This is a story.
it says in big golden letters on the back of Philip Pullman’s latest novel, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. And true as that may be, I suspect a lot of people will still take offense to this ingenious and spellbinding retelling of the life of Jesus, … the most influential story ever told.
Until I saw this book in a bookstore in Amsterdam, I had no clue Pullman had a new book coming out. I immensely enjoyed his His Dark Materials trilogy, and a big reason for that was the role religion plays in it. So a book by Pullman, retelling the gospels? Should be right up my alley. And it was.
In this tale, Jesus, the first born son of Mary, has a twin brother called Christ. When the former starts going around Judea telling about the coming Kingdom of Heaven, the later follows him, recording what he says. Then he meets a stranger who tells him about the difference between The Truth and history. The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ is a story about how stories are made. And a mighty fine one at that.
- Philip Pullman — The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ
- This is the story of Jesus and his brother Christ, of how they were born, of how they lived and of how one of them died.