DISCARDING THE DIVINITY OF JESUS ; THE GOOD MAN JESUS AND THE SCOUNDREL CHRIST by Philip Pullman (Canongate, Pounds 14.99) CONCEIVING GOD; THE COGNITIVE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF RELIGION by David Lewis Williams (Thames and Hudson, Pounds 18.95)

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REMEMBER, anyone, the Private Eye Christmas cover that features a traditional Nativity scene, with Mary, angels and the rest? The caption, from Joseph, goes: "It's a girl!" Another variant is: "It's twins!" That last one is the gist of this book by Philip Pullman on the subject of Jesus Christ, or, as he puts it, The Good Man Jesus and The Scoundrel Christ. On the back of the book, he explains: "This is a story." And the story goes that Mary bore not one boy, but two.

One was a disagreeable child, called Christ. The other was a sturdy, charismatic boy called Jesus, who is inspired by John the Baptist to become an itinerant preacher after his baptism. He preaches the …