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July 13th, 2011
11:29 AM ET
My Take: Why we’re drawn to Harry Potter’s theology
By Danielle Elizabeth Tumminio, Special to CNN It’s been 13 years since the first Harry Potter book landed on store shelves and provoked some Christian conservatives to begin voicing opposition to J.K. Rowling’s world of wizardry. “Let me say something about Harry Potter. Warlocks are enemies of God,” said Becky Fischer, a Pentecostal pastor featured in a documentary called Jesus Camp. “And I don’t care what kind of hero they are, they’re an enemy of God." “Had it been in the Old Testament,” Fischer continued, “Harry Potter would have been put to death. You don’t make heroes out of warlocks.” First reviews of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2' I was a graduate student at Yale when I first heard words like these, and it made me want to delve deeper into the nexus of Harry and Christianity, to see whether the books really were heretical. So I decided to pitch a class on the subject to Yale, where I continue to teach on the intersection between Christian Theology and Harry Potter. One of the questions I get asked most frequently about the class is what makes the Harry Potter series so spiritually rich. My sense is that, unlike some other famously theologically driven books, like "The Chronicles of Narnia" or "The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter" is less interested in teaching doctrine than in asking questions of ultimate meaning: How can a person—wizard or Muggle (Rowling’s term for non-wizards)—respond to evil? Is it possible to maintain relationships with those beyond the grave, just like Harry sought to have a relationship with his deceased parents? Is it worth believing in God or, for those in Harry’s world, love, without evidence of its transformative power? These are the questions to which Harry seeks answers throughout the series, most explicitly in "The Deathly Hallows," part 2 of which opens in movie theaters on Friday. (I tell my students that not for nothing does Harry play Seeker on Gryffindor’s Quidditch team, Quidditch being the wizarding world’s sport of choice.) J.K. Rowling: 'Never say never' to more 'Potter' Yet these are also the questions that motivated Rowling — who was struggling with her mother’s recent death — to write the series in the first place. Indeed, they’re the questions asked by all who seek a deeper understanding of our world. In other words, the reason the Harry Potter series resonates with so many is that Harry’s journey is our journey; what he seeks, we seek. But is what we find heretical, as some Christians have claimed? The first winter I taught at Yale, I was a true seeker. I had moved out of my cozy attic apartment and into my parents’ home after doctors diagnosed my father with a rare neurological disease called Primary Lateral Sclerosis (PLS). PLS is similar to Lou Gehrig’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis, the illness from which J.K. Rowlings’ mother suffered. Like those diseases, PLS is progressive and incurable, immobilizing the muscles without affecting the mind. Driving home from class one day, alone in my car, I found myself overwhelmed by my father’s illness, by the pained look in his eyes as he struggled to cut food with a knife, by the anxiety that plagued my mother. And then I thought of Harry Potter. Each week, I’d been asking my Yale students to look at Harry’s journey and to determine the significance of that journey for them. In that moment, I wondered about the significance the books held for me. Could they offer consolation, and would that consolation be antithetical to Christian faith? In the car that day, I remembered the end of "The Deathly Hallows," when Harry, walking towards his nemesis Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest, finds himself surrounded by those who died but who loved Harry well: his mentors, Sirius and Lupin, and his parents, James and Lily. Lily speaks first: “You’ve been so brave.” “You’ll stay with me?” Harry asks. “Until the very end,” responds James. In other words, it is community and love that see us through even the greatest losses. That’s the same for Rowling and for Christians, for whom God is love. It is friendship and faith that help us walk—or drive, as I was doing at that moment—bravely to our destiny. In that, I found consolation. In the new Potter film – reportedly the last in the Potter franchise – we’ll see Harry as a different kind of seeker, one who struggles with his faith. His mentor, Dumbledore, is absent in a time of evil, as the wizarding world is subjected to a Hitler-like campaign to abolish anyone not of pure wizarding descent. Meanwhile, the equivalent of a tabloid journalist has published a book smearing Dumbledore’s previously unadulterated reputation. Though Dumbledore taught Harry that the only way to defeat Voldemort is through the power of love, that force has been seriously called into question. With subjugation and violence all around and with Dumbledore’s image smeared, love doesn’t seem much worth trusting. As Harry wanders through the wizarding world, he must seek for himself what is worth trusting and what is not. And, without giving too much away, let me say that when his faith in love finally takes root, transformative things begin to happen. As movie theatres reel the final film, and as we reflect on the years we shared with members of Dumbledore’s Army, perhaps this is the takeaway: Seek. Seek with all your heart and all your soul and with your closest friends by your side. If you do, you may find yourself on an unpredictable path to places you never knew existed. You may meet people so unlike you that they could be properly called a centaur and you a house elf. You may walk into a dark and forbidden forest. You may battle your greatest enemy. Through all of that, you may very well find love. And at the end, you may conclude, as J.K. Rowling did, that “All was well.” Kind of sounds like Christianity, doesn't it?
