The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ

by Philip Pullman

Overview

'If I vanished he wouldn't notice, if I died he wouldn't care. I think of him all the time, and he thinks of me not at all. I love him, and my love torments me. There are times when I feel like a ghost beside him; as if he alone is real, and I'm just a daydream.'

This is the story of two brothers. One is impassioned and one reserved. One is destined to go down in history and the other to be forgotten.

In Pullman's hands, this sacred tale is reborn as one of the most enchanting, thrilling and visionary stories of recent years.

The Myths series brings together some of the world's finest writers, each of whom has retold a myth in a contemporary and memorable way. Authors in the series include Karen Armstrong, Margaret Atwood, A.S. Byatt, David Grossman, Natsuo Kirino, Alexander McCall Smith, Philip Pullman, Ali Smith and Jeanette Winterson.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781786891952
Publisher:	Canongate Books
Publication date:	02/22/2022
Series:	Canons
Edition description:	Main - Canons Edition
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	532,595
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Philip Pullman was born in Norwich in 1946 and grew up in Zimbabwe and Wales. As one of the most highly respected children's authors writing today, he has won many prestigious awards, including the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Children's Book Award and the Whitbread Award. His acclaimed fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials, has been published into 40 languages and sold 17.5 million copies worldwide. He lives in Oxford with his wife, and has two sons.

Hometown:

Oxford, England

Date of Birth:

October 19, 1946

Place of Birth:

Norwich, England

Education:

Exeter College, Oxford University

Website:

http://www.philip-pullman.com/

Editorial Reviews

A supreme storyteller . . . Pullman has done the story a service by reminding us of its extraordinary power to provoke and disturb

Daily Telegraph

Pullman nimbly presents this as a contrast between historical veracity and the bon mot that can take root in the popular imagination. He implies that Christ's true achievement was to put a spin on Jesus's story, adding elements of mystery and poetry to an otherwise prosaic tale

Financial Times - James Urquhart

Beautifully effective . . . Pullman's retelling of the central story in western civilisation provides a brilliant new interpretation that is also a thought-provoking reflection on the process of how stories come into existence and accrue their meanings

Sunday Times - Nick Rennison

It is a small gem or, given its explosive story and its exquisite artistry, a hand grenade made by Faberg

Sunday Times

Beautifully written, humane, memorable and resonant

Philip Hensher

The charm of this book lies in its seriousness about the story it tells, and about its being a story

London Review of Books

Pullman at his very best

Guardian

A fierce and beautiful book which . . . will move even those who disagree with it

Observer

A writer of great skill and feeling

New Yorker - Adam Gopnik

Provokingly bold . . . striking and suggestive

Independent - Boyd Tonkin

Fear not, for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy…for all its satanic fanfare and heretical rejiggering, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is—God forbid—kind of inspiring…Again and again, [Pullman] displays a marvelous sense of the elemental power of Jesus's instructions and parables. Even when he transforms the canonical stories to match his atheist perspective, he emphasizes the basic Christian theme of universal love…Yes, some Christians will be offended by this book…but any honest reader will find here a brisk and bracing story of profound implications. And it's bound to send some readers back to the Bible, looking more closely at Jesus's words and especially at all those other words crowded around Him.
—The Washington Post

Ron Charles

This gospel retelling is relatively faithful in style, time line, and events to the four canonical gospels-though Pullman injects a very Pullman-like spin on it by splitting Jesus Christ into two men, among other creative twists. Twin babies are born of the virgin Mary, one called Jesus, the other Christ. After a childhood in which Christ is a goody-goody and Jesus the popular one, Jesus and Christ continue down separate but intertwined paths, with Christ sneaking around, spying on Jesus's ministry and writing down his every word and deed. Jesus becomes a philosopher-revolutionary and Christ is the politically savvy brother, who ultimately proves naïve. Pullman's gospel version reveals how the politics and structure of the institutional church were plotted by power-hungry men, who used the renown of Jesus and his well-meaning, devoted brother Christ as pawns in their corrupt game-a critique that will be familiar to readers of His Dark Materials. This is a tale of (almost comedic) mistaken identity and good intentions gone horribly awry. Readers will find the parables, the Good Samaritan, healings, and the Sermon on the Mount, among other familiar scenes.
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Publishers Weekly

Inspiring . . . Again and again, [Pullman] displays a marvelous sense of the elemental power of Jesus’s instructions and parables. Even when he transforms the canonical stories to match his atheist perspective, he emphasizes the basic Christian theme of universal love. . . . The action moves toward a conclusion that’s inevitable but still startling and moving. Yes, some Christians will be offended by this book . . . but any honest reader will find here a brisk and bracing story of profound implications. And it’s bound to send some readers back to the Bible, looking more closely at Jesus’s words and especially at all those other words crowded around Him.”—The Washington Post

