Macquarie Christian Studies Institute : Articles & Ideas

Philip Pullman: Author of Dark Materials?

The screen adaptation of the first part of Philip Pullman's fantasy trilogy, The Golden Compass, is about to hit screens in Australia. There have been a variety of responses from Christians to the books and the movie, with some Christians calling for a boycott of the movie. For another perspective you can read the review below, by Diane Hockridge, Manager of Student Services at Macquarie Christian Studies Institute. This review was orginally published in Zadok Perspectives, No.91, Winter 2006.

What is it with fantasy at the moment? Suddenly fantasy seems to be everywhere. It's becoming clear now, after the recent plethora of fantasy films on our big screens (The Lord of the Rings, The Narnia Chronicles, the Harry Potter series) how many of us have been captivated by fantasy - either in its written form or in the film versions. And those of us who might have been somewhat reluctant in the past to admit to the fact that we enjoyed reading fantasy can now come out of the wardrobe!

Fantasy literature does seem to connect with many people at quite a deep level. Why is this so? More than any other type of fiction fantasy allows the author to dream and create whole new worlds with few limitations. Fantasy is imagination running free - somehow it is able to reconnect us with childhood and the worlds of make believe. Fantasy asks the great "what if....?" questions, that we tend to ask in childhood, but leave behind as we get older . What if there was life in other worlds? What if there were alternate realities, what if there really were dragons, elves, dwarves and wizards? Of course, when it comes to great dreamers of "what if...", we cannot go past the greatest of all - no not Tolkein, but God himself. Surely God is the greatest imaginative creator of all? Genesis 1 shows us God's "what if?" What if .... there was light, land, sea, plants, animals, people in my image, who could walk, talk, think and dream up their own "what ifs" ....? The difference with God's "what if ..." is that his creations are not just fantasy - we are real, living right in the middle of the greatest (true) story of all.

Fantasy is also an expression of that deep human longing for something more. It springs from the sense that so many of us have - that there must surely be something more to life than what we can see and experience here and now.

Philip Pullman's trilogy, "His Dark Materials" is usually classified as fantasy, written for children, though Pullman himself would prefer to see his books as "stark realism". For him the writing of a good story is paramount, and the fantasy genre is a useful tool which allows the author great inventive freedom. Pullman's trilogy consists of "The Northern Lights" (1995), "The Subtle Knife" (1997) and "The Amber Spyglass" (2000). These books have won several prestigious awards including the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Children's Book Award, the 2001 Whitbread book of the year Award - the first "children's book" to win this prize. The trilogy also came third in the 2003 BBC's Big Read, a national poll of UK viewers' favourite books, after Lord of the Rings and Pride and Prejudice. It was the only book in the top five not to have a screen adaptation at that time.

Pullman's books create a complex, richly imaginative and disturbingly realistic story, set in an alternative world - or worlds in fact, since the existence of millions of different co-existing worlds is one of the foundations of his story. For those who have yet to read these books the story goes roughly like this (spoiler note: details of plot are disclosed below):

Lyra, a young orphan girl around 12 years old, lives in Oxford, in a world which is both disarmingly similar yet strangely different to our world. In her world the Church's power over every aspect of life is absolute. In her world the Church is in charge of all knowledge, including all scientific knowledge and so the area of knowledge we call physics is called "experimental theology" and scientists work with "philosophical instruments". Most intriguingly in Lyra's world the distinction between the physical and the spiritual is different to ours. Each human has his or her own "daemon" which takes the form of an animal - perhaps a bird, or a monkey or a dog, or a snake. The daemon is physically separate from the human body and yet is an integral part of the person - in a sense the daemon represents the soul. The form of a daemon "settles" at adolescence, but children's daemon's constantly change forms.

In the first book, The Northern Lights (also known as The Golden Compass), we are introduced through Lyra's story to the mystery of "dust" which is a special kind of charged particle* that gathers around adults but not around children, at least not until they reach adolescence. The Church, is highly suspicious of dust and has decided that dust is connected with original sin and is therefore evil. In an attempt to rid the world of dust the members of "The Oblation Board", an arm of the Church, headed by an evil woman Mrs Coulter, (played by Nicole Kidman in the screen version), kidnap children on the cusp of adolescence and attempt to separate them from their daemons, an abominable cruelty which leaves the victims as horribly pathetic sub-human creatures. Lyra's attempt to save her friend Roger from this horrible fate forms the basis of the adventures she has in this book which take her to the far northern regions of the world. Along the way Lyra is helped by bands of gypsies, witches and even armoured bears.

