More Golden Compass

The controversy over the "real meanings" behind Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy of books is becoming a minor media stir. He's making the rounds promoting the upcoming film The Golden Compass and trying to play down quotes in the media suggesting that the books are an attack on Christianity or designed to recruit young minds into the exciting world of atheism.

Since I haven't read the books, I found this 2005 breakdown of the series by Mark Greene at the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity really helpful. Even better is his encouragement to Christians to be available to correct the record about God's character for those persuaded by Pullman's ideas. The whole thing is worth a read if you're following this, but I especially like his summation.

Indeed, Pullman's propaganda may well be most dangerous to children and adults who have never known the love of the living God and do see the church as an out-of-date, life-denying, power-hungry and ultimately self-seeking institution. It may simply confirm their prejudices. As such, Pullman may succeed in turning many a child away from the true God he calls 'the enemy.' Nevertheless, Pullman has laid down his gauntlet in public, and the very success of his books and the explicitness of his attack may well provide Christians of all ages with many an opportunity to present the truth.

Certainly, we must oppose his ideas, and he expects no less. Nevertheless, he has left himself extremely vulnerable - his books almost entirely ignore Jesus. Perhaps he could find no way to twist such loving self-sacrifice into ammunition for the case against God. After all, a God who will deliberately sacrifice himself out of love is a long, long way from the malevolent and impotent cripple of Pullman's imagination. Indeed, we might pray that he soon discovers that the door into heaven will not be cut by an extraordinary and unique knife but has been already been flung wide open by the submission of the Son to some very ordinary nails.