MetaCatholic

By a strange coincidence I finally got round to watching The Golden Compass on DVD at the start of this week, and then at the end of the week stumbled across this story in The Independent, in which doubt is expressed over the making of the sequel and Pullman blames the Christian boycott of his [...]

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My copy of Ἄρειος Ποτὴρ καὶ ἡ τοῦ φιλοσόφου λίθος actually comes with a bookmark sewn into the binding, a refinement possessed neither by Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, nor even Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis . When an English story gets this kind of treatment (think Winnie Ille Pu) you know you have [...]

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John Hobbins had the great idea of encouraging people to blog on children’s literature, and I expressed an interest in so doing. Now John’s fired the starting pistol, and I must make good on my promise. I had pretty much decided to blog on Harry Potter, but now I find myself wondering whether to treat [...]

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One or two people have been blogging on which scholars have most influenced them. Nijay Gupta started it, Rick Brannan followed suit, and Nick Norelli (who never knowingly lets a bloggy bandwagon pass him by) joined in. I must confess to finding it extraordinarily difficult to do the same exercise. I think, however, that if [...]

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Sometimes you can’t help feeling a book title says more than it intends to.
De la difficulté d’évoquer Dieu dans un monde qui pense ne pas en avoir besoin

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I received a letter today from a man who has published his own book on the gospels and wanted me to buy it at a bargain price for my students. He has a website about the book. It doesn’t give that much information, except that as far as the synoptic gospels go, it is a [...]

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On Wednesday Kevin P Edgecomb posted on both Harry Potter and The Golden Compass. This post was nicely categorised as an “unhinged rant” – a classification I will say no more about. He then, at Justin’s instigation in the comments, left this comment on an earlier post of mine about the Golden Compass.
Readers of [...]

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In a somewhat strange post Ben Witherington issues his own parental advisory on the Golden Compass (based on the book more-or-less of that name aka The Northern Lights – Why do Americans always change British Book titles?). The argument he quotes, from the fundamentalist Catholic League, which he seems to endorse, runs like this

The film [...]

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Back when I reviewed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a few days after publication, I ended by focusing on the importance of the scripture quotations in the churchyard at Godric’s Hollow. I said:
Most interesting of all is the attention given to the headstones in the churchyard at Godric’s Hollow. On the Dumbledore family tomb [...]

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No, not a comment on Shakespeare or patriotism, but a review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I said I’d wait a few days after I finished it, and I have. Now, be warned, everything below the picture is full of spoilers and gives the ending away. Read on at your own risk.

These books [...]

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