Document Type
Presentation
Publication Date
6-10-2021
Scholarship Domain(s)
Scholarship of Discovery, Scholarship of Faith Integration
Abstract
The magic in Harry Potter is not “sorcery” or invocational magic; it is incantational magic. Most of the objections of the Harry Potter novels are from people who have not read the books. The author, J. K. Rowling is more interested in alchemy than magic and uses Christian symbols and careful naming throughout the books, thereby delivering difficult truths to a postmodern audience in a way that they accept as givens, ideas they would otherwise laugh at. Harry's devotion to the truth and to what is right leads him to disregard the pain he may encounter in pursuing these great ends. He emulates courage, love and persistence in his fight against evil.
Recommended Citation
Hippenhammer, Craighton T.; Mattingly, Debra; and Ladwig, Laura, "Witches, Wizards and Potions: The Christian Nature of the Harry Potter Best Selling Novels" (2021). Faculty Scholarship – Library Science. 31.
https://digitalcommons.olivet.edu/lsci_facp/31
A colorful bibliography
Harry Potter written presentation take 2 Debra Mattingly.docx (308 kB)
Presentation notes by Debra Mattingly
Ladwig - Christian Themes in Harry Potter.docx (31 kB)
Christian themes by Laura Ladwig
Bibliography used in Debra M HP presentation.docx (14 kB)
Mattingly Bibliography
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Conservative Christians should read this presentation before criticizing the Harry Potter books. As both Tolkien and Lewis have said, fantasy is a wonderful way to get across truth to resistant Moderns.