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The cover copy of Phillip Pullman’s The Good Son Jesus, and The Scoundrel Christ—described as one of a series of contemporized myths—initially enticed me due to my previous experience with stories so described. To explain briefly, my experience with contemporized myths thus far has been Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet, the one starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and Holly Black’s Tithe series—both of which I greatly enjoyed. In each case I found, as I expected to find, a retelling of a classic story or style of stories using a modern backdrop, with characters—if necessary—altered to fit modern values and beliefs. Pullman’s novel does not even closely contemporize the story of Jesus; even so, the beginning chapters to which I gave myself a quick preview before deciding to purchase this book rapidly pulled me into Pullman’s pre-Bible world.

The idea of having twin sons of God—one named Jesus; the other, Christ—is a titillating one. I wondered, even as I read the book, how an author could possibly deal with this idea while still remaining true to the underlying messages of the Gospels. To be clear, when I say the underlying messages, our religious "God" does not make an appearance. As I have come to believe—being the child of two United Church ministers whom have both found that the church is no longer a satisfactory expression of faith—the Gospels are at the very least a metaphor for hope: an example of the ideal human condition and the behaviours that we all must aspire to.

Having thoroughly enjoyed The Golden Compass, Pullman’s best-known novel, I expected to find much the same enjoyment. Sadly, my expectations were far from met. The humorous first chapters rather quickly drain away into the humdrum events of Jesus’ ministry, as told by an observer who has little reason to think well of or be well thought of by Jesus.

Nor does the reader have much reason to come to care for Jesus or Christ-the-observing-narrator. Christ rarely does anything to inspire feeling or empathy in the reader, and Jesus comes across as so harsh and cruel at times that good feelings towards him, the clear hero of the story, are difficult to form.

The after-effect

The majority of the novel fills much the same function—with less success an d subtlety—as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, which is to say, retelling biblical events without even the slightest presence of God.

I applaud Pullman’s efforts and successes in creating secondary characters: the "angel" Christ so often speaks to, the high priest Caiaphas who unwittingly condemns Jesus to death, and even Christ himself, who—even if he isn’t likeable—is at least understandable. The picture of Jesus formed in the readers’ minds has all the vividness that the secondary characters lack, but little of the clarity.

The final chapters of the novel are without doubt the most exciting. Christ faces two heartbreaking choices: to betray his brother or the whole of mankind. Since we know exactly which he will choose (Pullman’s explanation behind Christ’s choice is particularly creative). The end of book is where we start to feel for Christ, and empathize with the tragedy about to unfold in front of him.

For Christ’s greatest dilemma—to fantasize his records into the Bible, or to allow his brother to fade into history—Pullman decides to allow the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. It is a less satisfying experience than one might imagine. Really, Christ’s wife characterizes it rather classically. Christ presents her with his choices; her response: Go eat your dinner.

Overall, The Good Son Jesus, and The Scoundrel Christ was an extremely disappointing read that left me with the feeling that either Pullman, at worst, had a deep hatred for Christianity; or, at best, had missed the point entirely.  Or maybe Pullman’s contemporized tale is more subtle than I’ve given him credit for. Maybe what he’s really saying is that, quite aside from the facts behind the Gospels, modern religion is naive, godless and the herald of tragedy.

Rating: 2/5