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Editor's Note: Danielle Elizabeth Tumminio is an ordained Episcopal Church priest and is author of 
Harry Potter is a great theology. If you like black magic and worship satan.
I have to wonder if Bob is from the bible belt or lives there. What are the odds he has attended a nascar event?
It is very clear that Harry has not gone to the dark side, and you wouldn't know actual black magic or Satanism if it bit you on the butt. You however are doing a very good job of serving Satan by making Christians look stupid and ignorant and hateful. Proud of yourself?
your all gay
And YOU'RE an idiot.
From the Quran;
A Statement of Fact
[5:82] You will find that the worst enemies of the believers are the Jews and the idol worshipers. And you will find that the closest people in friendship to the believers are those who say, "We are Christian." This is because they have priests and monks among them, and they are not arrogant.
[5:83] When they hear what was revealed to the messenger, you see their eyes flooding with tears as they recognize the truth therein, and they say, "Our Lord, we have believed, so count us among the witnesses.
[5:84] "Why should we not believe in GOD, and in the truth that has come to us, and hope that our Lord may admit us with the righteous people?"
[5:85] GOD has rewarded them for saying this; He will admit them into gardens with flowing streams. They abide therein forever. Such is the reward for the righteous.
[5:86] As for those who disbelieve and reject our revelations, they are the dwellers of Hell.
----–
Muneef
Please go away.
The Jews and Christians and Mormon already have my country totaly whacked.
We do NOT need any more zealots with their meaningless psycho-babble.
yeeesh, I didn't realize grammar was a target as well, on a simple blog page. Whatev', you guys and gals have a good one. Keep on reading opinions, ill just keep doing what I do. Ill work on my english, as its something I need to do. Mabey ill have it mastered by the time I graduate highschool lol. Let me guess your all around 30, still arguing about god, alone so that's why you come to blogs to get your frustrations out.
Nah.
I come here to pick up Christian chicks
The booty is lousy, but they do clean up after dinner.
my bad, I see william is from the fifties
If you write like that, you WILL be 30 by the time you finish high school.
Now Palooka, mike may go to a Christian high school where writing and science and thinking are an impediment to their curriculum.
I gotta say, my teachers do suck. I thought I might be able to find a happy medium between science and religion, but closed minds won't alow it. Lesson learned. Don't try to merge religion and science. Science wins, even though our greatest physicists can't answer what created the particles that form matter.
"Mabey ill have it mastered by the time I graduate"
Then again, MAYBE you won't.
