First Lines: The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ

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.