In the second book, The Subtle Knife, we are introduced to Will, a troubled young boy, also on the cusp of adolescence whose mother is suffering from mental illness and whose explorer father has been missing since Will was a baby. Will lives in Oxford in our world and one day he stumbles across a window into another world, where he meets Lyra. In this world of Citigazze, where neither of them belong, Will and Lyra discover the subtle knife, a knife so sharp and powerful, that it can cut through from one world to another. In this book we are also introduced to the God of the Church of Lyra's world - ‘The Authority", whom Lord Asriel (Lyra's father) wishes to challenge. Lord Asriel, wants to set up a "Republic of Heaven" and overthrow the church and "The Authority" because the church has always: "tried to suppress and control every natural impulse. And when it can't control them, it cuts them out ... every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling." (The Subtle Knife, pp.50-51). This book moves between several worlds as Will and Lyra are pursued by on the one hand by Mrs Coulter and the forces of the Oblation Board, and on the other by Lord Asriel and his forces. The book ends with Lyra and Will being separated; Will having finally encountered his missing father, and Lyra being captured by her mother, Mrs Coulter.

The third book, The Amber Spyglass, brings the disparate elements of the complex story together very cleverly. In this book we come face to face with "the Authority" and his regent Metatron. The authority turns out to be an ancient pathetic figure who is not actually the creator, but the first being who became conscious. We find out that "dust" is actually a name for what happens when matter begins to understand itself. As matter seeks to know more about itself, dust is formed and dust brings consciousness to life.

We learn that the Church is pursuing Lyra because of a prophecy which states that Lyra is destined to be in the position of Eve - she will be tempted and if she falls all universes will be ruined. Lyra herself does not know the substance of the prophecy - all she knows is that she has an important task to do and she believes that task is to free her friend Roger, from the world of the dead. So Will and Lyra travel right into the world of the dead, even though it means leaving their daemons behind, and, with the help of some truth telling and the subtle knife, come out the other side and change the world of the dead, and people's experience of death forever. As the story progresses, Will and Lyra are growing up and discover, with the help of Mary Malone (a nun turned scientist) that they have fallen in love, but they also learn that the openings made by the Subtle knife between worlds have done terrible damage and they are faced with an awful choice between their love for each other and sealing the passageways between worlds forever for the greater good of all people.

Such a brief overview of these great works of fantasy is really doing the story a great injustice, but it helps explain a little of the reaction to Pullman among Christian readers in particular. As can be seen from the story outline above, this narrative allows Pullman to tackle just about every major area of belief and theology. His books put forward strong views on the nature of God, creation, the fall, the nature of matter, the nature of humans- in particular their "souls", death and the afterlife, and along the way the books also consider angels, the place of science in relation to religion, the problems with organised religion and the place of religion in people's lives.

Pullman does not portray Christianity in a positive light in these books: Take for example the words of Mary Malone in the Amber Spyglass: " I thought that physics could be done to the glory of God till I saw that there wasn't any God at all and that physics was more interesting anyway. The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that's all." (The Amber Spyglass, p. 445) Moreover, in interviews and discussions about his books Pullman has often been outspoken in his criticism of organised religion in general and the Church in particular.

So how do we respond to such books as Christians? Do we not read such books? Do we allow our children, particularly those on the cusp of adolescence themselves, to read these books?

Our response should not be to run away from such books. Instead we can choose to take the opportunity to interact with the opinions and worldviews presented. We can begin by asking the two basic interpretative questions that can be asked of any material we read:

What is the literature type?
What is the author's intention in writing?

Once we have answered these questions we will be in a better position to both critique and appreciate the book in question.

What is the literature type?

This should always be the first question we ask of anything we read. Identifying the literature type helps us to know how to interpret what we are reading - is this fact or fiction? Is it a scholarly article putting forward reasoned arguments, is it historical narrative or poetry? When we read the Bible we recognise that it's a great help to identify the literature type as it assists our understanding and interpretation of the part of the Bible we are reading. We read and understand historical narrative, differently to letters, or to poetry or to prophecy for example.

In the case of the Pullman trilogy we are dealing with fiction, fantasy fiction in particular. This is primarily a story - not a theological treatise. Of his own work Pullman says; "I am not making an argument, or preaching a sermon, or setting out a political tract. I'm telling a story". ("Heat and Dust", interview in Third Way: The Modern World through Christian eyes" www.thirdway.org.uk/past/showpage.asp?page=3949).

