IN DEFENSE OF HARRY POTTER
“It’s an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowing his own story when every kid in our world knows his name![1]...But you must know about your mom and dad,” he said. “I mean, they’re famous. You’re famous.”[2] And he is. Hardly a person today hasn’t at least heard of Harry Potter, the skinny wizard kid with the lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead. J.K. Rowling’s books have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, sold over 300 million copies, and created a phenomenon that has kids and adults alike fascinated by the world explored in the Harry Potter series. Despite overwhelming success, great controversy surrounds Rowling’s books, especially in Christian circles, where the words “school of witchcraft and wizardry” inspire caution, and rightfully so. But these young witches and wizards are not training to become occultists. The books portray the universal battle between good and evil, a battle in which everyone wants to play a decisive role. The Harry Potter series not only encourages a child’s love for reading while developing a vivid imagination, but each book also presents evidence of Christ’s love and the promise of good’s eventual triumph over evil.
For parents vexed by video games and mindless television shows, the Harry Potter books have proven something of a miracle. Suddenly, children who once wanted nothing to do with a book read the voluminous texts for hours on end. Why are these books so popular? For one, these stories allow the possibility that children can influence the ever-present battle between good and evil. Immersed in Harry’s world, anyone may escape the insipid activities of daily life, if even for a moment, and find himself ready to face the world again after a brief interval of magic and excitement. In the tradition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and C.S. Lewis’ Narnia books, Rowling creates new worlds of imagination in her readers’ minds. Following in the footsteps of Frodo Baggins and the Pevensie children of Narnia, Harry becomes another unlikely hero, the classic “underdog”: scrawny, messy-haired, unloved, unwanted, not particularly gifted—ordinary. Then he learns that he is someone special: a wizard. Suddenly Harry has friends and adults that he can respect; he has passion and happiness in learning about the wonderful magic he never knew existed. Finally, the books are fun and easy to read, and even with their multiple subplots it’s no marvel that Harry has so many fans.
With credentials like these, one might wonder why Harry and his author have come under such sharp criticism from Christians worldwide. Rowling is a professed follower of Christ and unlike other recent celebrities seems humble and grateful for success. Still, phrases like “school of witchcraft and wizardry,” “the Dark Arts,” and “divination” have raised brows, especially from concerned Christian parents. Deuteronomy 18:9-13 may only reinforce parents’ worries:
When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God.
While it’s wonderful that parents are looking out for the welfare of their children, both in mind and in spirit, it is a shame that many are throwing Harry and his author to the wolves. The media often plays up the fact that Christians are concerned about these books, possibly to give the impression that Christians are these stick-in-the-mud types that aren’t at all pleased that kids have removed their heads from their television sets and buried their noses in books. John Granger, author of Looking for God in Harry Potter and the home schooling parent of seven, found his first reaction was “red-flag caution…. My concern was less about scaring my children than it was about exposing them to occult elements and forces…. Pretending there is no devil is as naïve and perhaps as dangerous, if not more so, than seeing demons behind every door.”[3] So why shouldn’t we shy away?
