His Dark Materials, A Wholly Christian Story

“When you look at organised religion of whatever sort — whether it’s Christianity in all its variants, or whether it’s Islam or some forms of extreme Hinduism — wherever you see organised religion and priesthoods and power, you see cruelty and tyranny and repression. It’s almost a universal law.” – Philip Pullman

 
Many have criticized Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials for its atheist bent. And while it’s true that Pullman is critical of the church and Christianity’s hold on society, I don’t think that his argument is necessarily atheist, or that he is criticizing Christian beliefs. His Dark Materials is instead a rejection of organized religion, and the manipulation and control of people by spiritual leaders. In his other work The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, Pullman reimagines the story of Jesus Christ as a tale of two brothers – Jesus, a good man preaching tolerance and morality, and Christ, his evil twin who after his brother’s death tries to exploit Jesus’s following for power. This shows Pullman’s respect for Jesus’s core preachings, and his disapproval of the bureaucratic and regressive Church.

 
This same thread runs through His Dark Materials. Lyra’s story has many parallels with Jesus Christ’s, and lives morally in a way that is generally in accordance with his teachings. Just as he sermonized with parables, she is famous for her ability to tell engaging and purposeful stories. She is heralded as a child-savior like he was in the story of Jesus in the temple. It’s often forgotten that Jesus also existed in opposition to another religion – he rejected many of the antiquated rules and corruption of 1st century AD Judaism in the same way Lyra rejects the Church’s influence and misconduct in her world. The “Kingdom of Heaven” that she fights is much more similar to the Catholic church (complete with an old, mostly ceremonial leader) than any modern Christian vision of Heaven.

 
While critical of the Church, Pullman’s work is certainly not atheistic. Through the construction of Dust as a great spiritual creator and his promotion of love and common kindness as a force for good, he preaches many of Jesus’s core teachings. Even his construction of the afterlife has more support in the Bible than the common Christian image of the “pearly gates”:

 
“Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.” – Isaiah 26:19

 
“Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.” – Daniel 12:2

 
“For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity. All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.” – Ecclesiastes 3:19-20

 
Pullman’s novels are deeply spiritual works that could serve as a good primer on the origins of Christianity, and a healthy model of faith for children. The religious rejections of his stories only show the power of some modern Churches in restricting their followers from engaging with alternate views which could erode their power.

WORKS CITED

“Interview with Philip Pullman.” Surefish.co.uk: Interview with Philip Pullman. Surefish, Nov. 2002. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.
The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments. Trenton: I. Collins, 1791. Print.