In my previous post I defended Harry Potter as a book Christians can read despite the plethora of witches, wizards, and other magical creatures it contains. In this post I want to put forth some of the benefits of reading fantasy books, specifically Harry Potter. In other words, I want to suggest why Harry Potter is worth our time.
Before going further I do want to make a couple of disclaimers. First, I don’t think Harry Potter is appropriate for everyone. There are difficult, sad, scary, and strange things in Harry Potter, especially as the books progress. I wouldn’t read them to my eight year old (assuming I had one of course 
) any more than I would Lord of the Rings . And, of course, if my kid was reading it I would read it with them and discuss it as we went along. Second, I make no claim that Harry Potter is in some way subtly Christian. There are those who would say Harry Potter is a Christ figure, that the books are chalk full of Christian themes, etc. I don’t think J.K. Rowling is trying to write a book with a Christian subtext (a.k.a. The Chronicles of Narnia) and it would do an injustice to her books to force them into a Christian worldview. However, I do think they are good books with interesting themes and some attractive heroes. Moreover, they are part of the fantasy genre which I think offers some good correctives to our highly scientific, modern world.
Anyhow, to get to the point, here are the strengths I see in the Harry Potter books:
- Harry Potter embodies values that are worth emulating. No, he’s not perfect (come to think of it, save one, none of the Biblical characters are perfect either). This is a coming of age story, and being true to life, Harry is not perfect and never claims to be. Yet, as the books progress he learns several virtues including self-control, self-sacrifice, the value of friendship, loyalty, and resisting temptation. The kids I work with in my neighborhood are inundated with negative influences, from gangs to movies (i.e. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a current favorite), and video games (i.e. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, another favorite). I would be delighted if my kids were enamored with Harry Potter. Not only because it would mean they were reading thousands of pages, but also because Harry and his cohorts are a good deal better role models than the aforementioned alternatives.
- In our modern, scientific world (especially in the West) I think it is harder to believe in what you can’t see than what you can. This may seem obvious, but in the Biblical world atheism was not really an option. The supernatural—demons, angels, God—were a given. Whether you were a Babylonian, Egyptian, or Hebrew, you believed in some sort of deity and an unseen world which was just as real, if not more real, than our world. In our age, the opposite is true. Because of modernity, truth needs to be proved analytically or empirically. We believe in what we can see, and even when we do believe in an unseen world, our actions would often lead an observer to believe that we think this world is where the real action happens. Fantasy creates a world that looks much more like the Biblical world than ours does. It creates a world charged with “magical” or ” extra-ordinary” power, where the unseen is more important than the seen. Harry Potter does this, and, as Isaac pointed out, Phillip Pullman, in His Dark Materials (another excellent fantasy series), also does this magnificently.
- Our world often seems mediocre, mushy, a steady trudging along of little excitements, minor annoyances, and depressing news stories. It hardly seems like a world where the Kingdom of God is making steady and sure advancement against the powers of hell. Fantasy creates a world of heaven vs. hell, good vs. evil, life vs. death. In fantasy the curtain is raised and we see that the world is charged with a battle between good and evil, and it really does matter with which side we ally. Harry Potter does this quite well, especially as the books progress. The battle between Lord Voldemort & his Death Eaters, who threaten to dominate and destroy both the magical community and the Muggles (non-magical folk), are in a battle against Harry Potter, his friends, Dumbledore, and all those who refuse to side with evil. Is Harry bringing the Kingdom of God? Of course not. Is J.K. Rowling reminding us that life is not necessarily so mundane as we are lulled into thinking? Yes.
- It makes good attractive—not an easy feat. Evil is often far more tantalizing, attractive, exciting, and intriguing. There’s plenty of books out there that either make good seem mediocre and weak while making evil seem fascinating and powerful. One of the things I like about Harry Potter and other good fantasy books (like Lord of the Rings) is that they make good look fascinating and delicious and evil look twisted and cruel. J.K. Rowling is able to make virtues like loyalty, friendship, and sacrifice attractive, and that’s something worth blogging about!
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince sold 6.9 million copies in the U.S. in the first 24 hours. Something about them is resonating with an awful lot of people. Sure, part of it is that they are fun mysteries, but there are lots of fun mysteries. I can’t help thinking there are other reasons for their popularity, including some of the ones I mentioned above.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Drew // Aug 7, 2005 at 8:37 pm
Hey Jason, good thoughts. I’m a Harry Potter fan myself. You should check out John Granger. He wrote an awesome book (with an unfortunate title, imo) called Looking for God in Harry Potter. He does an amazing job at placing her firmly in the tradition of English literature, especially with her extensive use of alchemical imagery and plot devices, probably even connecting the stories to the message of Christ, as the alchemical work (especially in Brit. Lit.) has been used as an allegory of Christ’s redemptive work.