And what a great story he has written - whatever you think of his beliefs and theology, there is little doubt that "His Dark Materials", is one of the great works of fantasy. It is a brilliantly creative story in which Pullman has created a world, or worlds, so convincing that we are forced to rethink our own existence and meaning. This is the power of a good storyteller and the power of fantasy.

So when it comes to reading and interpreting fantasy and fiction it is helpful to remember that we are dealing with fiction, with story, with imagination. We do not read fiction as we would a theological text, or a newspaper, or a scientific journal. Fiction is, by definition, not fact. It's not a true story - it's made up. Though, of course, all fiction is derived from not only the author's imagination but also influenced by his or her own experience of life and beliefs about the world we live in.

What is the author's intention in writing this?

Generally when writing fiction, the author's primary, intention, as Pullman has noted, is to entertain - to tell a good story. But authors sometimes have other intentions in writing as well. Some authors intend to write an allegory (John Milton, Paradise Lost), some authors intend to critique society through their story (George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty Four) or to question a certain ethical or moral issue (Jodie Picoult, "My Sisters Keeper").

I have struggled to come to grips with Pullman's intention in writing these stories. Has he deliberately written them to undermine Christianity? Or has the opposition to Christian belief in these books come about as a result of his starting point being a completely different worldview? Sarah Johnson, in her article "A Preachy Rant against the Church" argues that Pullman intends to put teenagers and children off all organised religion especially Christianity and in particular the Catholic Church. Whether this is the case or not, the fact remains that Pullman is well aware of the power of a story. He has said: "All stories teach, whether the storyteller intends them to or not. They teach the world we create. They teach the morality we live by. They teach it much more effectively than moral precepts and instructions... we don't need lists of rights and wrongs, table of do's and don'ts: we need books, time and silence. ‘Thou shalt not' is soon forgotten but ‘once upon a time' lasts forever." (Carnegie Medal Acceptance Speech)

When one considers the views presented in "His Dark Materials" and Pullman's own recorded comments on religion, it does seem that while his primary intention might be to tell a good story, he also intends to critique Christianity and religious belief in general. He is particularly vocal concerning the abuses of power and injustices that he sees within organised religion. "The trouble is that all too often in human history, churches and priesthoods have set themselves up to rule people's lives in the name of some invisible god (and they're all invisible because they don't exist) - and done terrible damage ... That is the religion I hate and I'm happy to be known as its enemy." (www.philip-pullman.com)

How do we respond to books where it seems that the author intends to criticise or even undermine the Christian church and its teachings?

Perhaps in recent times Christians may have begun to feel that the fantasy genre is somehow "on our side". After all we've all seen the "Lord of the Rings" movies, and Tolkein was a Christian, and now we have a new batch of movies with an un-missable Christian message coming our way in the form of the "Narnia Chronicles". But fantasy literature is not necessarily the domain of Christians. There are many fiction and fantasy books out there that present a myriad of different worldviews. Perhaps, however, where the books are not openly critical of the church they might slip under our radar more easily? My eleven year old son has recently read another fantasy trilogy about dragons, which turns out to be strongly promoting a mystical, "new age" view of the world, in which the power of "Gaia" is presented as real. Christianity and the Church are not actually mentioned in these books, yet the fact remains that another world view and another religion are being promoted, perhaps less obviously than in Pullman's books, but promoted still the same. In some ways it is actually easier to respond when we are aware of the challenge up front, as we are when it comes to Pullman's books.

We need not be frightened, or caught off guard by people who challenge Christianity, or present an alternative viewpoint. Instead we should expect these challenges and bring our minds to our reading so that we can interact with these other points of view and consider how to critique and respond to, and also learn from them.

Critiquing the Negatives

How could we react to Pullman's critique of the Church for example? Pullman makes the point, both through his books and in various interviews he has given that the church has often persecuted those who don't believe and that there has been much ignorant dogmatism throughout Church history. This is all true to some extent - there is much to be ashamed of in Church history. The church has been responsible for some terrible atrocities; some people in the Church do abuse their power.

