The Harry Potter books have certainly been the subject of much debate in Christian circles. When I stumbled upon a copy at my local thrift store, I decided it was time to take a look for myself.

 I found the book disturbing for the following reasons:

1.  Harry has a "certain disregard for the rules" and is often trying to escape the consequences of this disregard. I am told that Harry and the others learn moral lessons as the series progresses; I base my assessment on this single book. In any case, the consequences are delayed too long for my tastes.

2. Squabbles amongst friends, lying and disobeying those not deemed worthy of respect, and hatred of enemies — all appear normative in the Potter worldview. Love, forgiveness, selflessness and self-control are virtually unknown, at least in this book. I have repeatedly read that such character qualities are indeed part of Harry's life and world and, because I have not read the series and do not have the big picture, I realize that may well be true. 

3. The "hero" of the book — indeed all of the "good" guys — actively engage in and pursue magic. Some of the magic, like that in books I love by Lewis and Tolkien, is unlikely to tempt imitative actions and, even if they did, would lead only to failure. Examples include waving magic wands and riding flying broomsticks. Others, like the class in divination, walks too closely for me the line between fantasy and reality, but at least the class is portrayed as ridiculous and inaccurate.

4. Some ideas are potentially dangerous for today's youth. The first chapter, for example, introduces the idea that, if you know magic, death is not going to affect you and might even be a pleasureable sensation..

5. Comparing writing quality alone is like comparing Shakespeare's work to a Dick and Jane reader, in my estimation.  Rowling at times offers crudeness in place of well-chosen words. Especially towards the end of this book, I found the reading so tediously boring that I had to force myself to finish. Yet others find the writing marvelous, inventive and "hard to put down."  Rowling does have the ability to create a world, as other fine writers have before her and that, I think, is her strongest point as an author. I am given to understand, also, that writing quality improves as the series progresses.

6. Although we love the Tolkien trilogy, our family respects those who object to The Lord of the Rings because of the presence of wizardry, but , in our opinion, Potter goes far beyond. 
   
   As we say in our review of the Tolkien trilogy:
   "Marketers like to tie interest in The Lord of the Rings with the Harry Potter  series. To us, there is no comparison. Potter tantalizes the young to wield power. In The Lord of the Rings, the protagonist triumphs by forsaking supernatural power in favor of loyalty, nobility and wise council. That is why we highly recommend this book (The Lord of the Rings), despite the presence of magic and wizardry." 

   Tolkien and Lewis' magic is only safely pursued in a totally imaginary world, while Rowling's magic occurs in a fantasized version of our world and even in our era. Tolkien and Lewis' magic is performed by non-human characters who have supporting roles; magic is shown to have a corrupting influence on the main character (as with Frodo as he carries the ring). In fact, in Tolkien's world, hobbits and men are not capable of magic and in Lewis', the magic performed in the "regular" world (which is very rare) is done by a villian like Uncle Andrew and with harmful results. In Harry Potter, magic is the tool Harry uses to escape from his adversities. Young readers are also far more likely to relate to Harry, a peer, than to an unapproachable wizard character like Gandalf.

   7. The concept of a secret elite society which has insights and wields power unknown by the majority, feeds , in my opinion, the deceit at the core of gnosticism and its many offshoots, including the recently popular book The Secret.

As is true of many other issues, I believe it is important to be intellectually honest in evaluating Harry Potter. Christians who automatically lump issues like the Harry Potter books into a "good" or "bad" camp, without really considering the issues and having a well thought out reason for their belief, do a great deal of damage to the reputation of Christians in our culture, and this must be guarded against. It is better to maintain an honest "I really don't know" attitude than to dive into diatribes with little more than emotions or hearsay to back them up.

Because I believe it IS possible for honorable people to see the Potter series differently than I, I  include a somewhat different perspective from a guest reviewer. I encourage you to read a book like What's a Christian to Do with Harry Potter? by Connie Neal, to look in-depth at both sides of the coin, and to consider why Christians can be so divided about this series. The chart in this book showing what Scripture says about handling disputable matters may go a long way to prevent Harry Potter from causing yet another uncivil war amongst Christians. 

Guest Reviewer BekahvTuggy offers additional comments on the Harry Potter series.

Read our take on the controversy over witches, magic, wizards, fantasy and raising children, in three parts.

Controversies: Introduction

Part one: Witches, Wizards and Magic

Part two: The Fantasy Issue

Part  three: Getting Beyond

Lastly, I highly recommend this booklet length article by Catholic writer Steven D. Greydanus, which offers a well thought out, practical look at the debate, especially considering the legitimacy of embracing Tolkien and C.S. Lewis while rejecting Rowling.

Harry Potter vrs.  Gandalf: An in-depth analysis of the literary use of magic in the works of J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, and C.S. Lewis. - by Steven D. Greydanus

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