I’m not as much a fan of Pullman, though. I’ve only read the first book in His Dark Materials, The Golden Compass, but I’ve read some interviews and there was an interesting article in Touchstone, I think, about him. His books have been compared to Lewis’s Narnia books, but he utterly hates that comparison, because he utterly hates the Narnia books. Makes sense, since he’s a militant atheist. He’s a good writer, very creative, but I kind of see him and Rowling on two opposite ends of a spectrum of “smuggled ideas” (I refer to the ideas that authors communicate to their readers through their stories). Pullman seems to be a kind of anti-Lewis.
Anyway, my two cents. Great thoughts in your post!
2 Jason // Aug 8, 2005 at 9:19 am
Thanks for weighing in Drew. I’ll have to check out the book you mentioned. I bought God, the Devil, and Harry Potter because it was on sale, but it turned out to be the flop (it was what I was thinking of when I referred to those who try to find Jesus under every rock in Harry Potter).
You’re right about Pullman, his atheism and agenda becomes more and more evident as the series progresses. I was turned on to his books because Isaac had sent me this interview between Rowan Williams and Pullman. However, after reading the article in Touchstone (I think this is the one you were referring to—it’s a great article BTW) I am reminded of how different Harry Potter and His Dark Materials are. I enjoyed Pullman because he presented a narrative of what life might look like and feel like as an atheist, something I had never really pondered. It also vividly displayed what the Church shouldn’t be: an authoritarian, power-hungry, organization. Given all this, I would be more wary of giving it to my kids than I would Harry Potter. But I think I would still read it with them if they wanted to, if only to help them flesh out how a Christian worldview is decidedly different than an atheistic or gnostic one.
3 Jorge // Sep 2, 2005 at 1:32 pm
Hi jason, i’ve been wondering here and there in your site and wanted to share just two or three thoughts, but before that, my english is not so good so don’t be too hard upon me on gramatics, my native language is spanish.
How did i get to rustyparts.com?
I needed to convert HTML to PDF, so that drove me to your scripts page, that HTML_ToPHP class, good job man!.
The strange thing was that i saw your Harry Potter blog entry combined with theological ideas and decide to give it a look.
So, what about Harry Potter?
I must say for the record, i have an atheistic point of view for almost everything, but before you make me an ugly face ( or you Drew ), i respect a lot what you both have said, because, i believe that in some point—even if it is in the feeling for a book—dispair believes—god-believers && non-believers—that have some common tastes, can low their defenses and speak as natural human beings.
That is, i think, the best feature of the HP book, it connects people, and from different ages too.
Anyway, great point of view and great php script too.
4 isaac // Sep 3, 2005 at 8:39 am
Jorge, gracias para su nota. Porfavor desculpame para mi espanol. No puedo escribir muy bien, pero voy a tratar. (Yo puedo hablar mas o menos bien, pero no puedo escribir para nada!). Bienvenido a el sitio de yo y Jason. Y usted puede escribir en espanol cuando quiere, si es mas facil. Yo necesito mas practica en su lengua.
Yo no he leido los libros de Harry Potter. Pero yo siento lo mismo que usted dices : “some common tastes [so we can lower] our defenses and speak as natural human beings.” Eso es importante para mi tambien. En nuestro mundo de violencia hay muchos rasones para division, para matar, para aborrecer los que son diferente. Entonces, es importante a buscar esos cosas que nos unen, los cosas que nos ayuda a ver que partimos en el mismo humanidad.
5 Jorge // Sep 8, 2005 at 8:27 am
Good job! your spanish is quite good and i understand how difficult can it be to write it
As a matter of fact, lets say that it is colsely related to what we were discussing, the gap between cultures is—IMHO —language, religion, knowledge and geographic distances. Each one with different kind of elements.
Books or movies like the HP series, which have been translated—and enjoyed without causing a brain storm to the readers/viewers—to many languages close this gap.
Hopefully, mankind will give birth to many more like J.K. and other excellent authors.
Saludos y hasta pronto!
No olviden darse una vuelta por mi blog empacarino.blogspot.com por si quieren practicar su español
6 Jiyu // Nov 19, 2006 at 4:31 am
Hi! I am a BIG fan of HP, and I’m also doing an informative Speech about it for my English subject.
Putting magic aside, I think that HP is like a kid’s guide to life. I read the books many times before and I have full confidence that it will be an effective tool for parents and teachers alike. It will teach youngsters (and probably remind the older ones) about life in school. Personally, it gave me a flashback. Like Hogwarts, my old high school has cliques, class rivalries, bullies and terror teachers. It also teaches kids love for their families (The Weasleys), unconditional love, death and acceptance, and the faults of our society.
Harry Potter is a mirror of our society. Some people doesn’t like it because it depicts what kind of world we’re living in. Those who think that Harry Potter is Evil should go back to the Middle Ages where they belong or better yet, get a hold of a sense of imagination.
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