(Note from Rowland: there have been extensive discussions on this in a few lists I belong to. Watch this web/space for more).

http://studiobrien.com/site/index.phpoption=com_content&task=view&id=1 55&Itemid=76

Written by Michael D. O’Brien

Tuesday, 23 October 2007

The Golden Compass — His Dark Materials

Philip Pullman takes the fantasy genre to the next level

by Michael D. O’Brien

A film based on a novel by British author Philip Pullman will soon be playing in film theaters throughout the world. Scheduled for release in December of this year, it is titled The Golden Compass, the North American title of the first volume of Pullman’s fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials.

For over a year now, I have been receiving letters from visitors to Studiobrien website asking my opinion about these books. Regrettably, I have not had a chance to read the series, and I doubt I’ll be able to do so. There is just too little time in life, and the tsunami of corrupt fiction for young readers is increasing in volume and strength. It is impossible to stay on top of it, as it were.

However, in cross-checking numerous secular and Christian reviews of the His Dark Materials series, I have found a near-unanimous agreement that this is dark material indeed. According to the on-line encyclopedia, Wikipedia, which quotes from interviews with Pullman, the author’s stated intention is to invert the traditional Biblical account of the war between heaven and hell. In his introduction, Pullman says that he “is of the Devil’s party and does know it” (a line adapted from a poem by William Blake).

According to the Wikipedia review, institutional religion is portrayed in the series as the oppressor of mankind. For example, Ruta Skadi, a witch and friend of Lyra’s (one of the two main characters) calls for war against the Magisterium in Lyra’s world, and says that “For all of [the Church’s] history…it’s tried to suppress and control every natural impulse. And when it can’t control them, it cuts them out.” Skadi later extends her criticism to all organized religion: “That’s what the Church does, and every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling.” By this part of the book, the witches have made reference to how they are treated criminally by the church in their worlds. Mary Malone, one of Pullman’s main characters, states that “the Christian religion…is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that’s all.” She was formerly a Catholic nun, but gave up her vows when the experience of being in love caused her to doubt her faith.

Pullman portrays the Christian heaven to be a lie. In the third book, the afterlife is depicted as a bleak place where people are tormented by harpies until Lyra and Will (the other central character) descend into the land of the dead. Through their intercession, the harpies agree to stop tormenting the dead souls, and instead receive the true stories of the dead in exchange for leading them again to the upper world. When the dead souls emerge, they dissolve as they become one with the universe.

Pullman’s “Authority” is worshipped on Lyra’s earth as God, but he turns out to be the “first angel” instead. It is explicitly stated that the Authority was in fact not the creator of worlds. Pullman’s trilogy does not speculate on who or what might have created worlds. Members of the Church are typically displayed as zealots. Two characters who once belonged to the Church, Mary Malone and Marisa Coulter, are both displayed in a positive light only insofar as they have rebelled against the Church.

Cynthia Grenier, in the journal Catholic Culture, has said: “In the world of Pullman, God Himself (the Authority) is a merciless tyrant, His Church is an instrument of oppression, and true heroism consists of overthrowing both.” Pullman’s text states that the Authority is the “first angel,” which, as he is presented in the novels, appears to be a malevolent angelic power. The overwhelming message, implanted in the minds of young readers, is that the Judeo-Christian God is in fact absolute evil, Christianity is diabolic, and the Church is Satanic.

Pullman has, however, found support from some Christians, most notably Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who argues that Pullman’s attacks are focused on the constraints and dangers of dogmatism and the use of religion to oppress, not on Christianity itself. Yet the trilogy shows the downfall of the Kingdom of Heaven, a hierarchy under the control of the Authority and his regent. In its place is the task to build the “Republic of Heaven.”

For detailed description, see: Wikipedia on Phillip Pullman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Dark_Materials