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The Gospel in Epic Literature: The Harry Potter Series

Pastor’s Study | November 11, 2009 | Rev. Doug Pratt
 

A brief recap of The Gospel in Epic Literature
Week 1: We looked at a four-book British epic about a parallel world to ours, with creatures caught in a great struggle between good and evil, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance, called The Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkien.

Week 2: We studied a seven-book British epic about a parallel world to ours, with creatures caught in a great struggle between good and evil, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance, called The Chronicles of Narnia, by CS Lewis.

Week 3: We look at a seven-book British epic about a parallel world to ours, with creatures caught in a great struggle between good and evil, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance, called the Harry Potter series, by JK Rowling.

JK Rowling and the Literary Phenomenon
The Harry Potter series is the publishing success story of our times. An obscure unpublished Scottish author released her first novel in 1997 (after being rejected by 12 publishers), and today the books have sold over 400 million copies worldwide, the author is a billionaire, and is one of the most famous citizens of the British Isles.

Who is this literary shooting star? Her name is Joanne Rowling, now 44 years old (she agreed to use the pen name “J.K. Rowling” on the advice of her publisher, who feared that prospective male readers would be less attracted to a book written by a woman). She was an unemployed single mother on welfare in Edinburgh who worked in her spare time when not job-hunting on a series of books that she first dreamed up in 1990. Her own life experience has included years spent in British boarding schools, the death of her mother when she was young, and a bout of clinical depression — all of which have echoes in the Harry Potter story. She earned a degree in classics, English and French at the University of Exeter; then taught English in Portugal after graduation. While living there she was swept off her feet by a dashing Portuguese man who married her (and with whom she had a daughter), but he asked for a divorce less than two years after the marriage. Returning to Scotland to rebuild her broken life, she completed her first novel and found an agent to represent her.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was finally published by Bloomsbury in the UK in 1997 and by Scholastic in the US in 1998. The final of the seven books, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published in 2007 (it sold 11 million copies in 24 hours!). The first six books have been made into box-office-smash hit films, most recently #6 released in July 2009. The final book will be portrayed in two films, with planned releases in 2010 and 2011.

It is always hard to judge whether or not a work of art or literature or music will prove to be a “classic” when it’s first created; it usually takes generations to tell if something “has legs” or not. Many books that were popular when they were first written are today ignored; other books that were not initially a commercial success have gone on to be regarded as great works of literature. While the coming generations will decide if the Harry Potter series is to continue its popularity or be forgotten, I believe that it has the elements that will make it a classic.

Key Questions and Objections to the Series
Are the Harry Potter books just for children?
My answer is “NO.” The high quality of Rowling’s writing (style, characters, intricate plot, creative elements) indicates that these books should be considered as adult literature. In my youth I developed a love for reading when I discovered such classics as Treasure Island and Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson — another Scot — and found them thrilling precisely because they were great literature. I also loved Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, which were considered by many as children’s literature when they were first written by Mark Twain, but now are ranked among the greats of American lit.

Libraries and schools have recognized the increasing maturity of the books and those who enjoy them. (I discovered a few months ago that in the Bonita Springs Public Library the first five books are catalogued in “youth fiction,” but the last two in “adult fiction” — a recognition by the librarians that the books are not “just for kids”.) The themes that the Harry Potter books deal with are the biggest themes of all, and rank as worthy of the best adult fiction.

The initial impression some readers have had that the books are juvenile may come from fact that the main characters are 11-18 year olds in a Scottish boarding school, and they deal with life from an accurate perspective of youth growing through various trials into adulthood. Why should adults read them? Because we can all relate (we have all been in junior high); and as much as we think we’ve outgrown all the issues and temptations and emotions of our youth, it’s not necessarily so.

The reasons why the book delights kids are same reasons many adults have gotten “hooked”: they have exceptional and vivid character development, brilliant and engaging twists of the plot (one literary critic compares her technique favorably to that of Jane Austen, a master at presenting the world through the eyes of one character, and then surprising her readers with new developments and twists). Certainly some readers — children and adults — have focused only on the imaginary magic and the exciting adventures in the plot, and have missed the underlying messages in the books. That’s typical in all great literature: it can be read at many levels.

Are the Harry Potter books spiritually dangerous and subversive, glorifying the occult and evil?
My answer is “NO.” Early Christian critics, when the first book came out, branded it as dangerous and warned Christian parents to keep their children away for fear that they would become sucked into witchcraft and magic. (Unfortunately, the tendency of conservatives is often to attack anything new. Many conservative pastors in 1939 and 1940 rejected the film The Wizard of Oz as teaching dangerous witchcraft to American youth!) These attacks by Christians were hard on Jo Rowling, who is a Scottish Presbyterian Christian. But she decided not to publicly defend herself or describe her faith in too much detail (for fear that secular people would then avoid her books, and would not receive the message contained in them).

