The Pullman Heresy
Jun. 2nd, 2010 02:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
franceslievensSome weeks ago Monseigneur Léonard, archbishop of Belgium, declared that the current state of religious education is at an all-time low. There should be a clear line in the courses taught in primary and secondary school. The subject matter should be Jesus and Catholic doctrine and not this amalgame of civil studies it is now.
Of course both teachers and advisors strongly disagreed with their archbishop. Belgians have a tradition of interpreting the Roman guidelines rather loosely. For decades several religion teachers have openly preached against the rule of the pope, showing an openness towards different worldviews and any critique involving their own. This climate doesn't dismiss those that think differently, but lets the work of Philip Pullman happily coexist with that of Saint John. There is even a curiosity with regard to the critiques that come forward in Pullman's work.
His latest novel The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ can be read in this way. It is part of Canongate's The Myths series that lets "the world's finest writers" retell a myth in a contemporary and memorable way. Pullman's retelling of the myth of Jesus Christ and the first Christians brought on lots of hostility. Even though there was only the title of the book to talk about, Pullman was accused of being a blasphemer.
In this retelling of the life of Jesus Christ, Mary gives birth to twins. The eldest son she calls Jesus, and the youngest she nicknames Christ, for it is this child that the shepherds find swaddled in a manger. Jesus grows up to be a strong man and becomes a preacher. Christ is sickly and timid. He keeps to the background, but is very much taken in by what his brother preaches. Prompted by a stranger who shares his ideas about building a Church that can bring God's Kingdom on earth, Christ starts documenting the life of his older brother Jesus.
The stories Christ tells, are meant to show a truth beyond the facts. It is the Church that will decide which truth to hold dear and which to cast away. Throughout the book one can find Pullman's contempt for this kind of Church.
The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ reads in fact like an apocryphal text, a story written during Jesus' life, but never withheld as the truth. One can't really consider such a text blasphemous – without taking into account the question whether one can in fact use the name of God in vain when you're not religious. Pullman's writings are indeed more heretic: they propagate a different truth, a new reading of a well-known story. By retelling the story of Jesus (and) Christ Pullman points out that the gospel is only a story that pretends to be truth. Its actual truth doesn't lie in the story told, but elsewhere.
Of course both teachers and advisors strongly disagreed with their archbishop. Belgians have a tradition of interpreting the Roman guidelines rather loosely. For decades several religion teachers have openly preached against the rule of the pope, showing an openness towards different worldviews and any critique involving their own. This climate doesn't dismiss those that think differently, but lets the work of Philip Pullman happily coexist with that of Saint John. There is even a curiosity with regard to the critiques that come forward in Pullman's work.
His latest novel The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ can be read in this way. It is part of Canongate's The Myths series that lets "the world's finest writers" retell a myth in a contemporary and memorable way. Pullman's retelling of the myth of Jesus Christ and the first Christians brought on lots of hostility. Even though there was only the title of the book to talk about, Pullman was accused of being a blasphemer.
In this retelling of the life of Jesus Christ, Mary gives birth to twins. The eldest son she calls Jesus, and the youngest she nicknames Christ, for it is this child that the shepherds find swaddled in a manger. Jesus grows up to be a strong man and becomes a preacher. Christ is sickly and timid. He keeps to the background, but is very much taken in by what his brother preaches. Prompted by a stranger who shares his ideas about building a Church that can bring God's Kingdom on earth, Christ starts documenting the life of his older brother Jesus.
The stories Christ tells, are meant to show a truth beyond the facts. It is the Church that will decide which truth to hold dear and which to cast away. Throughout the book one can find Pullman's contempt for this kind of Church.
The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ reads in fact like an apocryphal text, a story written during Jesus' life, but never withheld as the truth. One can't really consider such a text blasphemous – without taking into account the question whether one can in fact use the name of God in vain when you're not religious. Pullman's writings are indeed more heretic: they propagate a different truth, a new reading of a well-known story. By retelling the story of Jesus (and) Christ Pullman points out that the gospel is only a story that pretends to be truth. Its actual truth doesn't lie in the story told, but elsewhere.
