The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ - Phillip Pullman

Now I know that this book has created a lot of arguments and controversy due to Pullmans outspoken opinions of modern Christianity. However here is my review (very late, I know, and I apologise.) But here it is anyway ...


The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ - Phillip Pullman.
So here we have it. Another rewriting in the same series as The Fire Gospel from Michel Faber. Now I can see why people do dislike this book and why they criticise it, however I do believe that many people are oversensitive and should get a grip of themselves!!

Anyway .. this book takes the story of Jesus and reworks it. Jesus is actually a twin and his twins name is Christ. They both live out their lives, with Jesus taking a very similar role to what he does in the traditional Bible stories. While Christ takes a backseat, writing Jesus' history while he is still alive. The part I love most about this book is that Jesus does not actually rise again from the dead but it is Christ that the disciples see. I love the fact that this book takes Jesus and makes him a human, not the half human, half God that was represented in those horrendous R.E lessons in school. In which we were taught that Jesus was beyond human nature and he was a saint for dying to save us.  

Again this is why I LOVED this book ... The fact that Jesus is presented as a normal person. Here Pullman has drawn on some of the earlier Gospels that are not in the Bible. He draws on these and paints a picture of Jesus as a man. Pullman also addresses in his book the way that writing can influence people at the time and also people in the future. A lot of the episodes that are recorded in this book are unremarkable, it is only Christ's recordings of what Jesus has done that spark the remarkable, dubbing them miracles. This idea is really thought provoking, especially for a history student. I can see how writing history at specific times and in certain ways can definitely make a huge difference in how people at the time and in the future view the subject. This is addressed by this idea of Jesus and Christ.

So really it has to be asked but is Jesus really the good man and Christ the scoundrel? If it was not for Christ, Jesus would just have been a glorified preacher, who some people may have listened to and other not. However because of his writings it is seen that Jesus becomes this massive religious figure travelling the country and influencing many people with his 'miracles'. I think its true to say that this is one of the unanswerable questions of the book as both the brothers do things that are good and bad in equal measure. It is something you will have to work out for yourself when you read it :)

See you soon :)
Leanne