LONDON: ABC WILLIAMS SUPPORTS ATHEIST’S NOVEL

By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent — The Telegraph

Philip Pullman, the acclaimed children’s author and prominent atheist, revealed he may introduce Jesus as a character in his next novel. The announcement came during a high-profile public debate with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, at London’s National Theatre—home to a celebrated stage adaptation of Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, which concludes with the symbolic “death” of a senescent, weakened deity.

Though some anticipated a clash between ideological opposites, Williams had earlier defused tensions by publicly recommending Pullman’s novels be included in religious education curricula—a move intended to foster critical engagement with faith and doubt.

Still, profound theological differences emerged. Williams critiqued Pullman’s fictional Church as devoid of redemption—reduced to institutional control rather than grace. “One of the intriguing things about the Church in your books,” he noted wryly, “is that it is a Church without redemption… Although that’s how a lot of people see the Church here, it is not how I see it.” He added, referencing Anglican divisions: “Chance would be a fine thing.”

When pressed on the absence of Christ’s teachings in his universe, Pullman said he had briefly alluded to Jesus in the context of human wisdom—and hinted he might explore the figure more deeply in future work, though he declined specifics. He affirmed he remains unconvinced by theistic morality, insisting ethics require no divine foundation.

Williams concluded that, from a Christian standpoint, such a view is incomplete—yet the evening ended not in hostility, but in thoughtful disagreement: a rare model of civil theological discourse.