Ready with an answer to Philip Pullman

'The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ', is the new book by Philip Pullman published on March 31st, just in time for Easter. It is a retelling of the story of Jesus, drawing on the Bible for characters, locations and events.

Pullman himself has said: "I've always been fascinated by the two parts of the name of Jesus Christ, and by the difference between them. Another thing that's interested me for a long time is the way in which the Christian church began to formulate its beliefs and establish a canon of scripture: there were many more gospels than four, but why were those four chosen and others left out? When did Paul begin to write his epistles? Was what he said different from what the gospels say? Do the gospels even agree with one another? Was there a difference between Jesus and Christ?”

He accepts the existence of a holy man called Jesus, but argues that Christ, or the son of God, was “an invention” of St Paul.

“By the time the Gospels were written down, Paul had already begun to transform the story of Jesus into something altogether different and extraordinary,” he said. “Paul was a literary and imaginative genius, who has had more influence on the world than anybody else, including Jesus. He had this great ability to persuade others and his rhetorical skills have been convincing people for 2,000 years.”

The basic claim he makes is that Jesus was not divine and Paul not Christ was the driving force behind Christianity.

How should we react to such claims in the next couple of weeks as publicity is launched? People will read it or reviews of it and we need to be ready with an answer.

We want to begin by recognising the influence of Paul, he wrote 13 books in the New Testament and was influential in planting many churches, especially among Gentiles. Chronologically he was probably the earliest writer too. But how influential was he?

I’m going to suggest three issues to raise with your friends if they ask you about this.
1. Historically it is impossible. Historically we know, and Paul records it himself (Gal 1:13), that he set out to destroy the church and its faith. In AD 34 about a year after Jesus death, Paul is destroying churches. Churches that are already in existence, breaking bread, and believing on Jesus as the Christ and celebrating his resurrection. Therefore Paul could not have invented it.

2. Paul does not invent his teaching. Having been converted Paul begins proclaiming the gospel to others, not his message but the message he heard, that he has been taught. 1 Cor 15:3-7 is perhaps the clearest example. Paul is passing on what he has been taught by others to the Corinthians. He isn’t inventing it. Elsewhere he constantly refers back to Jesus example, Jesus life, Jesus teaching. And others like Peter and James are teaching similarly yet Paul spends little time with them.

3. Read it for yourself. I would challenge your friends to read a letter of Paul and a gospel with you. Read Matthew’s gospel with them and then read say Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Encourage them: Don’t just read what someone else says, don’t let them think for you look at it yourself.