There is a big difference between fiction and reality: Harry Potter isn’t encouraging the practice of witchcraft. Many Christians read The Lord of the Rings trilogy and have no qualms with the sorcery of Gandalf the Grey, yet some protest loudly when Harry and his friends attend a school of “witchcraft and wizardry.” Another worry is that of Harry’s moral standing. Parents may wonder if Harry is a good role model for their children, but he and his friends demonstrate laudable stamina in the direst of circumstances. Certainly they stumble, but literature often portrays flawed heroes, such as Eustace Scrubb in C.S. Lewis’ The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and Christian in John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. As Harry becomes more imbued with Christian behaviors, he becomes less vulnerable to the Dark Arts and more capable of participating in miracles. Likewise, when he allows his often explosive temper to get the best of him, he finds himself in undesirable or even life-threatening situations. Rather than literary heroes who have already reached their fullest potential and lack flaws of any sort, Harry and his friends are the kinds of heroes we can relate to and cheer for on their way to achieving greatness. In its endorsement of the books, Christianity Today called Rowling’s series a “'Book of Virtues' with a preadolescent funny bone. Amid the laugh-out-loud scenes are wonderful examples of compassion, loyalty, courage, friendship, and even self-sacrifice.”[4] In the first book of the series, for instance, we find an eleven-year old Ron Weasley, Harry’s best friend, sacrificing his personal safety and comfort. He aids Harry and their other friend Hermione in thwarting the malicious Lord Voldemort’s plans to obtain eternal life and they save not only their school but the entire wizarding world as well. The series is rife with these types of adventures that children (and some adults) crave. Charles Colson, respected Christian speaker and writer recognizes this craving,
The appeal of other-worldly stories like Harry Potter is that they tap into our hunger for God’s wonder. The banal world of video games, television, the pursuit of wealth, and other diversions can never satisfy this longing. The Potter craze reflects the longing in our kids’ souls for God…Harry Potter is not a real thing…But you can use the Potter craze to get kids and grandkids into something that leads to the real thing. [5]
He urges parents and grandparents to introduce their children to Lewis and Tolkien because, “[their] books not only recognize the yearning for wonder and magic, they also reflect a well-developed understanding of the majesty and mystery of God.” [6] Harry’s story is brimming with mystery and majesty. Even when one feels as though he has a thorough understanding of the plot and its various facets, there is still something unsaid: a lesson that is the basis of this mystery and majesty. Christ Himself taught in parables because “He knows we cannot understand the truth as it exists, so He wraps these truths in edifying stories or windows we can look through in order to experience some likeness of truth.” [7] Jesus’ Parable of the Sower compared the Good News to a seed, and men’s souls were like soil, some prepared to receive while others rejected it and did not grow. Jesus likened the kingdom of Heaven to a mustard seed, yeast, a treasure hidden in a field, a fine pearl, and a fisherman’s net. The disciples asked Jesus why He spoke in parables. He replied that though the people saw, they did not perceive and though they heard, they did not understand. (Matt. 13) Granger reiterates, “Until we see things ‘face to face,’…we have symbols to understand ourselves and Creation.” Perhaps it is because stories and symbols are such instructive tools that many reasoning parents aren’t sure if Harry is a good companion for their children’s imaginations. What exactly are these stories teaching? Will children read the Harry Potter books and then read in Samuel about the diviners and wonder what was the big problem? But Harry’s magic just doesn’t work that way.
The magic in Harry Potter is incantational, not invocational. The Latin roots of both words reveal that incantational is more literally, “to sing along with” or “to harmonize.” Invocational translates as “to call in.” [8] For Harry and his friends, the magic merely exists. The young witches and wizards are learning how to manipulate a force, not create forces of their own. There is a vast difference between someone summoning up the powers of Hell versus waving a wand and saying a Latin word or phrase. Indeed, the magic in Harry Potter is much like the talking, moving stuffed animals of Winnie-the-Pooh or the talking animals of Narnia; its origins are not explained, it just exists.
J.K. Rowling’s books have influenced many, but who is it that influences her writings? Parents might worry that Rowling has a fondness for R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series or harbors an interest in the philosophy of Karl Marx. But it is writers such as Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, George Orwell, C.S. Lewis, and Jane Austen who are seen in snippets throughout her work as well as allusions to various myths, legends, and fairy tales. Rowling never fails to cite Jane Austen’s Emma as her favorite book, and she is such an admirer of C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series that she quips she is physically incapable of being in the same room with one of the books without reading it. Rowling adores Jane Austen because she “creates fully rounded characters, often without much or indeed any physical description, examines normal human behavior in a very unsentimental and yet touching way—and, of course, [she’s] funny.” [9] Names of Rowling’s characters reflect these admirations. Mrs. Norris, the caretaker’s cat, is named after the Mrs. Norris of Mansfield Park. Rowling invents many names of her characters, but she also collects strange or unusual names from medieval saints, maps, dictionaries, plants, and war memorials. [10]
J.R.R. Tolkien described the story of Christ as the “True Myth.” He argued that because we have come from God, the myths woven by mankind reflect a splintered fragment of the true light: God’s eternal truth. In his book, Tolkien—Man and Myth, Joseph Pearce writes, “Building on this philosophy of myth, Tolkien…expressed his belief that the story of Christ was simply a true myth, a myth that works in the same way as the others, but a myth that really happened.” [11] In that context, why do so many Christians protest Harry Potter, when many incidents in the Bible are miraculous—even magical? Moses parted the Red Sea; David defeated Goliath; Jesus turned water to wine, healed terminal illnesses with the touch of His hand, walked on water, and conquered death. All these events are miraculous, supernatural, even magical. In the first book of Acts, the Holy Spirit descended. A sound like a violent wind blowing filled the house and the apostles saw what seemed to be tongues of fire. Everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues and the crowd that gathered was “utterly amazed.” [12] Magic may be defined as an “inexplicable thing.” [13] Certainly dying and coming back to life is inexplicable. It’s also amazing, seemingly impossible, miraculous and yes, magical. Rowling’s stories echo this magic.
