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Date: 12/08/10
How Many Pinheads Can Dance On A Theologian?
A few months back, I posted a clip of the author Philip Pullman defending himself from those who would censor his work because it may undermine organised superstition.
In the clip, Pullman suggests inter alia that his critics are perfectly at liberty to write their own books.
Well, it seems one of them has. One 'Father' Gerald O'Collins, who has apparently been immured in the Gregorian University of Rome for the last thirty years, has written a response to Pullman. Well, not so much a response as O'Collins' volume is not fiction - at least not in the way the term is commonly used - more of a diatribe against the author.
I haven't read Pullman's book, and I suspect that I shall never read this priest's reply either. Especially in the light of this quote in The Guardian:
"O'Collins criticises Pullman for "picking, choosing and changing" what he wants from the gospels, altering the story "over and over again in the interests of his own 'truth' or ideology", making historical errors and conducting poor historical research."
So here we have the fine sight of a writer of fiction being excoriated for being selective with his material, altering it in line with his own ideas, and simply making things up by someone who is:
- A Catholic priest
- A Jesuit
- A theologian
I humbly present this story to you as the leading entry for the Irony Of The Year Award.
