Death of Divine Authority—Pullman's Agenda

Phillip Pullman has famously said his trilogy, His Dark Materials, is "about killing God." In a previous post I showed how he is not just writing about an alternate world completely unrelated to ours, but about our world and our God. That conclusion is further supported in the quotation to be presented below.

Now, everyone knows that if there is really a God he cannot be killed, so what is Pullman up to? It becomes clear early in the second book in the trilogy, The Subtle Knife.

Church and "The Authority Himself"
The following comes toward the end of the second chapter. A witch named Serafina Pekkala,* one of the good characters in Pullman's world, is speaking with Thorold, servant to Lord Asriel, a powerful figure whose place in the story is partly revealed in what follows here.

Thorold begins the dialogue:

"The witch people have different gods from ours, en't that right?"
"Yes, that's true."
"But you know about our God? The God of the Church, the one they call the Authority?"
"Yes, I do."
"Well, Lord Asriel has never found hisself at ease with the doctrines of the church, so to speak. I've seen a spasm of disgust cross his face when they talk of the sacraments, and atonement, and redemption, and suchlike...."
...
"So . . . what is he doing?" [asks Serafina Pekkala].
"... I think he's aiming a rebellion against the highest power of all. He's gone a-searching for the dwelling place of the Authority Himself, and he's a going to destroy Him."

A few pages later we read this about the Church:

"There are churches there, believe me, that cut their children too, as the people of Bolvangar did—not in the same way, but just as horribly. They cut ...[phrase deleted for the sake of sensitivity to readers—it's extremely upsetting] ... yes, both boys and girls; they cut them with knives so that they shan't feel. That is what the Church does, and every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling."

Scholastic considers this suitable material for 8-year olds. (If you're sure you want to know what was omitted from that quote, you may click here. I caution, though, you it is not pleasant, and I would not subject you to it without at least this much warning.)

One commenter told me earlier in this series that I had rushed to judgment against these books, drawing my conclusions based on SparkNotes and not on the actual books. I'm reading them now so that I can report more fully. And I am fully appalled.

Pullman's Agenda
Here is what Pullman is doing: he doesn't regard God as the One, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe; if he did, he could never entertain killing God as a plot device. God is Authority instead. Now, the Bible does not speak of God that way. "Authority" is impersonal. Certainly God is revealed to us as King, Lord, and Master. But these words convey relationship, relationship that is fleshed out by the rest of God's revealed nature and his action as loving Redeemer.

Pullman wants to kill off authority. He sees Authority, through the church, as controlling and cutting off every good feeling, pleasure—and most specifically (in the part I deleted) sexuality. He wants authority thrown off, cast down, destroyed, so he can do just what he wants.

But God is Good!
How tragically wrong this is! The Bible says to "taste and see that the Lord is good!" "At your right hand are pleasures forevermore!" The Bible is a book of joy! I can attest to 32 years of the good taste of following Jesus Christ. As to sexuality, God does prescribe limits on it—for our good! Pullman is cutting himself off from the highest pleasures, pleasures of the whole person, soul, spirit, and not just body; pleasures now and forever; pleasures so tremendous that the highly respected scholar John Piper says the Gospel should be regarded as a message of Christian hedonism—and all glory to God in it!

Therefore...
So I conclude three things here:

• Pullman doesn't know what he's missing, which is a tragic loss for him that he is trying to pass along to many others.

• There is no credibility whatever to statements that this is pure fantasy with no relation to our world ("every church is the same," it said).

• This is a book on religion that should not be promoted in schools.

That was clear enough already, but it really is beyond dispute now, isn't it?

Related:
Series Overview

The Golden Compass and "Killing God"--Not An Urban Legend
Coming Soon To Your Child's School: Hostility Toward God and Church, Heavily Promoted
Once Again, How Can This Be Legal?
On Christianity, the Arts, and How To Have a Disagreement
Original Sin Is the Source of Truth? (The Golden Compass)
Death of Divine Authority—Pullman's Agenda
BreakPoint.org on The Golden Compass
"I'm Trying to Undermine the Basis of Christian Belief"
"Democracy of Reading" or a Hidden Agenda? (Phillip Pullman)
Strongly Recommended: Jeffrey Overstreet on the Golden Compass
A New Bearing on The Golden Compass
Rehabilitating The Golden Compass's Religion?
Over-reacting?
Preacher-Man Phillip Pullman

*Her first name is very closely related to Seraphim, a class of angels (see Isaiah 6), and her last name is closely related to peccatum, Latin for sin or transgression. How coincidental is that?

Posted: Tue - November 13, 2007 at 11:06 AM |

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Death of Divine Authority—Pullman's Agenda

Thinking Christian by Tom Gilson