The Boston Globe on Sunday had an article, God in the dust about Catholics attacking the new movie The Golden Compass based on the first book in the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. The article has a few spoilers but tells how (yet again) some religious groups miss the point of a work of art.
"But this is a sad misreading of the trilogy. These books are deeply theological, and deeply Christian in their theology. The universe of "His Dark Materials" is permeated by a God in love with creation, who watches out for the meekest of all beings - the poor, the marginalized, and the lost. It is a God who yearns to be loved through our respect for the body, the earth, and through our lives in the here and now. This is a rejection of the more classical notion of a detached, transcendent God, but I am a Catholic theologian, and reading this fantasy trilogy enhanced my sense of the divine, of virtue, of the soul, of my faith in God. The book's concept of God, in fact, is what makes Pullman's work so threatening. His trilogy is not filled with attacks on Christianity, but with attacks on authorities who claim access to one true interpretation of a religion. Pullman's work is filled with the feminist and liberation strands of Catholic theology that have sustained my own faith, and which threaten the power structure of the church. Pullman's work is not anti-Christian, but anti-orthodox."
I haven't read the books yet but want to and am looking forward to the movie.
2 comments:
The books are great. Read the books first.
This weekend past, while I was in New Jersey, I was trying to find a film all my friends could agree on seeing.. Before realizing that it hadn't come out yet, I suggested "The Golden Compass".
One of my friends wouldn't even see it because of these supposed anti-religious notions in the original book. He heard that the film was toned down and that wasn't even enough. He said that he wouldn't even go if someone bought a ticket for him!
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