Recommendation: Pied Piper of Atheism

April 18th, 2008 · 15 Comments · Hogwarts School of Literature

by Johnny

The film release of The Golden Compass last December brought to the forefront the novel on which it was based as well as the rest of the His Dark Materials trilogy. The author and outspoken atheist Philip Pullman has raised concern over statements concerning Christianity throughout his fantasy trilogy, particularly in the last installment, The Amber Spyglass.

Answering Pullman are two noted Catholic authors, Pete Vere and Sandra Miesel who team up to write a poignant response to Pullman in The Pied Piper of Atheism: Philip Pullman and Children’s Fantasy. This small book (little more than a hundred pages) is jammed packed with information from the books themselves as well as from past interviews with Pullman. Vere writes a straightforward analysis of the problematic passages and elements in the trilogy while Miesel takes it a step further by contrasting Pullman’s Materials with Lewis’ Narnia and Rowling’s Harry Potter. Miesel also provides a short overview of children’s fantasy and alternative reading recommendations for children in the two appendices.

Both authors examine the worldview of Pullman’s trilogy and while they mostly write from a Catholic perspective, Vere shows that Protestants have as much to be worried about Pullman’s writings. Vere writes, “[...] Pullman intends his readers to see both Catholic and Protestant Christianity as flawed and harmful to humanity. Furthermore, although Pullman’s Church has certain Catholic elements to it, Protestants can take little comfort from that, since Pullman’s attack on the God of the Bible is hostile to Protestant belief as well as to Catholic Christianity.”

If you want a sober analysis and an explanation of Pullman’s literary and philosophical sources in his trilogy, this book is highly recommended.

Tags: His Dark Materials·Philip Pullman

15 responses so far ↓

1 Victoria // Apr 18, 2008 at 11:21 am

I would like to read the comments both authors have to make ’cause I’m sure they’re informed (although I’m sure I’m not going to agree with them), but I wonder how closely some other people have read the trilogy when I hear the nonsense being said every so often….
2 Travis Prinzi // Apr 18, 2008 at 3:53 pm

Victoria, I haven’t read this book, but I’m told by people I trust it’s good. I’ve also been told even by some non-Christians that Pullman’s atheist agenda is overbearing.

That said, I entirely understand your hesitation. And further, the over-reaction (or misrepresentation?) to His Dark Materials by some Christian Harry Potter fans is thick with irony.

I enjoyed The Golden Compass, but not enough to speed right on to the other two. I’ll get to them eventually and finally see what all the fuss is about. I’ll reserve judgment on both Pullman and the book Johnny reviewed until I get a chance to read them myself.
3 Victoria // Apr 18, 2008 at 7:43 pm

Travis -

Interesting that you know non-Christians that also think his propaganda is overbearing. Are they atheists ? I, as a non-atheist, have read the trilogy (own them in paper and audio form) and loved what he did with it. What people take as anti-christian is mainly just anti-establishment in my humble opinion. I personally don’t see anything wrong with that.

And sure, Pullman has created a world in which the Authority is not without spots, but it’s a different world, isn’t it ? It’s not Lyra that hates him, Lyra didn’t even know he existed before her quest. Pullman’s not necessarily saying it’s the Christian god that’s a cheat either, just because he wrote the Authority the way he did and the fact that he personally is an atheist !
4 Professor L // Apr 18, 2008 at 9:17 pm

Thanks for the insight. All I can say about Pullman is that he had me at ‘Magisterium’ as Black legend wannabees. So I went back to Narnia………..
5 Travis Prinzi // Apr 18, 2008 at 11:02 pm

Victoria, the friend I was referring to is not an atheist, no.

I’ve heard a lot of Christians say things similar to what you’re saying - that it’s not necessarily an attack on “God,” but on abusive church authority. I’ve even heard Christians say, “Well, I don’t believe in the kind of God Pullman is against either.” Like I said, I’ll have to keep reading to decide for myself.

