DaytonDailyNews.com

If someone told you that Ian Fleming's James Bond novels are peppered with religious symbolism, you'd probably think they were shaken, not stirred.

But according to Washington D.C.-based Methodist minister Benjamin Pratt — author of the James Bond Bible Study titled "Ian Fleming's Seven Deadlier Sins and 007's Moral Compass" — there are spiritual lessons to be learned from Bond's gambling, womanizing, drinking and covert skullduggery.

"I've discovered literary evidence that Ian Fleming intentionally wove spiritual themes into his novels," Pratt explained. "My book is a key to unlocking the secrets Fleming hid in plain sight but that Bible study groups, until now, would not dare discuss."

Pratt's Bible study was released a few weeks ago to coincide with the debut of the latest Bond film, "Quantum of Solace." Pratt compares author Fleming to a towering religious figure of the past.

"There's a thoughtfulness, a darkness in his writings that makes me think of Ian Fleming and Martin Luther

500 years ago as theological bed fellows," Pratt said. "They were asking similar questions about the world."

Now, lest you think this is just some cheap rip-off of Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code," Pratt, for his part, seems genuinely sincere about his desire to change lives.

"Unlocking the secrets in Bond has been personally revealing and rewarding," Pratt declares. "As you look at Bond through the lens I have focused, I suspect you'll never see another Bond movie or read a Bond adventure the same way."

For more information on the James Bond ministry, visit www.BondBibleStudy.com

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2167 or kmoss@DaytonDailyNews.com.