Book Review: His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

His Dark Materials is actually three books in one: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. Back in '07 the film adaptation of The Golden Compass was released in theaters to a lot of controversy about its supposed content. In an apparently startling revelation to Fox News, author Philip Pullman was revealed to be an atheist; they freaked out, proclaiming that the movie would corrupt good Christians around the world. Since I actually enjoyed the movie and perceived no anti-religious message in it, I decided to read the book for myself.

Before I jump into my thoughts on the book, I want to establish why, as a life-long active Christian, I decided to read a book that some believed would turn a devout Christian into an atheist.
First: It's a work of fiction! It's totally not real! I feel safe assuming the author would agree that in no uncertain terms this book is a fantasy novel. Why get worked up over a fake narrative?
Second: I believe that if your religious faith is so weak that a completely fictional novel is enough to shake the foundation of your beliefs, than either you don't spend enough time spiritually developing your faith or you don't really know what you believe. I despise blind faith (simply following because one is told to follow) and also feel that one's faith is always either strengthening or weakening; it is never static. If anyone is reading His Dark Materials or any other fictional novel to build their faith, they are sorely misguided. In my own church, there is a clear delineation between what writings comprise official Church doctrine and, well, everything else; nowhere in the canon of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a fictional novel regarded as doctrine.
I'm grateful that I have always been encouraged to question what I believe and seek deeper understanding of the tenets of my religion. I believe that faith is a belief in something unseen that is true; a belief so powerful it compels an individual to action.

So anyway...the book itself. Objectively, His Dark Materials follows the quest of a young girl names Lyra as she travels through parallel universes trying to save her best friend from the machinations of an evil institution. The fantastical tale is rooted in a world where a person's soul is manifested externally in the form of an animal; where devices exist that allow people to move between planes of existence and discover the absolute truth about the future; and there are whole hosts of mythical creatures and environments. Somewhere in that brief summary I hope you clued in on the fact that the story is complete fantasy fiction.

So what is the root of the controversy? Once you start reading, you find that in Lyra's world the evil institution is a worldwide Church and, based on descriptions and terminology, is clearly the Catholic church. To lay it all out up front, the book's Church reigns with an iron fist by utilizing Inquisition-type theocratic rule and, among its plethora of appalling hypocrisies, authorizes horrific indulges such as the assassination of Lyra. The story also casts the angels thrown out of heaven as quasi freedom fighters who assist Lyra in defeating the cruel Regent Metatron, who rules over mankind on behalf of the indifferent and (ultimately) powerless 'Authority', which Pullman clearly implies is God himself.
Now do you understand the controversy? According to Fox News' remarkable over-simplification, it's a story about a child's quest to kill God; perhaps the ultimate atheistic fantasy. Taken out of context it is clearly horrific. But let me emphasize the most important fact: the book is a work of fictional fantasy written by someone with absolutely no recognized ecclesiastical authority or an even remotely objective perspective on Christianity or any other religious institution.

Having just finished His Dark Materials, I have two completely differing opinions of the book:

On one hand, I liked it! I enjoyed the story. It was intriguing; it had some pretty cool fantasy elements--there is a kingdom of talking polar bears, for awesome's sake. Seriously, think about that--it's utterly bad-ass. The way the novel mixed fantasy with science fiction was well thought out, interesting, and relatively well executed for a non-science fiction novel. The idea of your soul or conscience existing outside your body as an animal was also a unique and intriguing concept. As a character Lyra definitely walks the traditional hero's journey, which always gives the reader someone to cheer for. The book is far from great literature with respect to the quality of its writing and is over-loaded with a difficult and extensive internal glossary of made-up terms and concepts. But all in all, it was a perfectly fun read when taken as fictional literature.

But on the other hand, I had a hard time staying focused on the purely literary aspect of the book; this may explain why it took me 2 years to slug through it. Whether a conscious decision or a subconscious product of his own beliefs, Pullman leaves an indelible philosophical fingerprint on the novel that, in my opinion, demanded that the book be interpreted as a loose allegory of his own personal atheistic/humanist philosophy; not simply a fantasy novel.
Ironically, from a certain perspective Pullman has essentially reinforced the basic teachings and underlying strength of Christianity. Throughout the entire trilogy, Pullman utilizes stories from the Bible, various Christian denominations' doctrines, and more than a fair amount of apocryphal Christian and Catholic lore. Without extensively plundering Christian source material for narrative symbolism, he would have utterly failed in his attempt to prove how messed up Christianity and organized religion are; how much better off people would be if they simply used reason to make decisions and relied on their own personal capacity to choose good and evil. He also blatantly ignores the significant differences between Christian sects and arguably categorizes all organized religion under the generic umbrella of "The Church." Intellectually this is as insulting as it is misguided. Ultimately, the underlying message of His Dark Materials is an almost flawless treatise in moral relativism, much like Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged is a fictional treatise on her own philosophy of objectivism, albeit presented in a far less intellectual or coherent manner.

Now, I could launch into my own hyper-extensive analysis of why I believe Pullman and moral relativism to be wrong. But I won't. I'm guessing Pullman probably wrote the book hoping that it would simply get people thinking about anything; from a simple examination of their own belief system to an out-right challenge of their religious faith by his godless theory of humanism; I suppose good writing demands a critical response from its readers. But my response won't be a thesis-length explanation of my beliefs, even if during the last two years I've spent enough time in quiet contemplation to produce such a document. Instead, I'll pretend like I didn't enjoy this work of fiction and briefly summarize my own personal response to the subtle message of the book.

I believe in eternal truth. I believe in a living God and that, in His perfection, He represents the embodiment of eternal truth and is thus the ultimate arbiter of right and wrong; or in other words justice. Truth and justice are as eternal as God himself and his commandments are meant to teach all mankind to learn eternal truth and follow its requisite principles.
Because I believe God to be the final word on right and wrong, I strongly disagree with any philosophy that states that humans can, completely independent of God, successfully or universally determine right and wrong.
I believe that one of the greatest gifts God has given his children is agency: the freedom to choose right or wrong. But with every choice comes eternal consequence; justice demands that at some point in this life or the next, every good choice must be rewarded (with the ability to continue to grow and learn eternal truth) and every evil choice eventually be punished (with restrictions on said ability.)

Does that sound complicated? I hope not; I tried to keep it simple. But in those two paragraphs, I hope I've demonstrated that my personal beliefs are diametrically opposed to Pullman's entire philosophical basis for His Dark Materials. There is simply no way to compromise my beliefs with his beliefs. And so I am left with two choices: either enjoy the novel for the flight-of-fancy fiction it truly is, or else take the underlying message of the novel deadly serious and engage in a supremely complex re-evaluation of what my beliefs are and whether Pullman has a better interpretation of existence than my own.
Guess what? Pullman's fictional story has not even remotely shaken the foundations of my faith. It was an entertaining read, nothing more. Rather than continually wax eloquent on why I believe what I believe, I try to live my religion and let my life speak for itself. I'm certainly not perfect, as anyone who knows me will attest. But my faith has brought a profound measure of peace and purpose to my life that transcends words, written or spoken.

I would recommend the book to anyone who likes either decent fantasy fiction or wants to have their belief system challenged, or at least compared in stark contrast to Pullman's atheism. If the thought of having your beliefs challenged scares you, perhaps it is even more urgent that you read this or any book that represents a stronger belief system than ignorance.