Surely, however, Pullman's critique of the Church is a little one sided. Not all of Church history is like that. Much good has also been done - he fails to mention the positive impact that the Christian church has had in the world in terms of education, social reform, social justice and a myriad of other good things that many of our societies have been based on. Moreover, Pullman himself recognises that the Church does not always truly represent God and Christian teaching: "I don't know whetter there's a God or not. Nobody does, no matter what they say. It think it's perfectly possible to explain how the universe came about without bringing God into it, but I don't know everything, and there may well be a God somewhere, hiding away. Actually, if he's keeping out of sight, it's because he's ashamed of his followers and all the cruelty and ignorance they're responsible for promoting in his name. If I were him I'd want nothing to do with them." www.kidsreads.com/auyjrs/au-pullman-philip.asp

And how can we respond to Pullman's view of the fall and original sin? One of Pullman's main themes in the "His Dark Materials" trilogy is the re-framing or deconstruction of the Christian understanding of original sin and the fall. In interviews Pullman has explained that he intended to depict the temptation of Eve and the fall not as "the source of all woe and misery", as in traditional Christian teaching, but as the beginning of true human freedom - something to be celebrated not lamented." So in his books the tempter is not an evil being like Satan prompted by malice and envy, but a figure who might stand for wisdom. Pullman deliberately creates a variation on the temptation motif: "It's the story in the third chapter of Genesis but here it's seen from another angle, through other eyes, this moment of revelation & sudden understanding, sudden self-consciousness and knowledge." (www.powells.com/authors/pullman.html) When Lyra is tempted and falls, she actually falls in love, her fall is part of her growing up process, part of a process we all go through. Pullman says that he wants to present the view that the fall is not something that happened once, but happens again and again in all our lives when we move from childhood to adulthood. He wants to present it as something natural and good to be celebrated, not deplored. (From "The Dark Materials Debate: Life, God and the universe" with Philip Pullman and Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, 17/3/2004, www.telegraph.co.uk/arts)

Pullman's description of this moment of sudden self-consciousness in Lyra is beautifully written: "She had never been on a roller-coaster, or anything like one, but if she had, she would have recognised the sensations in her breast: they were exciting and frightening at the same time, and she had not the slightest idea why. The sensation continued, and deepened, and changed, as more parts of her body found themselves affected too. She felt as if she had been handed the key to a great house she hadn't know was there, a house that was somehow inside her, and as she turned the key, deep in the darkness of the building she felt other doors opening too, and lights coming on." (p.449 The Amber Spyglass).

But Pullman has just not "got" the concept of original sin. He is happy to criticise the Church for various evils, yet his everyday people, represented by Lyra, Will and Mary Malone are not sinful, because his world view leaves no room for a creator God who is above and beyond us and in whose world we live. The creation myth underlying His Dark Materials is that there never was a creator, instead there was matter and this matter gradually became conscious of itself. Matter is transcendent, people don't need God, and sin is meaningless.

This means that there is no room for Jesus in Pullman's worldview. There is no need for a redeemer if there is nothing to be redeemed from. In a fascinating dialogue with Rowan Williams the Archbishop of Canterbury, Pullman freely admits that he has left out Jesus and the concepts of forgiveness and reconciliation in his books. This is, after all consistent with his worldview.**

There is not space in this article to critique every aspect of Pullman's worldview: we have not even addressed the issues of heaven and what happens when we die, or of angels or of the nature of the soul/body. The point is that we need thinking Christians to be prepared to critique and respond to the worldviews of others and the challenges that are put forward to the Christian worldview. Since stories are powerful, they can and do have an enormous impact on both our individual and social development and in forming our worldviews. So we should always as Christians bring our minds and a certain amount of careful discernment to our reading and movie going.

Reading, thinking about and discussing books and movies is an activity that is on the rise in our society at the moment. We can see this by the large number of Book Clubs springing up everywhere (I am proud to say that I've been in the same book group with a group of friends for the last 16 years - way before the current trend!). There are also websites such as bookcrossing.com dedicated to lovers of books (if you haven't come across this yet check it out, it's a worldwide book sharing phenomenon!) Coupled with the increasing interest in discussing movies and a number of recent movies with Christian themes or connections, this makes for a great opportunity for Christians to be able to interact with other lovers of books and/or movies in a really helpful way and to give a thoughtful Christian response.

Admiring the positives

As we respond and critique, however, we can do so in a manner that does not just simply dismiss anything that is seen as unchristian, and that does not demean or belittle the work of the author in question. Surely it is more helpful in our interaction with the books we read and the films we watch to not only question the worldview presented, but to also seek to draw out the good things within the story (and these are there in just about every book) and use these to point back to God and to his love for us in Jesus.

