Philip Pullman @ EIBF

 

Inasmuch as we love Lyra Belacqua, so does Philip Pullman love Jesus: a poetic genius, social reformer, and protagonist of the greatest story ever told. Pullman shares the stage at the book festival event with the ex Bishop of Oxford, Richard Harries, a pairing meant to juxtapose ideas and prompt debate; but more often than not Harries and Pullman are in complete agreement over the theological issues The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ raises. Where Dawkins and Holloway before him intellectualised, polarised and thus inadvertently excluded many audiences, Pullman breaks down barriers through the simple, ubiquitous medium of storytelling and empowers the reader to take their own meaning. While proclaiming he is the totalitarian dictator (i.e. as the author, he is the authority), Pullman reminds us that reading is a democratic art, and meaning is taken from the text and the individual engagement we each have with the words. Pullman speaks of a great disparity between Jesus the man, and the immortal persona of Christ; his contempt for the church is obvious, and while none of the ideas are new, they were more accessible and engaging than a dry, theological text because of his power as a story teller. [Renée Rowland]