Harry Potter and Wrestling with the World

My jewel, we live in a strange and harsh world that is often difficult to navigate. But we are not without hope, a hope that will never disappoint us (Romans 5:5). And we can find that hope in many different things. One of the more interesting journeys I've been on, in a fictional sense, was watching the Harry Potter series of novels unfold during the late '90's and culminating in 2007. You may never read this, and if you do, you may think them rubbish. That's ok. I just wanted to share that I took an interesting route through the series. When the first few books came out, there was a large Christian contingent that denounced them categorically, saying that books that endorsed and dabbled in magic and the occult were of the devil. I must admit for a time I took this easy route as well.

So it is much to my amazement, as I have finished the last, that I am now thankful that I ceased to take such a hard line stance. Why? Because as the final act is played, it is revealed in no uncertain terms that the main character, Harry, is intended to be a Christ-archetype. And the finale is written in such a way that it brings to light all the previous Christian imagery that preceded it. CS Lewis and Tolkien would be proud.

My point is this: when it comes to interpreting art, the great struggle is trying to be able to see what the artist sees, to hear what they say, to feel what they feel. The adage, "Don't judge a book by its cover," no matter how contrived sounding, will always have value in its maxim. You just might miss the way people are expressing how the transforming power of Christ in their lives took hold, and that is always a story worth hearing.