There’s a great post of a letter by the author of the Baby Blue Cafe written to a member of a the church she attends explaining why she believes it’s possible to be both Christian and a fan of the Harry Potter books.
Here’s just a bit:
“I read the books and realized that the ‘magic’ in them was in line with the magic in Tolkien and CS Lewis and Shakespeare (i.e., The Tempest, Hamlet, Macbeth). It was a literary device and what was really astonishing were that the themes were the themes of Jane Austin and CS Lewis as well. I read a book called ‘Finding God in Harry Potter’ (and it’s earlier version called ‘The Hidden Keys in Harry Potter’) and actually took a class from the author, John Granger which led me to be one of his readers during the writing of his latest book. His thesis is that JK Rowling is a modern-day ‘Inkling’ (the name of the group that included CS Lewis and Tolkien as well as others) and that she is writing a Christian-inspired story. I think he’s right – though we won’t know for sure until we read the final book in the series which is coming out this summer.
What is spiritual warfare really like? What is the difference between the nature of good and evil? How are people redeemed? How are they saved? I could go on and on – the books are rich with Christian imagery – in fact, ‘Gryffindor’ which is Harry Potter’s ‘house’ at his school is a Christian symbol. JK Rowling is no fan of Philip Pulman (and his books) and there are rumors that one of her characters may be based on him (it’s not a very nice character). He is hostile to Christianity and is an atheist. Jo Rowling has been clear that she’s a Christian (though what kind of Christian we don’t yet know). The ‘secular left’ in the UK are now very troubled by her writings – which depicts traditional family roles and historic Christian themes found in historic British Literature – themes, as I mentioned earlier, are covered by authors – Christian authors, such as Jane Austin, Charlotte Bronte, CS Lewis, and Dortothy Sayers.”
As someone who has gone down with his daughter to pre-order the last book of the series, and who’s read and listened the stories a number of times, I urge you to read the rest here if you’ve wondered about people like me: Why Harry Potter?
(Via BabyBlueOnline.)