In our “Christian myth,” sacrificial love conquered death. In the Harry Potter books, sacrificial love is the most powerful force of all, an “old magic” that is stronger than any spell cast by either the good side or the bad. In his book, Granger details Harry’s “hero journey.” He says the “climax…invariably turns out to be a strong image of the Christian hope: that death is followed by resurrection in Christ. The answer [the Harry Potter] stories offer to the ultimate human problem—death—is always love or a symbol of Love himself, Jesus Christ.” [14] In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, for instance, Harry is rescued by Fawkes the Phoenix, a creature that was known in the Middle Ages as the “resurrection bird” because of its ability to “rise from death.” [15] But perhaps the most obvious Christian myth reference appears in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, explains to Harry why he was able to escape Voldemort a second time:
Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn’t realize that love as powerful as your mother’s love for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign…to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever. It is in your very skin. Quirrell, full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good. [16]
This seems more than a little familiar. When someone accepts Christ, he receives the protection offered through His love. Though not a safeguard against pain or a barrier for persecution, salvation is a permanent gift. In this way, Satan cannot touch someone marked by something so pure and lovely and therein lies a refuge in sacrificial love and the victory over death. Granger reiterates, “Again, when I am asked if I think these books are safe for people (especially children) to read, I do not hesitate. Yes, I think these books are safe, and beyond that, they let us experience Love’s victory over death in story form.” [17]
My family and I have enjoyed the Harry Potter series, both together and individually. My youngest sister is trekking through the 876-page Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and frequently asks me to read aloud to her. J.K. Rowling’s books have been a wonderful source of pleasure and discussion in my family. The Harry Potter books are certainly not intended as a replacement for the Bible, Lewis, or Tolkien, but they can be used as a tool of Christian learning for children and adults alike. C.S. Lewis said that the best books “instruct while delighting.” The Potter books can be delightful parables about good and evil. In The Last Battle, conclusion to The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis wrote, “All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.” Use the journeys of the Pevensie children, Frodo Baggins, and Harry Potter as the cover and title page for parables of a Christian faith: a faith that truly is magical.
Footnotes
[1] J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Scholastic, 1997), p. 53
[2] Rowling, p. 50.
[3] John Granger, Looking for God in Harry Potter (Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2004.) p. xv
[4] Christianity Today, Editorial: Why We Like Harry Potter, January 10, 2000, http://www.ctlibrary.com/
[5] Charles Colson, Harry Potter and the Existence of God, http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/, 2005
[6] Colson
[7] Granger, p. 86
[8] Granger, p. 4-5
[9] Mystery, Magic, and Mayhem: An Interview with J.K. Rowling, http://www.harrypotterville.com/RowlingInterview.htm
[10] Mystery, Magic, and Mayhem: An Interview with J.K. Rowling, http://www.harrypotterville.com/RowlingInterview.htm
[11] Joseph Pearce, Tolkien—Man and Myth (HarperCollins Publishers: London, 1998)
[12] Acts 1:41-4, 7
[13]Microsoft Encarta Dictionary
[14]Granger, p. 23
[15] The Phoenix, http://www.stiltman.com/phoenix.htm
[16] Rowling, p. 299
[17] Granger, p. 70
I'm nowhere near this good a writer on my own; a whole lot of people I respect have looked this over and make comments for me: my Rhetoric teacher, a grammar teacher, my dad, my mom, one of my good friends at school, and today I'm giving it to a teacher who's published a book.
