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Though it is heavy-handed, I found this a powerful image, the putrid harpies enthralled by simple truths well told. Even the monsters in Pullmanâs world are attracted by innocence and truth. Even they are not beyond redemption, are in need of true stories. This passage reveals Pullmanâs philosophy of literature to be identical with the âtrue mythâ philosophy of Lewis and Tolkien. And if the Christian myth actually is true, you would expect a gifted storyteller trying to tell a true story to arrive at many Christian conclusions about the nature of the world we see.
<b>The Christian myth has such a powerful hold over our narrative imagination that it is probably impossible to write a believable epic, especially one about the Last Things, without relying on it extensively. </b>Pullman challenges the most fantastic and yet most persuasive parts of the Christian mythâCreation, the Fall, Sin, Death, Heaven, Hellâand one credits him for gumption. If his alternative were more compelling, I would recommend parents keep their children away. (Pullman has just signed to do a âreference workâ called The Book of Dust which will lay out the creation myth in full, and thus probably wonât be appropriateâor interestingâfor children.)
As is, I can fairly characterize His Dark Materials in this fashion: imagine if at the beginning of the world Satanâs rebellion had been successful, that he had reigned for two thousand years, and that a messiah was necessary to conquer lust and the spirit of domination with innocence, humility, and generous love at great personal cost. Such a story is not subversive of Christianity, it is almost Christian, even if only implicitly and imperfectly. <b>But implicit and imperfect Christianity is often our lot in life, and Pullman has unintentionally created a marvelous depiction of many of the human ideals Christians hold dear. </b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Though it is heavy-handed, I found this a powerful image, the putrid harpies enthralled by simple truths well told. Even the monsters in Pullmanâs world are attracted by innocence and truth. Even they are not beyond redemption, are in need of true stories. This passage reveals Pullmanâs philosophy of literature to be identical with the âtrue mythâ philosophy of Lewis and Tolkien. And if the Christian myth actually is true, you would expect a gifted storyteller trying to tell a true story to arrive at many Christian conclusions about the nature of the world we see.
<b>The Christian myth has such a powerful hold over our narrative imagination that it is probably impossible to write a believable epic, especially one about the Last Things, without relying on it extensively. </b>Pullman challenges the most fantastic and yet most persuasive parts of the Christian mythâCreation, the Fall, Sin, Death, Heaven, Hellâand one credits him for gumption. If his alternative were more compelling, I would recommend parents keep their children away. (Pullman has just signed to do a âreference workâ called The Book of Dust which will lay out the creation myth in full, and thus probably wonât be appropriateâor interestingâfor children.)
As is, I can fairly characterize His Dark Materials in this fashion: imagine if at the beginning of the world Satanâs rebellion had been successful, that he had reigned for two thousand years, and that a messiah was necessary to conquer lust and the spirit of domination with innocence, humility, and generous love at great personal cost. Such a story is not subversive of Christianity, it is almost Christian, even if only implicitly and imperfectly. <b>But implicit and imperfect Christianity is often our lot in life, and Pullman has unintentionally created a marvelous depiction of many of the human ideals Christians hold dear. </b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->