THE Anglican communion should learn lessons from Harry Potter, a senior religious figure urged yesterday.
The Bishop of St Davids, Carl Cooper, said the Christian virtues of humility, respect and love portrayed in the stories about the teenage wizard should be replicated within the church.
But the religious world last night remained divided about the influence of the hugely popular series of books and films, with one Welsh evangelist describing them as a “doorway to the occult”.
The seventh and final book in the Potter saga ”“ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ”“ will be released tomorrow, with anticipation around the world reaching fever pitch among the character’s army of followers. To make the most of demand, Asda will be selling it for £5 a copy, the retailer said last night.
UPDATE:
WARNING! There are spoilers in the comments!
I think most folks have been careful to note any spoilers in advance. But for those who’ve not yet read the book who are trying to remain unaware of the ending, read the latter comments below only at your own risk! –elfgirl
For my part, I simply cannot understand why so many Christians are arrayed against Harry. My family and I love the books and have derived several fruitful hours of discussion from them.
I, too, have read all the Harry Potter books after listening to our young choir master rave about them. Truthfully, I found nothing at all objectionable in them. I regret that my four children were adults before the series began, but I look forward to my grandchildren enjoying them. I have my # 7 reserved! ; >)
I can’t either, Anglicanum. Happily, though, the naysayers are very few in the grand scheme of things. I live in the buckle of the Bible belt and one of the local Baptist universities invited prospective students to an early showing of the latest HP movie, which they had arranged with the movie studio. One person wrote a brief letter condemning it and he was inundated by responses to the contrary.
I don’t think that these folks who are lashing out at the series have read even one of the books. If they have, then they had very poor instruction in metaphor and motif!
P.S. There is a good book entitled Looking for God in Harry Potter by John Granger.
Here’s a teaser: “…the plot, themes and symbols in the Potter books are amazingly consistent with a Christian worldview-and entirely opposite from the naturalistic, materialistic worldview that prevails today.”
Indeed, the theme of love overcoming evil is so powerful in the HP series — isn’t that the story of the Resurrection? (Suggested addition: [u]The Gospel According to Harry Potter[/u] by Connie Neal, which also addresses objections to the HP stories in a sound, faithful way.
#7 should be on my doorstep tomorrow morning! Good thing Sunday’s sermon is already written! 🙂
Well, teatime, I guess I fall into one of the “naysayer’s are very few in the grand scheme of things†people. But I have read one of the books and seen part of one of the movies and have read very little of others critics of the series. Have heard a few Christian radio discussions about the witchcraft portrayed therein which with just a little personal researching on the internet has me greatly concerned. My little research revealed how realistic Rowlings has been. The daily scripture readings in Acts recently show just how dangerous occult practices are in the spiritual realm for Christians. The witchcraft practices shown in the series are portrayed accurately as to how it is done in real life. I also have a friend, now a Christian, who came from being deeply involved in New Age and occult practices who has told me she suffered grave effects in her life participating in some of the more obscure occult practices used by the characters in these stories. I would much rather ere on the side of being a party pooper than expose my spirit to something questionable in the occult area.
She was fine as long as she was writing childrens’ book. At some point, she decided that she was a Great Writer – about book four – and the books went downhill fast. They are page turners to be sure, but her writing is crude and incomptent if we measure her against skillful novelists. The last three have obviously been written to be turned into scripts for movies. This is all too bad, for when she started Harry, she had no need to worry about verisimilitude, character development, plot construction and all that techinical stuff. She just shot from the hip, and refused to take herself or her topic seriously. The results speak for themselves. The kids could hardly care that she was unable to move a plot along unless Harry was eavesdropping on crucial conversations at crucial times and under incredible circumstances. Then she began to take herself seriously, and the result was book five. This last one should be a page turner because everyone wants to know what happens to Voldemort, but the writing will be stilted puffed up and gimmicky .
It will be turned into a movie and she willmake another trillion bucks. Still, the lesson is as it always is, nothing fails like success.
As to people who read the Poter books and look for Christian motives, manners, symbols and pot de creme…..well, they need a real day job, something that will keep them busy. LM
I agree the quality of the Potter books has gone down steadily in the last several installments, and have grown steadily darker.
However, thus far I haven’t seen anything that offends my Christian sensibilities. Indeed, Rowling has thrown in a substantial number of allusions to the writings of both C.S. Lewis (for example, there are some striking similarites in how the centaurs are portrayed in the Chronicles of Narnia and in the Potter stories) and Tolkien (Dumbledore = Gandalf? ; and will Dumbledore be resurrected as a new person “as through fire and water” in the last book?) I have seen neither Lewis nor Tolkien villified because their writings contain witches, wizards and magical creatures.
This is the new Church of England book fo youth:
http://www.chpublishing.co.uk/product.asp?id=2393506
People complain occasionally about the darker tone of the latter books, but Rowling has said since the beginning that the whole series was planned before a word of it was written. Her plotting wasn’t mercenary, as #7 seems to imply.
