July 27, 2007 - Harry Potter and the Christian Faith

Yesterday, I went for my PET scan and accompanying CT scans. I've written previously of what these tests are like, and these were no different – so, I see no need to repeat myself. I'll be eagerly awaiting the radiologist's report interpreting these images, which will suggest whether or not the cancer has advanced further since my last scans, just over three months ago. There's not much more to say than that: once again, it's a waiting game. I'm getting quite used to that, by now.

What I'd prefer to write about, instead, is the book I've just finished reading, in the wee hours of this morning. Along with millions of other people, I've been reading J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final volume in this series that has been such a publishing phenomenon. (Don't worry, if you haven't read it yet: I have no intention of communicating "spoiler" plot details.)

I've always been impressed by this series of children's books, that adults have read just as eagerly. The first volumes attracted some undeserved flak from Christian fundamentalists, who feared that the magical premise of the stories – all the talk about wizards and spells and flying around on brooms – could somehow be spiritually dangerous to young readers. It's the same sort of misguided thinking that leads some Christian conservatives to forbid their children from trick-or-treating on Halloween (or, at least, to steer them away from wearing ghostly bedsheets or pointy witches' hats). There are some people who seem to believe more strongly in the devil's power than in the very Lord whose victory, scripture tells us, results in Satan being chained and cast into a bottomless pit (Revelation 20:1-3).

Fortunately, most of the malicious whisperings about the Harry Potter books being un-Christian have died down – because anyone who actually reads them quickly realizes there's a deep morality at their very core: one that's certainly compatible with Christian faith, even if it may not speak explicitly in Christian terms).

I was pleased to no end to realize, upon reading this seventh and final volume, that it's a departure from the others. What's different is that the Christian symbolism of the earlier books – which had been, at best, extremely subtle – now becomes very obvious indeed. I can't say too much more than that without giving away plot details, but I will predict that the Harry Potter books will henceforth be considered to be as much classics of Christian literature as C.S. Lewis' Narnia books now are.

In most of her press interviews, J.K. Rowling has adroitly dodged the topic of her personal religious beliefs. In at least one interview, however, she's admitted to being a member of the Church of Scotland. That means she's not only a Christian, but – are you ready for this? – a Presbyterian! This latest volume contains two Bible verses, both of them found on tombstones of important members of the wizarding community who have died in years past: "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" and "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." These are, of course, Matthew 6:21 and 1 Corinthians 15:26. Rowling doesn't cite chapter and verse, nor does she identify these words as coming from the Bible, but their placement in the story line is about as unmistakable as a neon sign.

Again, I can't reveal plot details, but the whole story is a cosmic struggle between good and evil, in which selfless love is shown to be capable of vanquishing the most soul-chilling and vicious hatred. Death, and life beyond death, are discussed at greater length than in the previous books, as is the immortality of the soul. We have already seen how, in earlier volumes, it was the selfless, sacrificial death of Harry's mother, Lily, that rendered Harry uniquely resistant to the killing curses of Voldemort, the Dark Lord. As one Christian reviewer has put it, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows "Rowling begins to reveal that, like Narnia, her world has a ‘deeper magic.' Love, expressed as substitutionary sacrifice – choosing to lay down your life for your friends – has a power that Lord Voldemort, like the White Witch before him, is blind to." (Bob Smietana, "The Gospel According to J.K. Rowling," on the Christianity Today website, July 23, 2007).

Being told you have incurable cancer – even a treatable variety, such as I have – does send your thoughts winging, more frequently than others', to subjects such as death, love, courage and life eternal. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is as reliable a vehicle for raising up those weighty questions as any other novel I can think of. As more and more people read it – and as we can speak freely, no longer having to worry about avoiding “spoiler” surprises – I predict this book will become a potent tool for discussing the greatest questions of this human life of ours.