Here's a scholarly, devastating critique of Philip Pullman's ambitious but warped re-telling of Milton's Paradise Lost, the three novels known collectively as His Dark Materials. One wonders if the readers of Pullman's "anti-Christian fantasy for children" really understand what they are being told by this angry author.
Oddly absent from all of this Miltonic scaffolding is the Son, Jesus, referred to only twice in [His Dark Materials], and then only obliquely, although we do see various servants of the church crossing themselves. Pullman simply doesn’t deal with the significance of Jesus, as human, son of God, or even idea. Christ’s courage, love, and sacrifice are simply ignored, and the church that Pullman creates is all evil. What Pullman attacks, therefore, lacks even the substantiality of a straw man. Pullman’s decision not to include Christ in his version of Paradise Lost is not only a cosmic cop-out, but a clue to the weakness of his story, which is ultimately shallow.Posted by Alan at November 15, 2005 12:20 PMTip via NRO's The Corner.