An Analysis Of Irreligious Writing In Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials

Philip Pullman（1946-） is a well-known contemporary British writer of Children’sLiterature.The trilogy His Dark Materials, his masterpiece, has received great attention fromboth the readers and literary critics. Killing the imposter god explores the complex religiousdimensions of the best-selling fantasy series. For that, he was called "the most dangerouswriter" by Western critics for his “crazy”.Comparison the connotation of belief and religion, the author here reveals that Pullmanthe self-professed atheist is a spiritual believer indeed. The heaven in His Dark Materials aparallel world much similar to the world that we live in, and the God who was " murdered "was just an ancient angel. According to the liberation theology as in a pantheism perspective:God is the universe itself--God creats all, all creats God, too! By the concept changing ofGod, the mysterious substance--dust, became the new God, at last.Obviously, Pullman is not only need a subversion on the Christian tradition but also tobuilt a better religion—Love. Love is a major theme of Christian theology. It can be dividedinto Eros and Agape. The Christian tradition despises Eros. Saving the world by two youngteens’ Eros love is one of the reasons that Pullman was suggested as “irreligious”. However,in the end of the series, the young couple gave up the chance to stay together for saving theuniverse. Sacrificing the Eros for a redemption helps pullman the self-professed atheistcreated a Christian classic of our times.