One contemporary scholar has summed up Rowling’s place within world literature as follows: “Ms. Rowling writes in the great tradition of symbolist literature, beginning with Chaucer and Dante, and continuing in modern times in the fantasy writings of George MacDonald, G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien.” In this tradition we find that magical and supernatural elements are woven together with the natural to present a world view that is beyond, and in direct refutation of, the narrow and closed world view of modern thought and enlightenment. The longings all humans have felt for something beyond the five senses and the explanations of logic and scientific experiments are met by these works of fiction — and they point to the greater facts that underlie the universe.

Far from encouraging children to dabble in dangerous occult practices, the thrust of all the Harry Potter books is to reject the underlying sins and mistakes of the New Age and Occult practices. The evil characters make those kinds of choices; the good characters reject them out of higher moral principles and values. While the author does not write a supreme Being into the story, she has extensively drawn on biblical verses (several direct quotes) and images, as well as weaving the story of Christ’s death and resurrection throughout the seven books unmistakably.

A final bit of evidence for the Christian message of Harry Potter is found in the increasingly muted reactions and dampened enthusiasm of openly secular and anti-Christian educators to the obvious Christian message and values as the series progressed. Some who were extremely positive about the first few books have now become uncomfortable and awkward in recommending them to school children (they are finally realizing how subversive to their own world-view the books are!).

The Story
This is a 7-year long tale about a young boy growing up from the ages of 11 through 18. Though he goes through many of the rites of passage of anyone that age, Harry Potter is not an ordinary boy, and his journey and challenges are quite remarkable — with consequences that change the future of his world. The setting is a boarding school in Scotland. Though it has teachers and students in it with a typical wide range of personalities, and its own internal culture, rules and pecking-order, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry is not an ordinary school.

Joanne Rowling has imagined and fleshed out an “alternative society” existing within modern Britain, populated by men and women who are born with the ability to use magical powers. This society exists in purposeful secrecy, completely unknown to the mainstream society known as “Muggles” (or non-magical people). People are either born as magical or not — you cannot learn magic. Some born with magical powers have parents who are wizards/witches, some come from “mixed” parentage, and some are born to two “muggles.”

In this alternative world (which is every bit as much a parallel world as Tolkien’s Middle Earth or Lewis’s Narnia), Rowling has invented incredible magical powers (charms, curses, hexes, and potions) along with using a vast array of mythological elements. Everything that we have ever heard from European mythology about the “paranormal” is included: flying broomsticks, giants and trolls and elves and unicorns and ghosts and goblins, magic wands, etc. The ancient and the very modern are woven together seamlessly: the “Ministry of Magic” is a typical 21st century bureaucracy; yet communication is not by phone and internet but by magical owls that carry messages. In addition to adapting ancient mythology and modern society, Rowling has invented completely out of her own imagination many new aspects of the magical world — including their favorite sport, “Quidditch” (a game like soccer or rugby, but played in the air on flying broomsticks), and has adapted classical Latin to invent hundreds of spells and incantations. Though the world she describes is completely made-up and fictional, the more time you spend in the Harry Potter books the more real it becomes, because of her skills as a writer and storyteller.

The Plot in a Broad Overview
Harry Potter receives by magical owl an invitation on his 11th birthday to enroll in Hogwarts School for the fall term. Harry is an orphan, whose parents were both killed ten years earlier. He has been living under the care (and abuse) of his uncle and aunt who are acting as step-parents. Harry does not know that he is a wizard (as were his parents), for his uncle and aunt are “muggles.” Harry is initiated into the alternative wizarding world, and in the process discovers his past and his destiny. Each book begins with the start of the school year in August and ends with the conclusion of the school year in June.

During the year he attends his classes and does his homework, develops friends and enemies among his classmates, plays sports, discovers girls, and has many elements that are comparable to a normal boyhood at a boarding school. But he also, each school year, faces terrifying fears, mortal enemies, and an intimidating challenge he must overcome or survive. Each year his ultimate enemy becomes stronger and his self-awareness grows deeper.

The story builds to a dramatic climax in Book 7 (the biblical number of completion!), in which the fate of the entire wizarding world hangs in the balance, and the choices Harry makes will determine the future for everyone in that world. I don’t want to give away the story for those who haven’t read it, but the parallel to the story of Christ is so obvious that any 8-year old would have difficulty missing it.

