I must admit, I am a Harry Potter fan. I know that doesn’t sit well in some circles. Some see in Harry Potter the epitome of the glorification of the occult in modern society. I don’t, and apparently I am not alone.
At a recent press conference, Catholic priest Peter Fleetwood responded to questions about the Potter series by saying:
“Harry Potter does not represent a problem,” Mr. Fleetwood, of the secretariat of the Council of European Episcopal Conferences, also said that “In each one’s childhood there have been fairy godmothers, magicians, angels and witches, which are not bad things but a help for children to understand the conflict between good and evil.”
This has always been my take. The lines between good and evil are clearly drawn. At the center of the ‘good’ in the books has always been love. Not the sentimental gushy type of love, rather a love expressed in self sacrifice. In fact, the reason for Harry’s specialness is because his parents made the ultimate sacrifice for love of him. The books have never been about the magic for me, always the love.
Many times I have detected some very ‘Christian’ elements in her writing. Father Fleetwood says it well:
Mr. Fleetwood believed that the author of the Harry Potter series “is a Christian, perhaps not in the sense that every bishop would like, but she lives like a Christian and writes as such.”
Well, I am not exactly a poster-child for christianity either.
I ordered my copy of the 7th and final book yesterday and will have no qualms about spending all of July 21st reading it.
June 15, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Me, too!
I think the books explain good and evil well and I particularly like your point of love being central to good.
Unfortunately, the books do reflect the secular society in Christmas being celebrated without any attachment to Christ. That is my biggest problem with them.
It will be hard to for me to wait until my wife is done reading on July 21 so that I can read it. I have actually considered the double purchase 😉
June 15, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Jimmy,
I have noticed that about Christmas too.
As for waiting until my wife was finished….no way. Either grab the book first and lock yourself in the bathroom or go for the double purchase.
My wife has actually marked the day on the calendar as ‘husband unavailable.’
June 15, 2007 at 8:15 pm
I read all the books this year and have the latest on order. I quite enjoyed them and think most of the negative reaction has been an over reaction.
The one element I don’t like is how often Harry’s lying has no consequences, especially lying to Dumbledore. Everything always come out okay with very little negative effect.
June 15, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Jeff,
Fair point about the lying. Harry does seem to do it with impunity.
I am very much looking forward to the finale so I can prove once and for all that Snape is good. If I am wrong, I am going to be hearing about it at family gatherings for years.
June 18, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Mis disculpas por contestar en español. Pero también somos fans de Harry y sus amigos en casa. Y no vemos nada de malo. Al contrario, allí lo bueno es bueno y lo malo malo. Y las virtudes buenas y los defectos malos. Como en los mejores antecedentes de la literatura fantástica infantil donde el mundo de fantasía no se confundía con la realidad.