Hey, you have it all backwards
˙sǝɔıɟıɹɔɐs pıɐs ɟo uoıʇdɯnsuoɔ ʎq pǝʍoןןoɟ sǝɔıɟıɹɔɐs pooןq/ʎpoq 7/42 puɐ 'uǝɯ ǝʇıɥʍ 'uɐǝdoɹnǝ 'pןo 'ǝןqıןןɐɟuı puɐ 'ʇuǝɯǝuoʇɐ "uɐɯ-ɔıbɐɯ" puɐ 'sǝןɔɐɹıɯ puɐ 'sɯsıɔɹoxǝ puɐ 'buıʇɔǝɹɹnsǝɹ sǝıpoq ʇnoqɐ oqɯnظ oqɯnɯ uɐıʇsıɹɥɔ ǝɥʇ ןןɐ uı buıʌǝıןǝq ǝpıs ppo ǝɥʇ uo ʇıq ɐ osןɐ ǝɹɐ "uɐɯ-ɔıbɐɯ" s,ןɐ ʇǝ ןnɐd ɟo sɹǝʍoןןoɟ s,ʎɐpoʇ 'ʎןsnoıʌqo
˙uoıʇɔıɟ ʎןʇsoɯ buıǝq sןǝdsob s,ظ ɥʇıʍ uoısnןɔuoɔ uɐɯ-ɔıbɐɯ ɹǝʇʇɐן ǝɥʇ ɥʇıʍ ob sǝɹnʇdıɹɔs ǝɥʇ ןןɐ ɟo sǝsʎןɐuɐ ɥbnoɹoɥʇ ɹǝʇɟɐ sʇɹǝdxǝ ʇu ʎɹɐɹodɯǝʇuoɔ ʇsoɯ ¿uoıʇɔıɟ-ıɯǝs ɟo sןǝdsob puɐ sǝןʇsıdǝ ɹıǝɥʇ ɐıʌ uɐɯ-ɔıbɐɯ ʎɹnʇuǝɔ ʇsɹıɟ ɐ oʇuı ɯıɥ ǝʞɐɯ ʎןdɯıs ظ puɐ ן 'ɯ 'ɯ 'd pıp ɹo
˙ǝuɐsuı ʎןןɐbǝן pǝɹɐןɔǝp ǝq pןnoʍ snsǝظ pıɐs 'pןɹoʍ s,ʎɐpoʇ uı ˙ɔʇǝ pɐǝp ǝɥʇ ɯoɹɟ snɹɐzɐן pǝsıɐɹ ǝɥ ʇɥbnoɥʇ 'ǝuıʍ oʇuı ɹǝʇɐʍ pǝbuɐɥɔ ǝɥ ʇɥbnoɥʇ 'uɐʇɐs oʇ ǝʞods ǝɥ ʇɥbnoɥʇ ǝɥ ןןɐ ɹǝʇɟɐ ˙"pǝɥɔnoʇ" ʇıq ɐ sɐʍ snsǝظ 'ʇu ǝɥʇ ɹǝd sɐ
:ʇıʍ oʇ
ɟɟo ʍoɥs
Harry Potter, the book, pure fiction about a moral wizard, brilliantly written.
Christianity, semi-fiction, about an embellished, sometimes "mythicized" magic man..
To wit:
As per the NT, Jesus was a bit "touched". After all he thought he spoke to Satan, thought he changed water into wine, thought he raised Lazarus from the dead etc. In today's world, said Jesus would be declared legally insane.
Or did P, M, M, L and J simply make him into a first century magic-man via their epistles and gospels of semi-fiction? Most contemporary NT experts after thorough analyses of all the scriptures go with the latter magic-man conclusion with J's gospels being mostly fiction.
Obviously, today's followers of Paul et al's "magic-man" are also a bit on the odd side believing in all the Christian mumbo jumbo about bodies resurrecting, and exorcisms, and miracles, and "magic-man" atonement, and infallible, old, European, white men, and 24/7 body/blood sacrifices followed by consumption of said sacrifices.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Just wanted to say I am loving that there is so much consensus and goodwill between believers and non-believers on this topic. Usually the only things we can genuinely agree on is the Westboro Baptist Church... and that's a much uglier topic. Hmmm a miraculous event courtesy of Harry Potter! LOL! 😉
I love Christians, but I prefer pork.
I guess I missed the Rapture.
No Jesus freaks to be found today!
I can't understand how people equate Harry Potter with the Devil, or Dumbledore with being gay. When you do, you are projecting your prejudices where nothing was stated. This whole thing is make believe. Its not real. It is a vehicle to tell a story, a morality play about good and evil. And its not real. It takes place in a ficticious world where things operate in a diferent way, and where magic follows different rules. And its fake.
Lets not even get into how the Witch of Endor served the Lord.
I think Rowling herself said Dumbledore was gay.
Are you speaking of Harry, or the Bible?
Your description can fir either!
@Hemi: JKR said Dumbledore was gay. It's not actually something discussed or hinted in the books. But I love that he is. A character that is a father figure who is a bit older, and a person of authority with a solid moral grounding? Not exactly a stereotype of what people see as gay. That's why it's brilliant.
