A Few Quick Facts

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A Few Quick Facts

• The book has sold more than 15 million copies
  worldwide
• British columnist Peter Hitchens described
  Pullman as the writer atheists would have been
  praying for, if atheists prayed.
• Like many atheists, Pullman grew up in the church
• Detests organized religion and C.S. Lewis
  Narnia series

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Lets Meet the Characters

• Lyra
• Lord Asriel
• Mrs. Coulter
• the daemons
• Iorek
• Magisterium
• gyptians
• Dust

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Pullmans View of God

• God as a metaphor, a character in fiction
• One of the greatest and most complex villains of
  all - savage, petty, boastful and jealous, and
  yet capable of moments of tenderness and extremes
  of arbitrary affection

http//filmchatblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/philip-p
ullman-extended-e-mail.html
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Pullman the Church

• In His Dark Materials, freedom is found in the
  Republic of Heaven, not the Kingdom of Heaven

It depicts a struggle the old forces of control
and ritual and authority, the forces which have
been embodied throughout human history in such
phenomena as the Inquisition, the witch-trials,
the burning of heretics, and which are still
strong today in the regions of the world where
religious zealots of any faith have power, are on
one side and the forces that fight against them
have as their guiding principle an idea which is
summed up in the words The Republic of Heaven.
It's the Kingdom against the Republic.
http//www.randomhouse.com/features/pullman/autho
r/qa.htmlq1
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Pullman the Church

• The Church is portrayed as subjugating free will
• Organized religion leads to cruelty and tyranny
  and repression
• The Crusades
• The Inquisition
• Salem Witch Trials
• Anti-Semitism
• How do we respond?

http//bridgetothestars.net/index.php?pFAQ4
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Pullman the Church

• A theocracy should Christians support one?
• Is it an attack on Christianity or an attack on
  dogmatism?

http//bridgetothestars.net/index.php?pFAQ4
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The Fall

• Becoming conscious of ones self is sin, but
  sin here is not seen negatively
• The fall of mankind is continual, natural and
  good.
• Here, he departs from Lewiss innocent
  portrayal of children in the Narnia series

So, for instance, the book depicts the
Temptation and Fall not as the source of all woe
and misery, as in traditional Christian teaching,
but as the beginning of true human freedom,
something to be celebrated, not lamented. And the
Tempter is not an evil being like Satan, prompted
by malice and envy, but a figure who might stand
for Wisdom. - Philip Pullman
http//www.randomhouse.com/features/pullman/autho
r/qa.htmlq1
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A Final Thought
"I've been surprised by how little criticism I've
got. Harry Potter's been taking all the flak. I'm
a great fan of J.K. Rowling, but the people -
mainly from America's Bible Belt - who complain
that Harry Potter promotes Satanism or witchcraft
obviously haven't got enough in their lives.
Meanwhile, I've been flying under the radar,
saying things that are far more subversive than
anything poor old Harry has said. My books are
about killing God. (emphasis mine)

• http//www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/12/10711256
  44900.html