Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The Good Man Jesus & The Scoundrel Christ

Author: Philip Pullman
Genre: Fiction, Religious
Language: English
Pages: 245
Cost: 499 Rs.
Publisher: Penguin Books
First Published: 2010

“The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ” is a controversial novel with equally controversial title. Not surprisingly the author Philip Pullman has to bear the brunt of Christian fundamentalist and received lots of hate mails and death threats. Author Philip Pullman tries to retell the story of Jesus Christ in very different way than the holy bible. He portrayed Jesus Christ not as one person but two people. Two brothers with names "Jesus" & "Christ". These two have very contrasting personalities from each other. Jesus is a moral and godly man. And his brother Christ is a calculating figure who wishes to use Jesus' legacy to found a powerful institution of Church. So with this perspective and these two characters he retold the same story.

As expected the book has attracted lot of controversy and criticism from fundamentalist. Although I am not Christian and not an expert on Bible, I was aware of Christ story as many of us are. So reading this different perspective was interesting and I will suggest everyone to read this book. What author did in this book is highlighted the positives and negatives of Christianity. He is not denying Jesus being good noble man or godly person; but he is highlighting the deficiency in institution of Church. He is stressing the fact that all greats are defeated by their own followers.

It is a Must Read Book. If I have to rate this book I will give it 8 out of 10.













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