Personally, I’ve appreciated the opportunity to talk with my children about the nature of true evil and the insidiousness of sin, as well as the meaning of heroism and the price of love. I read a lot, both literary and genre fiction, and it strikes me sometimes how wooden the ‘bad guy’ is. But no one reading Harry Potter (especially as we embark on the seventh book) can claim Lord Voldemort/Tom Riddle is an abstraction. He’s a fully formed character, tragically invested in his actions and fully justified in his own mind in every move he makes.
I agree with Anglicanum — I appreciate greatly the tackling of the subject of evil and darkness. While I would never read book five to a 10 year old, I think it is entirely appropriate for a 15-year-old. Rowling has been masterful in her growing up Potter to those readers who are growing up with him.
I don’t think I would have read the books, though, had they not gotten progressively more serious.
#8 Jim the Puritan says:
It has happened, at least with Lewis. See, um, here for an example.
For the first time in a couple of generations, boardings schools are considered cool; particularly if they look like Hogwaarts, which many do.
I just finished book 7. No spoilers. But let’s just say — wow.
And it only took me from 11:00am until 7:22 PM to finish it, and that long only because I had to break for lunch and dinner with the family.
Some revelations from Book 7:
Hermione finally confronts Harry and Ron on the question everyone has been asking. When forced to choose between them, she reveals that she has long had a crush on Prof. Flitwick. “Boys,” she says, “size isn’t everything.”
We discover that Snape goes home every night, replaces his black robe with chinos, a polo shirt, and trainers, and listens to classical swing jazz. “I just love Louis Armstrong,” he says. “He just makes you happy to be alive.”
It turns out that Dumbledore is not dead after all. The year begins with Hagrid walking in the Hall at the beginning of the Sorting Hat Ceremony carrying Dumbledore’s limp form. Unexpectedly, Dumbledore lifts his head, and manages to croak out, “I’m not dead yet. I’m feeling better.”
LibraryJim, I read it in a similar period (including fixing supper for my family with the book in one hand…)
I agree, no spoilers, and wow. But I found a few things disappointing, one in particular that I am NOT going to specify right now ’cause one wants others to have a chance to finish.
William,
one you forgot:
voldemort is revealed in a particularly heart-wrenching scene to be Harry’s FATHER:
during the wand duel:
Harrry: You killed my father!
V: No, Harry, I AM your father.
Harry: Impossible! Dumbledore said you killed him!
V: No, Harry, Dubledore lied to you. search your feelings, you know I am telling the truth! Join me in the dark arts, and together we can rule the world!
Harry: NOOOOOOOO!
NWO
E-mail me!
I always read the last chapter first.
Setapart:
Interesting that in Rowling’s world, one must be born with magical abilities, one cannot ‘acquire’ them if one is born a ‘muggle’ or non-magical human. So the idea that it promotes people to experiment with witchcraft is blown out of the water there.
Also, Wiccans in the British Isles have been complaining that the ‘witchcraft’ in the books is NOT portrayed accurately, and they are urging a boycot of the books on that premise (or at least this was back when the books were still new, around book 3, I think)! In fact, most of the ‘spells’ are simply latin words (e.g. to make light, the word ‘lumnos’ is used!), but again, if one is not born with the ability, nothing would happen when the spell was spoken.
A good critical essay from the point of view of literature, and from a Christian POV, in favor of HP, can be found at the [url=http://www.cornerstonemag.com/imaginarium/features/muggle.html]Cornerstone magazine[/url] website. It’s a bit intellectual, but worth wading through. Also click on the links in the sidebar for further links from the magazine’s staff on the movies and fantasy in Christian literature in general.
Peace
Jim Elliott <>< P.S. NewTrollObserver, Reading the ending first won't help in this case, as the journey truly is necessary for the destination to make sense.
This is something I’ve noticed too, LibraryJim.
This analogy is a bit tortured but I’ve used it before: it seems to me that the Wizarding World is sort of ‘left-handed.’ In the real world, one is either right-handed or one is left-handed (leave out the truly ambidextrous for now): in Rowling’s world, one is either magical or one is not. In a right-handed world, it’s as though all the lefties got together and created an entirely left-handed culture, which looks and sounds and smells like the right-handed world, but has its own particular spin on reality. And then, in order to preserve that world from those who can’t (or won’t) understand, they hide it behind walls.
Seen in that way, I can’t understand why a Christian would object. Magic in Rowling’s world is as innate as being left-handed. The point of forbidding magic in the ‘real world’ is that it signals a desire to be one’s own god, to worship other deities instead of the God of Israel. But these people haven’t made that choice, because they were simply born that way. So no ‘devil worship’ is even implied here.
Seen in that way, I find the whole thing fairly sinister (pun intended).
Library Jim, that scene you quoted in #17 sounds awfully like …. well, Star Wars.
Or was that a Joke? Sheepish grin, if so. I haven’t read any of the Potter books.
sherri,
NO! :bug:
🙂 :cheese:
Just trying to thow people off the track!
:coolsmile:
Well, if you’re going to doubt libraryjim’s version, you might as well doubt mine (#15). But that just means you’ll be very surprised when you read the chapter where Snape and Prof. McGonagle win the Lindy Hop contest.
shhhh! William! Don’t give too much away!
