April 5, 2010
- From a review of Philip Pullman’s new book -
The book is a fable told using the story of Jesus as a starting point. In Pullman’s tale (Pullman of the Golden Compass series) Jesus was born with a twin brother, Christ, who (ironically given his name) is the less divine of the two brothers. A continuation into my contemplations on no-self.
Pullman’s Jesus is scathing about “smartarse priests” who talk about God’s absence really being his presence. Well, yes: Christians use this kind of language. But not to let themselves off lightly; they’re arguing that you only get anywhere near the truth when all the easy things to say about God are dismantled – so that your image of God is no longer just a big projection of your self-centred wish-fulfilment fantasies.
What’s left, then? This is the difficult moment. Either you sense that you are confronting an energy so immense and unconditioned that there are no adequate words for it; or you give up. From Paul to Luther, George Herbert or Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Hitler’s prisons, there are plenty who haven’t given up; and they haven’t given up because they see their experience in the light of something like this understanding of Gethsemane and the crucifixion.
read the whole thing here or check out the book on amazon or wikipedia.
If you’ve read it, what did you think of the final book of His Dark Materials? Y’know, the one with the angels (or maybe not).
Comment by speedbird — April 5, 2010 @ 1:18 pm
Read it a loved it, though the specifics aren’t easily re-callable for me right now. I think perhaps I may be reading too much…
I think he’s got a lot of great stuff, though I’m not entirely sure I agree with the conclusions he draws.
Comment by Ian — April 5, 2010 @ 2:32 pm