1. THE PORTRAYAL OF
ORGANIZED RELIGION
IN
“HIS DARK MATERIALS”
A Literary RS Project by Michelle Lee (20), Joelle Tan (25),
and Wong Kwang Lin (30)

2. INTRODUCTION
Our project focuses on the popular series of children’s
books, the “His Dark Materials” trilogy by Phillip Pullman
We aim to show the way in which organized religion is
portrayed negatively within the books, as well as the specific
religious elements which come under the most criticism
within the books.

3. CONTENTS:
Introduction
Background Reading
Methodology
Findings and interpretations
Limitations
Conclusion
Bibliography

4. CONTENTS (FINDINGS AND
INTERPRETATIONS)
Portrayal of The Authority
The Magisterium and the General Oblation Board
Representatives of the Magisterium
The Church in Will’s world: Mary Malone
Angels against the Authority
Dust

5. METHODOLOGY
We read through the books and identified the passages
which concerned elements of organized religion, then
analysed them
We also researched on the views of literary critics, as well as
what Pullman himself has to say about his portrayal of
religion

6. BACKGROUND READING
The Golden Compass
The Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass

7. BACKGROUND READING
His Dark Materials did garner some support even from
Christian elements, such as the Archbishop of Canterbury
It earned the most criticism from Christian and Catholic
groups
Some felt the writing style was compromised by the message

8. BACKGROUND READING
Philip Pullman expressed his point of view regarding
organized religion quite blatantly in several interviews
However, the point of His Dark Materials was not to prove
his point, but it was merely a story influenced by his ideals

9. RESEARCH FINDINGS:
PORTRAYAL OF THE AUTHORITY
In Lyra’s world, The Authority is “God”
However, he is actually the first angel formed from Dust,
and he deceived the angels that came after him into thinking
that he was the creator of all things
Although he was highly intelligent, he was also tyrannical
and oppressive, wanting total control of the angels
He sets up the Church so that he is able to control the
humans as well

10. RESEARCH FINDINGS:
PORTRAYAL OF THE AUTHORITY
From the start, the Church (which in the book represents all
organized religion) was simply a tool to achieve personal
glorification and power
This is one aspect in which Pullman criticizes organized
religion - that it uses religion to manipulate people and as an
excuse for tyranny.

11. RESEARCH FINDINGS:
THE MAGISTERIUM AND GOB
The Magisterium and the General Oblation Board perform
“intercision” on children as they approach puberty: the act
of separating them from their dæmons with the intention of
sparing them from original sin. After this, however, the few
that do not die live miserable half-lives.
Even after the Authority becomes senile, the Church
continues to use his will as a reason for whatever they do.

12. RESEARCH FINDINGS:
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
MAGISTERIUM
Father MacPhail
Mrs. Coulter

13. RESEARCH FINDINGS:ANGELS
AGAINST THE AUTHORITY
The Authority oppressed the angels and when one who was
wiser than him, Xaphania, exposed his lies, he banished
them from the Cloudy Mountain
The rebel angels join in the fight against him and they
accompany and protect Will on his search for Lyra in The
Amber Spyglass

14. RESEARCH FINDINGS: DUST
Dust is supposed to be a form of sentient subatomic
particles.
The aim of the Magisterium throughout the series is to
eradicate Dust, as they believe it is original sin. Will and
Lyra deliberately choose to discover the origins of Dust to
oppose the Magisterium.

15. RESEARCH FINDINGS:
MARY MALONE
The only representative of the Church in Will’s world is
Mary Malone, a lapsed nun who is portrayed positively.
In the Amber Spyglass, she tells Will and Lyra about the
reasons she made the decision to stop believing in
Christianity.
She is possibly a representation of Pullman’s own views on
Christianity as many of her views appear to correspond with
his.

16. INTERPRETATIONS
Pullman’s books could still be interpreted as not directly
critical of the Church, only critical of an organisation that is
too controlling
Perhaps Pullman was pointing out that the rigidity of
religious dogma as a symptom of modern culture, which
does not allow fluidity of interpretation.

17. LIMITATIONS
Argument is one-sided, due to extreme viewpoint portrayed
in books
In one of our slides, we mentioned the issue of differing
interpretations of texts, and the point Philip Pullman might
be making about it, but due to time constraints we have not
expanded it as much as we would like to in the presentation,
so we will include it in the report

18. CONCLUSION
We believe that the hypothesis has been proved correct

19. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Squires, C.S. (2006). Philip Pullman: master storyteller: a guide to the worlds of his dark materials. London: Continuum
Simpson, Paul. (2007). A rough guide to Philip Pullman's his dark materials. New York: Rough guides
Pullman, P. (1995). The golden compass. Del Rey.
Pullman, P. (1997). The subtle knife. Del Rey.
Pullman, P. (2000). The amber spyglass. Del Rey.
www.surefish.co.uk/culture/features/pullman_interview.htm
www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/7774176
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3613962/The-Dark-Materials-debate-life-God-the-universe....html
http://catholicinsight.com/online/reviews/books/article_763.shtml
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/639-phillip-pullman

20. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank our RS mentor, Mr. Tan, for his
invaluable guidance, support, and unwavering faith in us!

21. THANK YOU!