The only part that irked me about the first book was that he messed with the Genesis mythology. Adding the “dust” stuff to our creation myth was a bit much (I’d probably also add that making John Calvin the Pope was a bit much also…). And, of course, the gnostic belief that the serpent was the one who was right - the possibility that “dust” is good. But then, he’s defining things differently in the first place, so that argument might not even stand. Again, I gotta keep reading.
6 Johnny // Apr 19, 2008 at 12:37 am

I read the entire trilogy as well and thought they were well written. I even recommended them to a Christian friend of mine and she told me that they were a good read. Pullman’s trilogy certainly leaves much for discussion. As I read them, I figured he was trying to write his own version of Paradise Lost, and some elements and statements disturbed me (especially the messing with the Genesis mythology as Travis said). The real concern that the authors of Piped Piper of Atheism address is the children who will watch the movie (their book was released near the film’s release) and then read this very intensive trilogy. I understand the arguments over whether the books attack God or church authority, and a case can be made for either position. I suspect that Pullman’s inconsistent statements of his own work over the years have a part to play. When its all said and done, Pullman’s work leaves much for discussion and analysis.
7 Victoria // Apr 19, 2008 at 12:18 pm

I always saw it like this. There are so many universes in this world Pullman’s created and the Authority rules them all. Will’s world sounds a lot like ours, but who says it is ? Pullman could have envisioned a complete separate universe, for all we know. (And he might not have, I haven’t read many interviews with Pullman so I surely might have missed most of his inception comments.)

Of course the interesting thing is the discussion that starts when people take works like this as allegory and criticism. And that happens with most critical works. People take offense because they see too many similarities between their reality and the written work. But who says the author is writing about that ? It’s just human nature to work out patterns and similarity and form opinions based upon them.
8 Professor L // Apr 20, 2008 at 10:29 am

Travis,

Poor John Calvin! He most certainly is flipping in his grave!
9 reyhan // Apr 20, 2008 at 1:49 pm

Would this be John Calvin, the Protestant “Pope” of Geneva?
10 Travis Prinzi // Apr 20, 2008 at 9:25 pm

The very same.
11 Johnny // Apr 22, 2008 at 11:59 pm

Victoria, the best thing to do in this case is to look at what the author said regarding his work. Pullman said on one occasion “I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief” before saying “Mr. Lewis would think I was doing the Devil’s work” (Washington Post - Feb. 19, 2001). In another interview, Pullman said that “My books are about killing God” (Sydney Morning Herald - Dec. 13, 2003). The interesting thing about Pullman is that he’s softened his stance, particularly when the Golden Compass film came out, which is what I meant when I said earlier regarding Pullman’s inconsistent statements of his own work over the years. It is these statements, including the ones in the books themselves that have gotten people upset.
12 Victoria // Apr 23, 2008 at 4:13 pm

Yeah, as I said I haven’t read all Pullman interviews about his work especially the early ones, but I would definitely have to agree that he must have softened his opinions because in recent interviews I’ve heard and read he never said any such things.

The discussion Pullman had with the Bisshop of Canterbury was fascinating though
13 Marmee March PlusOne // Apr 26, 2008 at 8:58 am

Thanks for mentioning the appendices. There’s nothing if not book lists that I can’t have too many of. I hope there are little blurbs for each title.
14 Johnny // Apr 27, 2008 at 12:09 pm

Victoria, I’ve heard of the Pullman interview with Rowan Williams, but haven’t read it yet. I will do so. Thanks

Marmee March PlusOne, you’re welcome. And yes, there are little blurbs for each title.
15 Sandra Miesel // May 6, 2008 at 8:33 pm

Thank you, Johnny, for your kind review. PIED PIPER OF ATHEISM was Pete Vere’s idea and we had to work very fast to publish close to the release of the movie.

I must confess that I developed a strong hostility toward Pullman by reading so many of his interviews. I found the books poisonous, though artistic in execution (at least until his lecturing and axe-grinding came to the fore. My job was to look at his sources in Milton and Blake and defend Lewis from Pullman’s ugly lies. He maliciously misrepresents the content of the Narnia series and Lewis’s life story. Shouldn’t that be enough to start ringing alarm bells for the Christian reader, even before one reaches the end of the trilogy where the universe is saved by two twelve year olds fornicating under a tree?
A significant difference between Pullman’s imagination and Rowling’s is that he parts all his lovers and spouses but she lets happy new families form at the end of their series. I’ve defended HP for years against his Christian critics and still can’t understand why they managed to ignore Pullman for so long, given that he published first and raked in prestigious prizes.