Wherein I become a total Fundie

[aeditimi]

So my thoughts on Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, which includes The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass.

First, I can't believe this, but it's true: I've finally found a series of books that I would recommend people not read for religious reasons. I don't mean like Narnia and Left Behind, which are Christian

Comments

[pykors]

*bites tongue

[aeditimi]

no need to bite your tongue. If I didn't want to foster discussion, I wouldn't put ideas out into the blogosphere (or I'd disallow comments at least

[pykors]

> I think, basically, that if there's a god-- not a person, but a

[aeditimi]

It's a helpful point of view to consider, coming at it from another angle, so thank you for pointing out another way to consider it. If it can serve to lead people to a healthier view that I guess that's something.

I'm not really seeing it that way, because I'm responding to what I perceive as a lot of anger and pain on the author's personal part being viacariously vented through the destruction of God, the Church, and all things religious and authoritarian and hurtful to him. It almost feels like he's trying too hard to move to a healthy place the he can't yet go. I hope there's a better resource for free thinkers and atheists and non theists and non religious people out there, but I don't know what it might be. Not something I've spent much time looking for. But I hope this isn't as good as it gets.

[ext_80032]

Hmm. Very good and well thought out points!

Personally, I wanted to read these books because, well, the story *sounded* interesting. I'm all for stories that explore other philosophies, even if that other philosophy comes directly from the author. But I found the writing to be, well, bad (in my opinion--basically, I agree with the points you made in your "don't like the writing" paragraph). In fact, based solely on the writing, I ended up hating the author for telling a story so poorly. And its kinda tough to enjoy a story when you hate the storyteller. So actually, I didn't even think about most of the other stuff you talked about until now, since you've mentioned them. And I agree.

Wow. That was a really long way to say "I agree."

Anyway, I don't know if this has a short answer, but what's wrong with the theology in Narnia? I ask this honestly, not defensively, as I read the stories when I was young enough to not see any theology in them whatsoever.

[aeditimi]

My Narnia rant is in the middle of a post about atonement here. As I think I say there, I read the books while I was in seminary, so I don't have the child's eye view of a fun story-- just the theological interpretation.

[ext_80032]

Ooo, thanks. Good read.

[tradredav]

I read all three back in elementary school, and my basic reactions were "Interesting theology..." and (because I was really that young) "Ooh. Romance. What fun." But despite them being "children's books," I was rather too young to really get most of what was going on.

Then, much later, I tried to read them again to see what they really say. And I couldn't, because I simply could not wade through the writing. After just a few chapters, I put the first book aside and have not tried to read them again since. (I'm just mildly disappointed that I can't add it to my Books I Could Not Finish list, because I did finish it once.)

The moral: No matter what the "message" of a story is, it's not a good story if you don't know how to tell it.

[aeditimi]

No matter what the "message" of a story is, it's not a good story if you don't know how to tell it.

The preacher says Amen!

[anonymous]

I'm off to my interview (wish me luck), so this will be short. I actually liked the trilogy. All the things you don't like about it are true. But, I found it refreshing to have a book that was morally ambiguous and did the unthinkable (killed god). I liked that the hero lied and was not classically "good." I liked that readers were pushed beyond their comfort levels in the way in which they understand and ultimately destory god.

In a way, Pullman's books are similar to the way I read Mary Daly (though Daly is infintiely better)....they push me beyond my limits so that I can be more self critical of myself and the tradition in which I stand.

At the end of the day, do I agree with Pullman's assesment? No. But it made me think and re-imagine my own theology. And that is always fun.

[aeditimi]

I get the impression that Pullman isn't as smart and revolutionary and Shelley-esque as he thinks he is...

lol. yeah, definitely not!