Author: Philip Pullman (born 1946)
Publisher: Canongate Books (2010 reprint)
Bought: Times The Bookshop sale at old Borders store, Parkway Parade
Introduction
In 1999, Canongate Books, a publisher based in Edinburgh, launched The Myth series. Contemporary writers were invited to retell legendary tales in novella form. If controversy was what the publishers wanted, they could not have found a more suitable person than Philip Pullman to tackle the story of Jesus Christ.
Pullman is an English author most famous for being an outspoken atheist and for the trilogy His Dark Materials. In His Dark Materials, the protagonist is a powerful and murderous organisation known as the Magisterium which bears more than a passing resemblance to the Catholic Church.
In The Good Man Jesus and The Scoundrel Christ, Pullman drew on familiar episodes from the canonical Bible, the agnostic gospels as well as apocrypha (eg. the story of Jesus making live sparrows out of mud) to craft an interesting take on the life and death of Jesus.
What is the story about?
Mary was visited by a stranger and gave birth to Jesus and a twin brother Christ. Jesus grew up to be a charismatic wandering teacher who preached that the Kingdom of God was coming soon. Christ, on the other hand, had bigger plans and tempted Jesus who was then in the wilderness to join him in building a church:
“Group of families worshiping together with a priest in every village and town, an association of local groups under the direction and guidance of a wise elder in the region, the regional leaders all answering to the authority of one supreme director, a kind of regent of God on earth!”
(pp 42-43)
Christ was rebuffed by his brother. He then met a stranger (the same one who visited Mary?) who told him:
“I want to make sure that you have your rightful reward. I want the world to know your name as well as that of Jesus. In fact I want your name to to shine with even greater splendour. He is a man, and only a man, but you are the word of God.”
(p 58)
The stranger encouraged Christ to record Jesus’ teachings but to exercise narrative license:
“Sometimes there is a danger that people might misinterpret the words of a popular speaker. The statements need to be edited, the meanings clarified, the complexities unraveled for the simple-of-understanding.”
(p 74)“… if the way to the Kingdom of God is to be opened, we who know must be prepared to make history the handmaid of posterity and not its governor. What should have been is a better servant of the Kingdom than what was.”
(p 98-99)
Ultimately, the stranger revealed to Christ that there will be no Kingdom of God on earth. They would have to establish their church, which was the only way for believers to reach the Kingdom. To do so, Christ must betray Jesus to his Jewish enemies and then disguise himself as a resurrected Jesus.
Finally …
It is clear why this book has earned Pullman enemies. In the chapter Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus denounced God for not bringing about the Kingdom of God on earth. He also declared his opposition to the church that his brother was organising as he foresaw the abuses that would result from it. Controversial stuff.
As a story, The Good Man Jesus and The Scoundrel Christ is an interesting take on one of the most famous persons of all time. The novella is a breezy and undemanding read.
1950 – today 