The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ

This feels...complicated. It's a reimagining of the Gospels by an atheist. Also by an amazing creative writer. You see the intense complexity.

Much of the book was, to use a rural Pentecostal phrase, “in the Word”. Then it all takes a dark, weird turn.

The author makes Jesus and Christ into twins, born on the same familiar night under the same miraculous star. Christ is visited by a stranger, who is never identified as human, angel, or demon, who tells him to document Jesus' activity and words, and then to betray him in order to kickstart the Kingdom. Both their names will be known for all time, as it was meant to be.

I am an Episcopalian, so I don't feel fundamentally uncomfortable with having had read this book as other Christians might. I love religious discourse of all kinds. But I didn't like it. In some parts, it felt true to Jesus' ministry, and even respectful and loving. In others, it seemed to claim that the Gospels were full of lying details (“there's history, and then there's the truth”), the truth nudged like clay to make things happen. In those parts, it felt...mocking, rather than creative or even exploring a historical theory. There was a sharp unpleasant turn in tone that surprised me.

Phillip Pullman just gets it. He has that way of using really intriguing narrative techniques and depth of character to address those little issues like the many moral complexities of organized religion and the ideas that start them. By splitting the mythic Jesus Christ into two very human twin brothers, he invites you to love, hate and relate to both of them. Jesus is passionate and pure, but horribly naive, and often times angry and bitter. Christ is rational and contemplative - not malicious like the title might lead you to believe, but definitely insecure which leads to his cowardice. With this new twist, Pullman reinterprets the old Bible stories, and spins a great moral tale that has much more grounded with us here on earth, than in heaven and hell.

I had high expectations for this book, since His Dark Materials is my favorite trilogy. I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into a revisionist history of Jesus from such an outspoken atheist and beloved author. But I can't help but feel let down. Pullman's version of events is fairly plausible, but overall lacks his usual bite and wit. I guess I was looking for less quaint story and more biting criticism of Christianity's dichotomies and contradictions.