The Main Characters
In the well-known and popular Star Wars epic films — especially in the original trilogy filmed in the 1970’s — we find the four classic characters of great literature: The Hero (Luke Skywalker), the Villain (Darth Vader), the Mentors (Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda), and the Sidekicks (Han Solo, Princess Leia and the Droids). That same structure is carried over into the Harry Potter epic.

• The Hero (or protagonist): Harry Potter
  Harry Potter is the one through whom all the books view the world. He is called “The Boy Who Lived,” and later “The Chosen One.” His parents were killed by the evil power, but his mother’s self-sacrifice caused the killing curse to rebound off Harry and strike his attacker. What remained was a scar shaped like a lightning bolt on his forehead, and a most unique set of powers and destiny. Only Harry is able to save the wizarding world, which is threatened by …
• The Villain (or antagonist): Lord Voldemort
  Lord Voldemort, the most powerful and evil wizard of his age, who sets himself on a ego-driven and maniacal drive to world domination through every ruthless means. At the beginning of the series Voldemort has lost his body, but his evil spirit still lives by inhabiting others. Gradually he gains a body, brings more and more followers under his command, takes over the government, and threatens total conquest (picture Adolf Hitler and his rapid, violent climb to power).
• The Mentor: Professor Albus Dumbledore
  Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, is nearly as powerful in his magical skills as Voldemort. Dumbledore protected Harry on his parents’ death, guides Harry slowly and gradually to learn the truth of his background and destiny, and teaches Harry his mission in life. [Spoiler alert!] Dumbledore dies at the end of Book 6, leaving Harry alone to try to complete his work … except that he is not completely alone, for he has …
• The Sidekicks: Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger
  Harry’s closest comrades (and classmates) — Ron & Hermione — share with Harry and support him in all of his tasks and challenges throughout the seven books.

The Secondary Characters
The books are filled with a wide range of minor characters, many of whom carry significant plot lines and developments. Among the minor characters are:

• Harry’s aunt, uncle and cousin (the only consistent Muggle characters)
• Professors at Hogwarts, including Snape, Hagrid, McGonigle, Quirrell, Lupin, Moody, Umbridge, and Slughorn
• Fellow students at Hogwarts, including Neville, Luna, and rival Draco Malfoy (as well as Malfoy’s evil parents)
• Ron Weasley’s family (who unofficially adopt Harry), including five brothers, a sister and parents
• Harry’s godfather, Sirius Black
• House elves Dobby and Kreacher
• Various prominent people in the magical world, including Ministers of Magic, reporters for “The Daily Prophet” magical newspaper, and magical shopkeepers

The Moral and Spiritual Lessons in Harry Potter
Youth or adults who read the Harry Potter books carefully and with discernment will learn profound lessons that apply to the world we live in (the “muggle” world). As in the imaginary universes of Tolkien and Lewis, in Rowling’s world there is true good and true evil, and the moral choices characters make determine their own destiny and others around them. There is nothing of the “post-modern” concept that there is not “right and wrong.” In this sense, all of the Epics are rooted in a biblical worldview.

The natural and the supernatural are both real and interact with one another. Ego and power are the greatest temptations that are faced. The only force that can truly triumph over these is love and self-sacrifice. Power when seized can only corrupt. Inner and personal purity is necessary to accomplish a good purpose.

The characters in the Harry Potter stories move from naiveté and childishness to maturity and understanding; this is a common theme in much of great literature (the journey to maturity or discovery). In the final book Harry loses his childhood faith completely, goes through a period of doubt, and then comes back to faith in a mature adult form — much stronger for having faced his doubts. (This may be Rowling’s own spiritual journey, as it was that of C.S. Lewis.)

As the books get more mature and “darker”, death becomes an unavoidable reality. Many of the good characters die in the course of the books (as do evil ones), and death is not made light of or wished away with platitudes. The final book completes all the themes raised in early books, including a dramatic scene of death and resurrection.

The foolishness of ultimate evil is portrayed by Lord Voldemort’s demise. Just as Christian scholars have pointed out the foolishness of Satan in presuming to conquer Christ via the cross (and thus unintentionally providing the means of his ultimate defeat and the salvation of humans), so Voldemort’s blunders are shown as coming out of ignorance and arrogance. As Dumbledore repeatedly tells Harry, “The Dark Lord does not understand the power of love.”

Christian symbolism and biblical references are found subtly woven through the books, especially Book 7. The climactic chapter occurs at “King’s Cross” train station in London — a name Rowling has commented seemed most appropriate to her, as it was the King of Kings who won the ultimate victory for the human race on a Cross.

For more insights into this epic series, you may wish to purchase (or borrow from a library) one of the best books of literary criticism and analysis of J.K.Rowling: Finding God in Harry Potter by John Granger.