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    The Anti-Apologist: Philip Pullman's Covert Assault on the Christian Worldview within "His Dark Materials"
    The Anti-Apologist: Philip Pullman's Covert Assault on the Christian Worldview within "His Dark Materials"
    The Anti-Apologist: Philip Pullman's Covert Assault on the Christian Worldview within "His Dark Materials"
    Ebook72 pages44 minutes

    The Anti-Apologist: Philip Pullman's Covert Assault on the Christian Worldview within "His Dark Materials"

    By Anthony Horvath

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    About this ebook

    The release of Philip Pullman's "The Golden Compass" as a movie prompted new scrutiny of the messages embedded in his "His Dark Materials" series. In this collection of essays, Christian apologist Anthony Horvath affirms the existence of an anti-Christian agenda in the books, but argues that the charges commonly raised are harmless since they are easily spotted. The real 'harm' lies elsewhere.

    In his interviews on the topic by many local and national radio programs at the time of the movie's release, Horvath pointed out that the anti-Catholic sentiments of the book are obvious, and as such, easily dismissed. More pernicious is the notion that atheism and materialism can explain every part of human experience- even those parts which have previously been regarded as evidence of the supernatural.

    Is it reasonable to put one's faith in the proposition that everything can be explained in naturalistic terms? The Pullman series suggests that it is, without coming out and actually saying it.

    LanguageEnglish
    Publisherapgroup
    Release dateNov 2, 2011
    ISBN9781466060081
    The Anti-Apologist: Philip Pullman's Covert Assault on the Christian Worldview within "His Dark Materials"
    Author

    Anthony Horvath

    Author, Christian apologist, pro-life advocate, public speaker.

    Read more from Anthony Horvath

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      Book preview

      The Anti-Apologist - Anthony Horvath

      The Anti-Apologist: Philip Pullman's Covert Assault on the Christian Worldview within His Dark Materials

      A Christian Apologist's Response and Reaction to Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Series

      by Anthony Horvath

      Copyright 2011 Anthony Horvath

      Smashwords Edition

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author

      Table of Contents:

      Preface

      A Christian's Response to His Dark Materials

      Introduction

      Extended Summary Response

      Here The Response Begins

      His Dark Materials Versus Harry Potter

      Religion Reinterpreted in Naturalistic Terms

      The Atheist’s Conception of God is a Strawman

      The Roman Catholic Church is the Only Church Pullman Knows.

      Pullman’s Real Problem: Authority

      By Sin the Atheistic Pullman Only Thinks Sex

      The Roman Catholic Church, Sex, and Fairly Considering Christianity

      Two Fatal Flaws

      The First Fatal Flaw: Pullman’s Worldview is Evolutionary But His Morality Isn’t

      The Second Fatal Flaw: Pullman Subtly Employs the Euthyphro Dilemma Against Christian Theism Only to Reinstate it at the Individual Level

      A Third Fatal Flaw? Failure to Incorporate the Incarnation: The Christian God is not Indifferent to Suffering

      Six Examples of Things in the Bible Atheists Mock But Pullman Will Consider as Long as They Have Naturalistic Explanations

      You May As Well Be a Christian

      Concluding Statements: How Christians Should Respond

      Essays posted to the author's blog in order of appearance:

      A Jesus for the Atheists: A Panzy?

      Reaction to His Dark Materials and NBC's Heroes

      An Atheist Reacts to my His Dark Materials Analysis

      Some Philip Pullman Interviews with Excerpts

      Some Christian Responses to Pullman’s His Dark Materials

      Pullman’s God is not the Christian God but that is no Consolation because he Doesn’t Know That

      The Case of Pullman and the Missing Incarnation

      Literary Apologetics Key to Turning the Tide

      Preface

      The main article was written in 2007 shortly after it was announced that Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series were going to be released as movies. Since then, the first movie (The Golden Compass) was released with disappointing sales, and it does not appear that the other books will be made into movies.

      That said, the HDM series continues to sell well and its subtle but persistent undermining of the Christian worldview continues, justifying a wider exposure of this document.

      Indeed, it is perhaps on account of reactions such as this one that the movie did not do well. Author and apologist Anthony Horvath penned this response which was linked to across the blogosphere and he appeared on numerous local and national radio stations such as Bob Dutko's radio broadcast in the Detroit area and Air1's syndicated national broadcast which was heard by millions of people.

      Ironically, Horvath maintains that the second and third books of the series are those that more directly undercut the Christian worldview, while the first book was relatively tame by comparison, but the movie for the first book had deliberately attempted to soften such criticisms- which in turn probably diminished the movie's success. That is, quite apart from philosophical challenges that could be made, the movie just wasn't very good and did not in fact do the book justice.

      But when the main article and the other included essays were written, the movie had not been released (or only just) and it was unclear how it would all turn out.

      Horvath's apologetics ministry has a heavy emphasis on 'literary apologetics,' so he is keenly aware of the impact of the arts and literature (and movies) on the world view. It is this awareness that led him to identify malignant aspects of the HDM series that went well beyond the easily recognizable (and thus, easily dismissible) caricatures of the Catholic Church and religion in general.

      Because of these aspects, Horvath labels Philip Pullman a literary anti-apologist… and the His Dark Materials series more dangerous than many realize… for reasons different than commonly supposed.

      INTRODUCTION

      The His Dark Materials Series is Pullman's direct answer to CS Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis intended to inoculate a Christian worldview using his series and it is clear that Pullman had the same idea in mind. Except in case you didn't know, Pullman is a hardcore atheist.

      Many Christians will focus on the apparent paganism, the hostility to Christianity and more precisely the Church, and some of the less than subtle sexual

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