As I read Pullman's books I found many beautiful ideas, images and narratives that inspired an appreciation of the goodness of the world that we live in. Pullman demonstrates a deep appreciation of the wonder of life itself and the joy of being alive, and he particularly emphasises how wonderful it is to have a body. He emphasises the uniqueness of humans, the special combination we are of soul and flesh. The angels in "His Dark Materials" envy us - they wish they had bodies and they can't understand why we humans don't enjoy the world more. (p.444, The Amber Spyglass).

Another positive emphasis that can be found in these books is the importance of telling the truth. Lyra and Will only survive their experience in the world of the dead because Lyra chooses to tell the truth. In fact her truth telling transforms the world of the dead and the evil "Harpies" who inhabit it. Formerly the Harpies used to feed on people's misery and all the bad things that people had done in their lives, but they are transformed by Lyra telling them the truth about her life in the world, the good experiences and the enjoyment of life itself. So the harpies take on a new role - to guide the dead people through the world of the dead and out the other side, but only if they can tell a truthful story about good things in their lives: "if they live in the world they should see and touch and hear and love and learn things ... if they come down here bringing nothing, we shall not guide them out." (The Amber Spyglass, p.319) The message behind this story is that we should be living life to the full and making the most of the opportunities we have been given. As Will's father says in the third book: "we have to build the republic of heaven where we are, because for us there is nowhere else." What we choose to do and how we choose to live our lives is significant says Pullman. He is not a nihilist, he thinks that what we have a responsibility to live well and wisely. He wants to praise qualities such as courage, kindness, truth telling, and responsibility.

These positive emphases point us to truths about God and the world we live in, despite Pullman's own dismissal of God.

How to respond?

As thinking Christians, of course we are free to read these books - we cannot respond to what we have not read. These are great stories and there is much to enjoy within them. But be prepared for a challenge and be prepared to think.

What about young people, particularly those in the age group of Will and Lyra (11years plus), reading these books? Since all stories, particularly good stories, have the ability to capture our imagination and make an impact on us at a deep level, I would recommend that any Christian families wishing to read these books with their children/young adults, or whose children are reading these books themselves, take the time to discuss the issues that the books raise. There is no doubt that these books do criticise Christian belief and the church, so parents need to assist their children to work through some of the issues raised. I would also recommend that parents read the books first, (as with any unfamiliar books) particularly if they are in any doubt about the suitability of the books for their child, or their child's ability to understand or cope with the themes of the books.

Perhaps the best advice on how to read books that have a radically different worldview to our own, actually comes from Pullman himself. Pullman is a big fan of John Milton and "Paradise Lost" (from which the title "His Dark Materials" derives). Milton, says Pullman, describes creation "in words that celebrate the sensuous beauty of the world so vividly that it's impossible, for this atheist at least, to withhold a rush of imaginative empathy. I know it isn't literally true, and yet I can enjoy it to the full." (http://www.philip-pullman.com/)

Perhaps we might find it helpful to approach Pullman's books in a similar way?

For further information or articles on Philip Pullman and his work you might like to visit these websites:

www.theologian.org.uk/pastoralia/potter.html
www.philip-pullman.com

http://www.randomhouse.com/

http://www.kidsreads.com//authors/au-pullman-philip.asp

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Pulman

www.telegraph.co.uk/arts "The Dark Materials Debate: Life, God and the universe" with Philip Pullman and Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, 17/3/2004,

www.powells.com/authors/pullman.html

www.christendomawake.org/pages/reflect-lit/Pullman/

http://www.thirdway.org.uk/ "Heat & Dust" interview

* "Dust" is equivalent to what we call "dark matter" in our world. Hence, the title of the series: "His Dark Materials", which also comes from John Milton's "A Paradise Lost". The existence and nature of dark matter is the subject of much current speculation by scientists.

**In an interesting aside in his dialogue with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Pullman gives credit to Jesus for his storytelling: "Story is fundamental. We began with Jesus, we might well end by reminding ourselves that Jesus was one of the greatest storytellers there's ever been. Whether or not he was the son of God, he was a great storyteller." (From "The Dark Materials Debate: Life, God and the universe" with Philip Pullman and Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, 17/3/2004, www.telegraph.co.uk/arts)

Diane Hockridge is Student Services Manager at MCSI.