fictional Langdon’s—interpreting religious iconography, deciphering codes made of symbols ...