Finished: The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ (Pullman). Well, hmm. Jesus and Christ are twin brothers born of Mary and Joseph, and so the story continues. Written by self-proclaimed atheist, Pullman, I read the book with the knowledge that that's the viewpoint he'd be writing from. First of all...I can't tell if this book was supposed to be for young readers? It was written very simplistically and with large writing, almost like it would be on a 5th or 6th grader's reading list. It tells, very dryly, the story of the twin brothers and how Jesus went on to be, well, Jesus, and Christ was his brother who followed him around and chronicled his story...embellishing things that happened along the way, leading us to "understand" why most of the miraculous events in the new testament of the bible weren't really recorded history, but written as a more meaningful "truth" that would lead people to believe in Jesus, God, etc. A Stranger encourages Christ to write about his brother's teachings and doings with these passages and similar others:

"In helping me, you are helping to write that history. But there is more, and this is not for everyone to know: in writing about what has gone past, we help to shape what will come. There are dark days approaching, turbulent times; if the way to the Kingdom of God is to be opened, we who know must be prepared to make history the handmaid of posterity and not its governor. What should have been is a better servant of the Kingdom than what was. I am sure you understand me."

"Remember what I told you when we first met," he said. "There is time, and there is what is beyond time. History belongs to time, but truth belongs to what is beyond time. In writing of things as they should have been, you are letting truth into history. You are the word of God."

I think the whole thing left me uncomfortable....especially because the Stranger convinces Christ to betray his brother, Jesus, aiding in his capture for questioning and ultimate death. And...when the Stranger convinces Christ to walk about by Jesus' empty tomb after the Stranger and his men remove Jesus' truly dead body. He convinces Christ this will make believers of the Holy Spirit out of people.

I don't know...all in all...a bit unsettling for me! Maybe I should have read The Golden Compass instead? Pullman is done. Check.