Religious Patterns in "Northern Lights" by Philip Pullman
Dealing with religious themes and beliefs, as the Christian ones in Northern Lights by Philip Pullman, which is the first book of the trilogy His Dark Materials, is always a delicate matter. Based on the freedom of opinion, every author has a right to express his feelings and thoughts in a book, how controversial they might be. However, the Christian Church and a lot of its supporters, especially the Catholic ones, feel offended and affronted by the trilogy and Pullman’s turning the Christian myth upside down.
The inspiration was a work Pullman has loved since his teens: “Paradise Lost.” (Laura Miller)
This essay seeks to concentrate on the theological debate that arose with the publication of the book and came to its climax with the movie The Golden Compass, released to movietheatres in december 2007. After sorting out the history of childrens literature, it concentrates on the religious themes in Northern Lights and its debate in the Catholic church and finally compares the story of Lyra Belacqua to the series of fantasy novels The Cronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis.
The first kinds of literature for children and teenagers were edited works for adults, as the first known example from the Antique were the Ilias from Homer. In the Middle Ages Aesops stories were formulated as fables for children to educate them and to teach them moral and behaviour but also to accept authorities (e.g. The Turtle and the Hare). At the same time the very few students of convent schools learned to read and understand the Bible. An also well known source of stories were fairytales as the ones collected and written down by the brothers Grimm in the early 17th century. These fairytales were not exactely written for children as they were very brutal (e.g. Hansel and Gretel). With the change of industry and economy in the late 19th century children’s literature also started to change. It became fantastic and children, for whom it had become obligatory to go to school by this
The inspiration was a work Pullman has loved since his teens: “Paradise Lost.” (Laura Miller)
This essay seeks to concentrate on the theological debate that arose with the publication of the book and came to its climax with the movie The Golden Compass, released to movietheatres in december 2007. After sorting out the history of childrens literature, it concentrates on the religious themes in Northern Lights and its debate in the Catholic church and finally compares the story of Lyra Belacqua to the series of fantasy novels The Cronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis.
The first kinds of literature for children and teenagers were edited works for adults, as the first known example from the Antique were the Ilias from Homer. In the Middle Ages Aesops stories were formulated as fables for children to educate them and to teach them moral and behaviour but also to accept authorities (e.g. The Turtle and the Hare). At the same time the very few students of convent schools learned to read and understand the Bible. An also well known source of stories were fairytales as the ones collected and written down by the brothers Grimm in the early 17th century. These fairytales were not exactely written for children as they were very brutal (e.g. Hansel and Gretel). With the change of industry and economy in the late 19th century children’s literature also started to change. It became fantastic and children, for whom it had become obligatory to go to school by this