The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Phillip Pullman

Apparently unsatisfied with the critique of Christianity embedded in his brilliant His Dark Materials trilogy (most famous for The Golden Compass), Phillip Pullman is back for more with The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. Billed as a “fiercely subversive retelling of the life of Jesus,” it is mostly a platform for Pullman to air his particular biases and grievances regarding the organized religion of Christianity. These complaints fall well short of fierce subversion, as they take the form of a fairly straightforward fictional depiction of the difficult encounter between post-enlightenment secular reason and the mysteries at the core of the gospel stories. Plenty of us struggle every day in managing this encounter, but, unlike Pullman, many of us choose not to simply explain away the mystery. In doing just that Pullman enjoys the satisfaction that comes with saying “case closed,” when all that has really closed is Pullman’s mind to the possibility that some mysteries will always remain unsolved, but that we somehow grow in wisdom as we fail to solve the mystery.