HARRY POTTER book and movie series
“In the Christian community, Harry Potter has become something of a litmus test,” she said about both sides. ”One of the things I love about the whole Harry Potter phenomenon is that families are getting excited about reading books together.”
Not a Bad Series. One Christian who’s troubled by the Harry Potter debate is Mark Shea, an evangelical who became a Roman Catholic about twenty years ago. Shea recently published an essay, “Harry Potter and the Christian Critics,” on the weblog for First Things magazine. In this brisk essay, Shea confronts every major criticism aimed at the Potter series, including occultism, Gnosticism, irreligion and the death of God, and moral problems (such as Harry’s lying). Shea told the Journal he wrote the essay because “I’ve gotten tired of people talking as though your views on Harry Potter are an article of faith.”
Shea is especially pithy on charges of occultism. He writes,
The simple fact is this: The books are not occultic. Magic is not real, as Rowling repeatedly has had to state to interviewers who ask her if she “believes” in it. The magic of Harry is, as John Granger points out, “incantational,” not “invocational,” exactly like the magic of Gandalf. Born with the talent for magic, Gandalf says the magic words and fire leaps forth from his staff, just as from Harry’s wand. No principalities or powers are invoked in HP. Indeed, if any words are “invocational” they are the prayer to Elbereth and Gilthoniel uttered in Middle Earth. Yet nobody accuses Tolkien of promoting the worship of false gods. That’s because we understand Tolkien’s fictional sub-creation and its rootedness in Christian thought. I suggest Christian critics try to extend Rowling the same charity.
Shea’s essay makes clear that criticism of the Potter series is not limited to evangelical Protestants. Catholic novelist Michael O’Brien is a proponent of the view that the Potter series actually is an elaborate Gnostic myth. Shea counters: “Dumbledore’s consolation to Harry is that ‘it is our choices’—far more than our abilities—that really matter. And Harry’s choices concern, not ‘secret knowledge,’ but deeply human things such as love, mercy, forgiveness, courage, loyalty, and fidelity. None of this is gnostic.”
“It’s very disturbing to me, as a Catholic, to see Catholics not getting it,” Shea told the Journal. Shea believes nevertheless that evangelicals bear some of the responsibility for anti-Potter arguments. “I think there’s a fear of the Incarnation out there,” he said. “If you let characters be what they are, rather than pitchmen for the Four Spiritual Laws, you’re getting off the program.”
What’s the Trouble With Harry? Shea said he too felt some caution when he first heard about the Potter series. “I was a typical parent when the books first came out,” he said, recalling his initial response as, “Another book about witches—great. But I read the first book, and at about three chapters into it I decided that this was nothing to worry about.”
Ten years after Rowling’s first novel appeared, with her last Potter novel completed and the film series trotting along at an efficient pace, Shea said he hopes believers will not only show Christian charity toward the author, but toward one another. He shudders at the thought of how many anti-Potter books have been written by Christians. “People are going to be reading the Potter books in a hundred years,” he said, and when they see anti-Potter books, they’re most likely to ask, “What was that all about?”
Mark’s Analysis: I loved the books and read and watched them with my kids. I saw more of the Christian parallels than my kids did. Such as Love is the greatest power in the universe. Plot to overcome evil one. The struggles of families, school, games, choices having consequences, overcoming evil, helping friends, honor, trust, giving, revenge, bitterness, hate, greed, etc. Its all there. Good vs Evil packed in a great story and great characters. The way I see it; Those who actually watch it or read it see the good in it.; Neutral people know nothing of it except what they hear and should not make judgment unless they read it themselves. All others fall into a category I call :Legalistic critics - who have their own agendas ahead of time and don’t really let themselves get into the characters and just enjoy the movies; they see what they want to see – a bad evil book/movie. I pity them.
Abraham Lincoln put it this way: “If you look the for the bad in mankind, you will surely find it.”
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