Philip Pullman

I've been reading Philip Pullman's "Dark Materials" series, including the popularly controversial The Golden Compass. Around the Christmas season, move-makers released the first of three movies from this series - beginning with that one, the first book - and Christians everywhere cringed, urging believers to boycott the movie.

The books (and movie) offer a rather un-flattering view of the church. The story takes place in a different world, where John Calvin is pope and has instituted hundreds of laws and rules that the Church (the government in this world) enforces rather harshly. The Church, or Magisterium, or Authority, as it's also called, is seen as an imposing force created and existing simply to control the people. The Church is perceived as an institution that seeks absolute control, even going so far as brainwashing, which all happens under a veil of secrecy and violence. The church is also deathly afraid of Dust, which seems to have something to do with either original sin (as the Church would have its scholars believe) or the very core of what it is to be human - so afraid, in fact, that it's even gone so far as to attempt to cut away a part of children's humanity - their daemons - in order to control them more completely.

I could go into much more detail of his protests, but I don't want to ruin the story. Still, it's clearly not a very pretty picture of the church.

I cannot say that Pullman is completely correct. The church was not built for the sole purpose of controlling its followers. But, the world-conscious Christian hasto admit, I think he may be on to something. As an "insider" of the church, I can see that the point of the church is not to control society. Instead, it is (or should be, at least) to transform society into something as close as possible to the Kingdom of God for which we wait in hope. The theologian Jurgen Moltmann calls this a theology of the cross; the idea that Christ, in his work of salvation on the cross, identified himself with the lowest, most hurting of creation. Moltmann refers to these as the "godless and godforsaken" - the poor, the orphan, the widow, the needy. Yet, in the resurrection, Christ pointed to and promised that some day all things would be renewed, transformed, made right. That, then, is the objective of the church - to love those who most need loving, seeking to make the present reality as much like the future for which we hope as possible.

So, what is the church actually doing? Pullman, who is openly anti-Christian, says the church is controlling society. The church is oppressing. The church is not helping the lowly, rather (like the Magisterium in The Golden Compass who cut away part of the humanity of innocent children in the name of control) it is cutting them down even lower in order to keep them under its jurisdiction. Could Pullman have a point?

If he does, we are in a sad state, my friends. If his critique carries any weight, we must be called to account. And, it seems to me, Pullman's critiques are not unique to Pullman alone. It's a prominent complaint of the church from "outsiders" everywhere (check out a book called unChristian, which cites some research info from the Barna group that will tell you just that). So, then, isn't it worthwhile to listen to such critiques? Rather than shunning Pullman's ideas as immoral and corrupted, wouldn't it be more beneficial to listen to what he has to say, and really take a good look at ourselves? If this is really how we're perceived - isn't it possible that something has gone horribly wrong?

So, Christians - read Philip Pullman's "Dark Materials" series. Think about it, take it to heart. (And, of course, enjoy the great story along the way...) Maybe we'll see that somewhere, something has gone wrong.