Rowling said Dumbledore was gay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps338g6MCqQ
lol just for the record, I don't believe in magic, (physics is much better 🙂 ) I don't believe jesus was god or the messiah. But I believe there is a god. But that doesn't mean jesus was totaly a farce
So there is a record for illiterate nincompoops to record their badly written tangle-brained delusions?
hey, my evil twin ?
If an evil twin has a twin that he/she perceives to be evil from his/her perspective, does that mean that the evil twin of an evil twin is actually good?
Never got into Harry Potter....found him to be weak and pathetic. He isn't $^%*( without his little wand.
You can shut your who're mouth. Harry is bigger than jesus and has clearly shown he can do more magic. Read the books and you'll see, Harry Potter might as well have been written by zeus himself
Carefull Laughing
John Lennon once said he was bigger than Jesus and see what happened to him.
Then again, Ringo married Barbara Bach, so perhaps it was all just random chance.
So you are saying that Jesus sent a hit man to whack John Lennon? Isn't that just more proof that Jesus is a dickhead!
Nah
Jesus does his own shootin! He was a mechanic for the Sicilians back in the 70's
45 caliber stigmata, one on each hand. He can cut down a heathen at ten paces
So he set up that Chapman guy as a patsy? Jesus gots his angles down!
Best random conversation of the day. Well only random conversation...
No, actually Rowling has made it clear that he has done magic without a wand. A wand serves the purpose of focus- it isn't the site of power.
ahahahahahaha another misconseption of god/jesus. We have free will, and there is no magic. If I have to keep explaining myself, I may as well write a book and get kristyan to do the spell check. But after I do, some other evil spinoff will happen and it'll have all gone to waist.
Waste. Not Waist.
You are entertaining for an indoctrinated sycophant
ya luuk stoopad wenn yu right rong
And what do you know? mike's content proves his style accurately reflects his intelligence!
...maybe Summer session ? Yeah, that's it. Summer session.
Speaking of bad spelling and grammar, what ever happened to Ed ?
Shacking up with HeavenSent ?
HeavenSent has MASCULINE traits
It seems we native nonbelievers are an angry lot today.
I remember a similar line of BS when Star Wars came out (Yes I am old!) It was being pushed on a street corner by my local school by the standard southern preacher type who kept saying that Jesus was the force.
He was a stereotypical Jesus freak who wanted to get into little boys trousers, and would use whatever cultural icon he could to get close to them.
As I recall, he ended up getting a beating from the father of a friend of mine.
You can mess with my laws, mess with my country, mess with my kids.
But do not, I repeat DO NOT, mess with my Harry Potter, or else I'll help you meet your maker
I must confess I haven't read them, but with all the Christian condemnation, I may try to find the time!
Blasphemy is SO entertaining!
WHAAAAA?! SHUN THE NON-BELIEVER!!!!! Get those books right meow and read the sh.it out of them.
bob
This book inspires little children to look into magic. Who do you think controls magic Chris. Thats right the devil. This book doesn't directly talks about satan, but it definitely leads them to the wrong path.
---–
Huh so you believe magic is real?
.
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that makes it difficult to tell the difference between real and unreal experiences, to think logically, to have normal emotional responses, and to behave normally in social situations.
As the illness continues, psychotic symptoms develop:
• False beliefs or thoughts that are not based in reality (delusions)
• Hearing, seeing, or feeling things that are not there (hallucinations)
I do magic. Therefore I am controlled by the Devil
I do card tricks, so I guess a demon controls me then?
How cool is that!!
No William, card tricks have been delegated to the Bureau of Lesser Evils, which is under the management of Mr. Biggles, the Somewhat Foul-Tempered Junior Assistant to the Assistant Vice Devil.
When you hear someone is evangelical....think about this statement:
.
“Let me say something about Harry Potter. War locks are enemies of God,” said Becky Fis cher, a Pent ecostal pastor featured in a doc umentary called Jesus Camp. “And I don’t care what kind of hero they are, they’re an enemy of God."
“Had it been in the Old Test ament,” Fischer continued, “Harry Potter would have been put to death. You don’t make heroes out of war locks.”
