Philip Pullman’s trilogy for young adults has been completed with the recent release of The Amber Spyglass. This series began as a beautifully written fantasy with endearing characters, fast-paced, suspenseful action, and an intriguing plotline. It ultimately concludes with a novel which is as popular – it spent six months on the New York best seller lists –as it is unabashedly anti-Christian.
In the first work Northern Lights, the world (a mirror of our own) is peopled with humans who each have a daemon – the soul in the form of an animal with which they are inextricably linked. In an effort to understand the nature of sin, the Church (read: enemy number one) is carrying out ‘abominable experiments’ involving the severing of human children from their daemons. Lyra’s quest to rescue a friend who has been kidnapped by the Church involves her with several fantastic characters including witches (read: the good guys), and her ultimate ally Will, a boy from our own world.
By the end of the second novel The Subtle Knife Lyra’s father, Lord Asriel, is gathering his forces, including rebel angels, to declare war upon ‘The Authority’ (God). My ten year old felt that the Authority was not our God since Pullman asserted that he was not the Creator, but the third book leaves little doubt as to Pullman’s real intentions. Ultimately, people need to establish the ‘republic of heaven’ within their own world – there is no sin, no God, and since Lyra and Will triumph by setting the ghost of the dead free so their spirits can rejoin the universal consciousness, there is no heaven or hell either.
The spiritual themes are muddied – Lyra and Will are Adam and Eve-like; they are tempted, but the fate of humanity is secured because they do not fall, although exactly how this is so remains a mystery. In the end however, the clearest statements are put by a character who is a former nun: “... I saw there wasn’t any God at all ... The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that’s all ...”
If your children must read this series, read it yourself and talk about it with them. It has been the basis of many good discussions in our house about the most essential elements of our Christian faith.
