A modern day Greek myth

This semester, I took a class that compared Lord of the Rings with His Dark Materials (for those of you unfamiliar with the trilogy title, you might know it better by the first book, The Golden Compass). I remember a few years ago when the movie came out, and how up in arms the Christian community was about it, how the trilogy killed God in the end, and therefore it was the worst kind of literature we could ever possibly read. I hadn't read it at the time, and the people who wrote reviews about seemed to know what they were talking about, so I didn't read it, but I was curious. Now having read it, I can say that while "God" is "killed" (really, it's more like he just dissolves after being set free from a box he was being kept in), the trilogy is about as far from attacking our God as it could be.

As I read it, I began to see the many parallels between it and several of the epics I had read in Torrey. This made me realize, then, that while Pullman is referring to the religion in his book as Christianity, he is really writing about the religion of the ancient Greeks/Romans. For example, Pullman's god (called the Authority) lives on a mountain. He is not eternal, but was made by something else (we're never told what) and seems to enjoy the way the church is running things (more on that later) simply because it gives him something to watch. It is a form of entertainment for him. (Metamorphoses anyone?)By the time the story starts, he is not even in control any longer, but has instead withdrawn into his mountain and given the control to his main angel Metatron. This situation is actually kind of like the way that Zeus allows his under-gods to run things when he simply doesn't want to deal with it.

When the Authority dissolves, it is made clear that it is because he is so old. He is a created being, just like the other angels, and is therefore not worthy of the worship that people give him. He has no control over death, or life, or anything. He simply usurped the power of the earth, and started making rules. When such a ruler exists, it is right that we should rebel. He is not only unworthy of worship, but corrupt and evil. His position more closely resembles the demi-gods of Homer's time, than he does the God of Christianity.

It gets better though. The most clear parallel between His Dark Materials and the Greek myths is when the main characters travel to the world of the dead. That's right, they go to the underworld (Remind anyone of The Illiad? The Odyssey? The Aenid?) Virtually all Greek epics contain this element. While Pullman is a very outspoken atheist, he is certainly not writing about God.

Furthermore, the main attack of the book centers around the church. In the beginning, the church kidnaps children in order to experiments on them to see what happens when they are separated from their soul, a visible part of them known as the daemon. The reasoning they have for this is an attempt to prevent Dust (what is not directly defined as, but understood to be sin) from settling on them. The innocence of children is believed to be preservable as long as this part of them can be cut away. It sort of lines up with the (not biblically provable, but certainly generally accepted) belief of the age of accountability.

As the story progresses, the church, not the Authority, continues to pursue those trying to defeat the Authority, killing when necessary (and it seems like it is necessary far too often, simply because they don't want their enemies to survive). When looked at altogether, it is definitely more an attack on the corrupt church (and who can disagree that we as people are corrupt and sinful, and if given too much power will abuse it, to the detriment of the world, rather than to its benefit?). Looking at it this way, then, shows us that such a series is more a warning against a too powerful corrupt church, the worship of an unworthy being, and our duty to prevent such an occurrence.

There is danger in the series, however. This danger lies largely in the fact that Pullman uses the name Christianity for his religion. He also uses strictly Christian terminology throughout the trilogy. The danger then is when people who are reading it do not know that he is not actually describing Christianity. The main audience for which this could pose a problem is of course children. However, that does not mean that no one should read it. There are a lot of good books out there that should be read but which would not be considered suitable for children (consider the majority of the Torrey cannon). In fact, Pullman did not originally write the trilogy for children, but rather aimed it at adults (many of the conversations and topics of discussion, even the way that things are worded, would go right over most children's heads). It was actually a move on the bookstores'/publisher's part to put it in the children's literature section.

Having said all of this, I think that the popularity and content of the trilogy makes it more necessary to read, rather than less, if for no other reason than that as Christians it is necessary to know what the world reads in order to have an answer for it.