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Intergenerational Summer Book Club
This summer’s St. Paul’s book club will be an intergenerational reading adventure. Everyone (well, perhaps ages 8 and up) is invited to join us in reading the beloved and critically acclaimed trilogy His Dark Materials by English author Philip Pullman. Although originally marketed as children’s literature, His Dark Materials has attracted an avid fan base of all generations. Kids love following the plucky character Lyra as she journeys through parallel worlds on a quest to solve the mystery of Dust and save her friends. Adults love contemplating the philosophical questions the novels raise about physics, religion, and the nature of the universe. The novels are a loose re-telling of John Milton’s dazzling epic poem Paradise Lost, which tells the story of the creation of Adam and Eve and a war in Heaven.
There will be six meetings this summer, all in the 10:00 hour between Sunday morning services. There is no need to attend all meetings—you are welcome to hop in and out as your schedule allows. We will be using the novels as a springboard to talk about some Big Questions.
Here is the reading schedule and topics:
July 6: The Golden Compass: How do we think about the soul?
July 13: The Subtle Knife (first half): How does the way we imagine the universe affect our understanding of God?
July 20: The Subtle Knife (second half): How do we confront the historic failings of the church?
July 27: The Amber Spyglass (first third): How do we think of the afterlife?
August 3: The Amber Spyglass (second third): How do we think of spiritual experience?
August 10: The Amber Spyglass (final third): How do we think about different meanings of “God”?
The complete trilogy is available for $15 on Amazon (or you could find it at your local bookseller).
Conversations will be led by St. Paul’s parishioner Kristen Poole, an English professor at the University of Delaware and author of the recent book Philip Pullman and the Historical Imagination. If you wish to join the summer book club, please e-mail Kristen at kpoole36@gmail.com.
