Comments on: His Dark Materials Omnibus | Philip Pullman http://stephenbarkley.com/2008/06/16/his-dark-materials-omnibus-philip-pullman/ Reader, Writer, Pastor, Paddler Tue, 01 May 2012 19:47:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Steve http://stephenbarkley.com/2008/06/16/his-dark-materials-omnibus-philip-pullman/comment-page-1/#comment-24 Steve Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:57:42 +0000 http://stephenbarkley.com/?p=172#comment-24 Philip Pullman has a great Q&A page on <a href="http://www.philip-pullman.com" rel="nofollow">his website</a> called "About the Writing". In it he shares that no one can know if there's a god or not. (In my view, this statement can be either true or false, depending on what you mean by "know".) Pullman goes on to say that if there is a god, he's hiding away in shame because of the atrocities of his followers. I dealt with that idea in the review. Although the statement's valid, it's very limited: any organized group of people have the capacity to do horrible things. Therefore, it's unfair to talk about Pullman's theology. "His Dark Materials" is a very good story that flows from his presuppositions. As for a doctrine of "Original Sin", there's far more than can be said here. Check out Wikipedia's entry on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Man" rel="nofollow">The Fall of Man</a> to see various interpretations of that first sin. Philip Pullman has a great Q&A page on his website called “About the Writing”. In it he shares that no one can know if there’s a god or not. (In my view, this statement can be either true or false, depending on what you mean by “know”.) Pullman goes on to say that if there is a god, he’s hiding away in shame because of the atrocities of his followers. I dealt with that idea in the review. Although the statement’s valid, it’s very limited: any organized group of people have the capacity to do horrible things.

Therefore, it’s unfair to talk about Pullman’s theology. “His Dark Materials” is a very good story that flows from his presuppositions.

As for a doctrine of “Original Sin”, there’s far more than can be said here. Check out Wikipedia’s entry on The Fall of Man to see various interpretations of that first sin.

]]> By: Greg Primmer http://stephenbarkley.com/2008/06/16/his-dark-materials-omnibus-philip-pullman/comment-page-1/#comment-21 Greg Primmer Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:10:16 +0000 http://stephenbarkley.com/?p=172#comment-21 Wow. I am keenly interested on the subject of hell and the afterlife at this point in time. How would you sum up Pullman's views on this then? You describe him as a kind of angry-at-the-church author...is he anti-Christ (that is opposing Christ's claims) as well? About the comment on Adam and Eve's sin, I've been studying this just recently myself. The bible says that they were 'naked and without shame'. When they became aware of their nakedness they made loincloths for themselves. To me, this seems confusing because the author of Genesis is underscoring that they had no shame 'inspite' of their nakedness. I say, "well why should they?" God created them in His image no less...and found everything 'very good'. What is shameful in it? The comment in your post about the 'sin of sexual awareness' is puzzling. They obviously felt ashamed that they were different, so what does this reveal about the nature of the awareness they gained? Were they able to see 'truth'? Interestingly, the serpent didn't tell them a blatant lie. It was a half-truth. He told them they would not surely die, as God had indicated. And they didn't! At least not right away. Furthermore, the serpent told them the truth about the fruit. He baited them by giving them just enough 'truth' in his lie to sell it. In fact, perhaps he offered more truth about the nature of the Tree of Good and Evil than even God had given them. Anyways...I have a whole essay going on the subject which I'll share with you later, Steve! Thanks for the review! I hadn't heard that spin on the Golden Compass yet. Wow. I am keenly interested on the subject of hell and the afterlife at this point in time. How would you sum up Pullman’s views on this then? You describe him as a kind of angry-at-the-church author…is he anti-Christ (that is opposing Christ’s claims) as well?
About the comment on Adam and Eve’s sin, I’ve been studying this just recently myself. The bible says that they were ‘naked and without shame’. When they became aware of their nakedness they made loincloths for themselves. To me, this seems confusing because the author of Genesis is underscoring that they had no shame ‘inspite’ of their nakedness. I say, “well why should they?” God created them in His image no less…and found everything ‘very good’.
What is shameful in it? The comment in your post about the ‘sin of sexual awareness’ is puzzling. They obviously felt ashamed that they were different, so what does this reveal about the nature of the awareness they gained? Were they able to see ‘truth’?
Interestingly, the serpent didn’t tell them a blatant lie. It was a half-truth. He told them they would not surely die, as God had indicated. And they didn’t! At least not right away. Furthermore, the serpent told them the truth about the fruit. He baited them by giving them just enough ‘truth’ in his lie to sell it. In fact, perhaps he offered more truth about the nature of the Tree of Good and Evil than even God had given them. Anyways…I have a whole essay going on the subject which I’ll share with you later, Steve! Thanks for the review! I hadn’t heard that spin on the Golden Compass yet.

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