All right, it’s late enough that I think I can drop a very small spoiler: I really, really don’t like the fact that the Good Guys occasionally use unforgivable curses on the Bad Guys in moments of Righteous Anger, with no consequences. (Nothing goes wrong that can be traced back to the decision to use an Unforgivable.) I understand that one of the points of the book is to bring out the fact that, as Solzhenitsyn said, the line between good and evil runs through every human heart. But if the Unforgivables are really evil (and that’s been what the series has been saying, up ’till now — “No unforgivable curses from you, Potter!”), to use one without consequences seems inconsistent.
The other problem I had is too much of a spoiler, so I’ll share it with LJ by E-mail.
In order for me to finish “Deathly Hallows,” I have to read “Sorcerer’s Stone” and all the rest first. So no rush on my part to get the last book . . .
#6 — uh, I think you’d have to read more than the first book to make the charge that you do. The “magic” isn’t what guarantees success or failure and it’s not a theme of the books. Sacrificial love, courage, moral decision-making and growth, and mercy are the themes. These are complex books, and any young person reading them would be very alert to the problems and pitfalls of making bad moral decisions.
This last book has overtly Christian themes and understandings, as even the secular press is recognizing. I finished it in the wee hours of the morning — I was really hit by the remorse/repentance bits. The book does a super job with its discussion of evil and resistance of bad tendencies.
OK, so I’ve carefully not read any of the comments above to avoid any “spoilers.” I waited in line a the local Wal-Mart for an hour Friday night to get [i]Deathly Hallows[/i] in spite of the fact that my wife and teenage children were all out East visiting [grand]parents and I’m living on leftovers and coldcuts until they return.
Having finished [i]Deathly[/i] — ahead of my 16-year-old daughter, for once, which will annoy her, but then nearly everything does — I have to say that it’s very well written, has no real surprises, and presupposes the same pop-Christian metaphysics as the rest of the books do. (I keep wondering how on earth Christians could object to a series of fantasy novels whose major theme is the disfigurement of the soul by cruelty and murder — where “soul” is a concept understood in a way indistinguishable from that of first-century Judaism or even [gasp!] Christianity.)
If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you won’t be disappointed. If you’re not, you need to read the earlier books first — as you do to understand the movies, which sometimes put a hundred or so pages of exposition into a two-minute scene.
[[ Possible mild spoiler ]]
Ms Rowling seems to have run into the problem that other writers have found — the complexity of the buildup would require too much narrative space to fully resolve — so she has a “Harry and Albus in Somewhere” scene, in the fine English literary tradition of Shaw’s “Don Juan in Hell” interlude in Man and Superman. It’s a fine substitute for her usual semifinal scenes between Harry and Dumbledore, which typically have much important (if once commonplace) moral wisdom to impart.
Perhaps the whole series — rousing good stories — could be summarized by the old joke:
“God (and with Him Dumbledore) is dead!” — Nietzsche [or Voldemort]
“Nietzsche (and Voldemort) are both dead!” — God and Dumbledore
If you’re hooked on Harry, the book won’t disappoint. If you’re not, you shouldn’t be wasting your time with this thread anyway…
Craig Goodrich
[blockquote]my wife and
teenage children were all out East visiting [grand]parents and I’m living on leftovers and coldcuts until they return.[/blockquote]
This is deeply sad and un-Anglican. Seize this opportunity to get together with some friends, go out and have a seriously good time. Sad that I am not closer.
Craig Goodrich,
You weren’t surprised by the revelations about Dumbledore? I was, even while I fully understand why it was done.
Don’t worry, non-HP fans. Dumbledore doesn’t come out of the closet with his house elf and demand to be ordained, LOL!
Teatime,
[b][[Spoiler warning]][/b]
The most fascinating aspect of the entire “revelations about Dumbledore” subplot was its incredibly obvious Christian anthropology. Notice the temptation to power, the loss of control (costing his sister’s life), the remorse (a term used repeatedly, and uniquely, in DH — and note that only “remorse” can reintegrate a soul fragmented by the use of horcruxes), the recognition of pride and self-interest (both traditionally among the Deadly Sins) as moral failings, and so on.
Yes, I found the Dumbledore revelations surprising and, aware as I am of our lunatic Media Culture, was prepared to believe it was all an invention of the Daily Prophet. But Ms Rowling didn’t take the easy way out, and produced a substantially more ethically profound book instead.
As I say, well worth reading, but read the rest of the series first.
[b]SPOILER![/b]
LOL, Craig, I didn’t trust the quill of Rita Skeeter, either! But now we understand that touch of sadness in Dumbledore and his patience and admiration of Harry’s humility and choices.
I was so impressed at the orthodox values and teachings re-emphasized in this book, particularly the bit about remorse and the pain of repentance required to heal the soul. She also did a fabulous job emphasizing each character’s unique gifts and how they are valuable in facing evil. I found it beautiful how the students retained their innocence in evil times, as well. My favorite character is Neville, such a sweet soul who truly suffered.