Book: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (American Edition 1998; first published in Great Britain as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 1997)
Author: J K Rowling (1965-)
Connection with ABC-TV’s LOST: The official LOST website links the book to episode 117, “…in Translation.” Hurley comments on Sawyer wearing the glasses he found: “Dude, looks like someone steamrolled Harry Potter.” Harry Potter is trained in a school hidden from the outside world, much as the island is also hidden.
Review of the Book
Shortly after the last Harry Potter book was published, Joanne [alias J. K.] Rowling talked about the Christian imagery in the series. (See MTV’s article “‘Harry Potter’ Author J.K. Rowling Opens Up About Books’ Christian Imagery.”) From the beginning, Rowling dealt with Christian themes. But some Christians, worried that the books promoted the occult, have condemned, or strongly warned against the series. (See this article in The Christian Post.)
Fewer Christians have problems with the “magic” in JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. But, it seems to me that the Christian themes in Middle-earth are more hidden than they are in Rowling’s Hogwarts.
One overarching theme that many Christians can relate to in the book is the feeling of being an outsider. In his Muggle home, Harry’s Aunt and Uncle treat him with disdain, and try to suppress any “magic” tendencies they see in him. Even at school, Harry’s fame isolates him when other students either distance themselves out of awe of him, or attack him out of jealousy. And there are Snape’s prejudices against him because of the animosity between Snape and Harry’s father. But much of Harry’s persecution complex is misdirected, as he will eventually find out.
Along the way, there are other lessons to be learned that mirror the Christian faith. When Harry arrives at the train station, he is mocked by his guardians because there is no Platform Nine and Three-quarters, from which he is to begin his journey to Hogwarts. But not everything that is real is visible. In what some would call a “leap of faith,” Harry is able to gain access to the magical Hogwarts train. But he is not alone; he is able to get instruction from those who are experienced and willing to help. The example of others taking “the leap” helps him get to the other side.
Christians were not meant to make the journey alone, and the friendships Harry establishes are important if he is to be all he is destined to be. Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley have disparate talents that are needed to get to the Sorcerer’s Stone before it gets into the wrong hands. (The need for this type of diversity in the “body of Christ” is emphasized by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 12.)
Harry, Ron and Hermione decide to break the rules in order to save the world from Voldemort. My conservative nature is disturbed by the fact that the heroes are expected to break the rules in order to accomplish their task. Dumbledore even goes so far as to give Harry the means to break the rules without getting caught. Is this attitude toward rule-breaking consistent with the teachings of Christ?
Christianity, in many ways, started out as a dissent against authority. But, although many of the traditions of the religious leadership were rejected, Christ and the Apostles still taught that these leaders were to be respected. Even though Caesar was not to be worshiped as a god, his government was still to be respected. Only when the authorities commanded something contrary to what God had commanded were they to be disobeyed.
Was Harry Potter wrong to disobey the rules? At the first, I think he was. In writing the novel, we cannot fault J K Rowling for portraying juveniles breaking the rules. That is reality. But finding clues for a crime does not justify the policeman who broke the law to obtain the evidence, even if the outcome is good.
In our struggle against evil, we must remember that the struggle is also within ourselves. It is easy to get distracted from what really matters, as Harry did when he looked into the Mirror of Erised, which showed him his deepest longing. For those who know the series at all, you know Harry’s desires are fulfilled at the end of the last book. But he had a long way to go, and much to learn before then.
So do we.
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May 25th, 2009 at 9:22 am
Although I think you’ve made a gallant effort, assigning any Christian values to this series is a stretch, if not an impossibility. Certainly, non-Christians have the capability to be decent people, showing common courtesy and kindness and even faith (in something, if not God). When these principals appear in works like Harry Potter, I assign them more to general humanity having the capacity for decency, not Christian values and principals. Seems like doing the latter is really trying to put the “OKAY” stamp on something that intrinsically is spiritually harmful and dangerous. Lewis and Tolkein wrote their masterpieces with deeper spiritual and societal purposes. Their characterization and imagery, however questionable, at least is allegorical. Not so sure what Rowling’s deeper purposes are with this series, aside from entertainment. I have serious doubts as to whether they are even positive. Certainly not Godly!
May 25th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Thank you for leaving your comments, Anonymous. My short review was not meant to be a comprehensive analysis of Rowling’s spirituality or purpose. I do, however, take her at her word when she says that she intentionally put Christian imagery into the series from the beginning. And I stand by my statement that such imagery is much less hidden than the Christian themes in Tolkien’s Middle-earth. Tolkien intentionally hid most of the Christian images in his works.
That is not to say that Rowlings does not present any difficulties when it comes to Christianity. I briefly described one of the difficulties above, and the article on the MTV website I link shows that her Christianity is shaky at best. But, Tolkien has problems of his own. (See our general editor Greg Wright’s book Tolkien in Perspective.) Even Lewis sounds heretical in several passages of his fiction.
And I dare say that there is danger in Tolkien’s Middle-earth. There are occult books that have been written based upon Tolkien’s mythology.
As Christians, we are to view life with a positive perspective (Philippians 4:8), and treat everyone with love. In Paul’s description of love in 1 Corinthians 13, he includes the phrase “love … does not impute evil” (literal translation). Love assumes that what people are telling us is the truth, and does not impugn their motives without hard evidence.
Certainly we need to approach anything we read, or watch, with caution. But there is always room for finding the gold even in the gutter. And there are much deeper gutters than JK Rowling.
May 26th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
I’m just wondering if Anonymous has actually read the Harry Potter books. I was skeptical at first too because of the fact that they are wizards. After I read the books I can see clearly what Rowling is trying to get into kids heads without preaching. And it is very much like Tolkien. (Who also uses wizards and lore) If you do some research on Rowling herself you will realize what the woman and her books are really about.
I am extremely cautious about what I read and what I watch, so much so that the television is hardly ever on in our home. I can stand behind Rowling and her books, because I’ve actually checked them out.