“[Philip Pullman is] one of the finest British writers of his generation. . . . The attention-grabbing title alone—The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ—has been enough to rouse his enemies, and reinforce his image as a church-baiting atheist who’s beyond redemption. . . . Yet this isn’t the indiscriminate anger of a proselytizing atheist. Pullman is too fair-minded. . . . Love his answers or not, Pullman’s honesty is hard to hate.”—Newsweek

“The erudite fantasy author, Philip Pullman, makes explicit his complaint against Christian dogma with [this] challenging deconstruction of the Gospels.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“[With] His Dark Materials, his masterpiece trilogy . . . Pullman has written the most thrilling and imaginative novels in a generation. . . . The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is a masterfully timed book, arriving just as the Catholic Church—Pullman’s enemy No. 1—convulses over priestly child abuse and papal cover-ups. . . . Give Pullman high marks for moxie: How many writers would dare to try to rewrite—no, to repair—the most famous, most sacred story ever written?”—Slate

“Imaginative and thought-provoking . . . A compelling portrait of Jesus . . . [Pullman] is asking readers to move beyond theology and religion. As a literary work, Pullman’s story examines perspective and how it influences storytelling. [He] provides a superb example of how history relies on narrative and narrative relies on point of view. . . . This is, at its core, a book about the power of storytelling and storytellers. . . . The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ asks us to read and then to think—really think—about what we have read, and that is precisely what we all should do.”—Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“Thought-provoking . . . Add to [Pullman’s] passion his considerable gifts as a storyteller, and you have the ingredients for a powerful treatment of a familiar story. . . . There is no lack of . . . inventiveness . . . but it is always framed by Pullman’s keen awareness of the gospel narratives. He knows just how much of a revered story needs to remain intact in order to make its metamorphosis compelling. . . . Pullman gives us an affecting portrait of faith in extremis, of a man continuing to pray even as he doubts there is any auditor to his prayers.”—Garret Keizer, Barnes & Noble Reviews

“Compelling and challenging . . . The writing is crisp-lyrical . . . precise . . . Successful in showing how all the contradictions of a life can become distorted, so that the most important lessons disappear into history.”—Jacob Schraer, Portland Mercury

“In The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, we have what is both a perfect and perverse pairing: Philip Pullman and the ‘myth’ of Jesus Christ.”—The Globe and Mail

“Incendiary . . . A small gem or, given its explosive story and exquisite artistry, a hand grenade made by Faberge. Pullman is a craftsman of the highest order.”—Sunday Times

“Provokingly bold . . . Pullman’s rebel scripture belongs in a strong tradition of its own.”—The Independent

“Pullman is a supreme storyteller who . . . has done the story [of the Gospels] a service by reminding us of its extraordinary power to provoke and disturb.”—The Telegraph

“A wonderfully fresh reworking of the Gospel stories [concerned with] extricating what is ethically beautiful and of permanent value in Jesus’s teachings from the religious institutions that fallibly mediate and self-servingly distort them.. . . . Pullman’s imaginative and highly thought-provoking innovation . . . is told with a self-effacing, yet incisive limpidity. . . . [The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is] a work of genuine discretion—deeply involved and involving, but with a great instinct for what to leave tacit.”—The Independent

“A simple, powerful, knowing little book . . . Like a small grenade, it will ricochet uncomfortably around the mind of any Christian believer for some time to come.”—Financial Times

“[The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is] Pullman at his very best, limpid and economical. . . . Pullman leaves the Christian reader with a genuine paradox to ponder.”—The Guardian

“Told in simple, unadorned prose that is nonetheless beautifully effective, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ traces the familiar journey toward the cross and makes it fresh. . . . Pullman’s retelling of the central story in western civilization provides a brilliant new interpretation that is also a thought-provoking reflection on the process of how stories come into existence and accrue their meanings.”—Sunday Times

“A fast-paced little parable that puts a common sense tweak to a number of the miracles, while reminding us how much of the Gospels is devoted to social justice and compassion.”—Sacramento News & Review

“Short but ambitious, exhilarating . . . [The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ] mixes Christian mythology with speculative fiction. . . . Pullman approaches his biblical source material with respect.”—Winnipeg Free Press

“The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is a compassionate meditation on the nature of faith.”—CBC News (Canada)

From the Publisher

Pullman (www.philip-pullman.com), author of the award-winning "His Dark Materials" trilogy, takes a unique and respectful look at the life and legacy of Jesus as told from the point of view of Christ, Jesus's identical twin brother, whose not-entirely honest telling underscores the questionable reliability of such historical accounts. Pullman himself reads, his deep and soothing British-accented performance carrying the story along admirably. Recommended for all listeners, especially fans of religious fiction. [Also available, exclusively from the iTunes Store, is an iPhone ebook app combining Pullman's full-text, synchronized reading and including a video Q&A with the author.—Ed.]—Scott R. DiMarco, Mansfield Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib.

Library Journal