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This article was first published on Culturewatch. © Tony Watkins. When I interviewed Philip Pullman, I found him genial, generous and engaging. He has a sharp mind, a clever wit, and he’s a brilliant writer. He has justifiably been acclaimed as one of Britain’s finest writers, having won several awards including the Whitbread Book of the [...] Charlotte Higgins wrote this in her blog on the Guardian website yesterday. What a great response to Philip Pullman’s new book: The Good Man Jesus is a fascinating story, told in the same kind of spare, lapidary prose as the Gospels themselves or a Grimm brothers fairytale. Pullman’s gift for storytelling is in evidence on every [...] Philip Pullman seems to enjoy stirring up controversy. He annoyed many Christians with his best-selling anti-church, anti-God trilogy His Dark Materials. And it’s evident that he was out to provoke when he made comments like, ‘my books are about killing God,’ and, ‘I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief.’ He’s admitted that the [...] I talked to Paul Hammond on UCB UK radio this morning about Philip Pullman’s controversial new books. The conversation was put out as a podcast on Culturewatch: Click to listen Posted via email from Tony Watkins I interviewed Philip Pullman back in 2009, before I started work on my book, Dark Matter: A Thinking Fan’s Guide. It was an interesting experience, partly because I’d had car problems on the way there and arrived a little flustered. Looking at it again now, there are some ways in which I don’t think I handled it all that well. If I’m honest, I guess I was somewhat intimidated. Anyway, here it is, for what it’s worth (it’s also available on the Culturewatch site, where it’s been since 2004). With news today of his forthcoming book, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, it seemed a good time to repost it [...] Canongate to publish Pullman on God 07.09.09 Catherine Neilan Canongate is to publish “a remarkable new piece of fiction” by famously atheistic Philip Pullman, in which he challenges the events of the Gospels, and puts forward his own “compelling and plausible version”. Publisher Jamie Byng acquired world rights to the book, for an [...] Philip Pullman’s next book is a reworking of the story of Jesus. And a denial of the truth of Jesus.Children’s author Philip Pullman says Jesus wasn’t the Son of God Bestselling children’s author Philip Pullman has provoked more anger from Christians with a new book denying that Jesus was the son of God. The book, due to be published next Easter, accepts there was a holy man called Jesus but says the idea of [...] British philosopher AC Grayling was interviewed in The Observer on Sunday (5 July 2009). It’s a series of soundbites rather than anything detailed. This one caught my eye: I would imagine Jesus was a kind of Jewish reformer. If you were looking for an equivalent to the figure you dimly perceive through the gospels it would probably be a Richard Dawkins. What? The first sentence suggests Grayling knows very little about Jesus and yet is prepared to idly speculate on what he might be, without engaging with the evidence. Second, how on earth does he make the link to Dawkins? Is Dawkins a moral reformer in any sense at all? He may be an outspoken defender of a particular position but it hardly makes for an equivalence with Jesus, even if you do reject Jesus’s divinity. Grayling is a very bright man, and I always enjoy listening to him on Radio 4 discussions, but this quote betrays his blind spot and bias. I was also struck by this comment: I am putting together a secular bible. My Genesis is when the apple falls on Newton’s head. I wonder what Grayling means by this. The Bible is God’s self-revelation and the account of his dealings with human beings. What story could start with the apple falling on Newton (a historically dubious event anyway)? The story of the growth of modern science and the way it has replaced religion with hard-nosed rationalism? The growth of modern science is a great story, but it doesn’t start with Newton and it has not supplanted religion. There are very many people who have see no conflict between the two, but rather synergy. Is it to be a bible in the sense of a handbook of essential knowledge about a particular subject? If so, I still don’t see why he’s starting with Newton. Is he wanting to imply that Newton’s insights about gravity are a significant moment of enlightenment, when human beings first realise that things don’t fall as a result of God’s direct and immediate action? I know this is one of those infuriatingly brief and shallow interviews which are so popular these days, but surely a philosopher of Grayling’s ability is able to be speak concisely without these dubious [...] Roger Ebert is the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times and one of the most respected critics in the world. He has often commented on spiritual issues in a way which suggests he has a real interest in them, but no convictions about there being any spiritual reality. He’s not alone in this, of course. [...] |
Tony Watkins is a writer and speaker on Christian faith and contemporary culture, with a particular interest in film. He is the Managing Editor of Culturewatch. |
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