Had she lived in and era where Christianity was in charge, J. K. Rowling would have been burned at the stake.
And you'd be lighting the fuel.
The Harry Potter books aren't real?
Be calm, lest you enrage the Muggles.
No, they're not real. I have to say I was in shock over the people who got hooked on Avatar, People actually got depressed and wanted to live there. Now that was scary to see how far the human imagination could take someone's mind from reality.
Apparently christians are the only ones thinking they are real,,,LOL
Kay
Just because your boyfreind tried to paint you blue dosen't mean he was a creepy guy.
No we zombie movie fans, WE are creepy guys.
Would you mind lying in this ice bath for an hour before coming to bed my love?
@Kay – now that you've informed me Harry Potter isn't real I'm depressed. Makes me call into question that much more poorly written book of fiction ~ the bible.
"Would you mind lying in this ice bath for an hour before coming to bed my love?"
You haven't done it with cold I take it. It really turns a woman on when it goes from cold to hot, then back to cold, then hot. I prefer my toys frozen anyway. 😉
When your entire world view comes from one book then obviously there's a problem with your world view. Even if that book is a Harry Potter book.
"The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children by C. S. Lewis.
Set in the fictional realm of Narnia, a place where animals talk, magic is common, and good battles evil, the series narrates the adventures of various children who play central roles in the unfolding history of that world."
When there was an article on this, I didn't read very many Christians calling it Satanic.
I guess magic and fantasy are okay, if Jesus is really a talking lion.
Cheers!
+Cheers!
Yeah, I've seen that double standard too. It's kinda sad.
CGI Lion without male equipment who hangs around in little kids bedrooms
Well that really does sound a good bit like JC!
lol sooooo many opinions by soooo many morons who don't know jesus but think they do. The same could be said for the potter fans. Just keep entertainment and religion separated till you can all understand. Ignorant athiests and so called believers
We are morons?
You fail to capitalize the name of your supposed creator, and we are morons?
My guess is you are inbred, a trait common to southern American Christians.
lol I don't follow the NT word for word. There is alot of garbage, but there is also alot of really good life advice. Now please continue on your way
@mike,
So you don't follow the NT word for word, and yet you feel you know Jesus better than others. How's that work?
Mike
AH, behold the illiterate peasant who roars.
At least capitalize your own name; otherwise, we doubt you are even human.
Subservient in the extreme is such a Christian trait.
As for Christ a simple reading of the Bible makes it clear that, Jesus was gay, both spiritually AND physically
study all the information you can on him, controversial or not, and it will be clear.
i'm cookoo for coco puffs
You're a cretin.
was he gay? Or did he have a daughter sara? If you know for 100% show us all the link to the info you read. I hope that it isn't as believable as alot of crap on the net. Go on beat me down some more.
Mike
My source is the Bible itself.
A grown man with no female lover, who hung around with his mom, and spent several nights in caves with young boys?
If it walks like a duck, and quack like a duck?
And we only responded to YOUR anger. We generally are a pleasent lot.
wurds hard mefor to uze. capitil, uh capotul, uh, big letter uzing hard forme.
Oh, and mikeymoron? "Alot" isn't a word. If you can't afford an education, at least use spell-check. Really, you are laughably dumb.
mike
study all the information you can on him, controversial or not, and it will be clear.
-–
I did and I was not impressed with god or his bas tard son. Quite frankly I was not impressed with the writings of men.
I haven't heard much about fans of Harry buggering little boys in their rear ends, so I guess it isn't as like Christianity as this author might believe.
roman catholics shouldn't be aloud to call themselves christians. Jesus wouldn't have ever aloud something like molestation to continue within the group of disciples
It's "allowed," not "aloud."
@William Demuth
You said: "I haven't heard much about fans of Harry buggering little boys in their rear ends, so I guess it isn't as like Christianity as this author might believe."
When I was about 12, I used to read all the Hardy Boys' mysteries. Sometimes, I read them twice. I wanted to be them. I loved getting lost in their world. I finally grew out of my fantasy.
Ever heard of Star Trek? Conventions? An actual Klingon language? All fantasy. Nothing more.
Harry Potter is not a religion. It is a fantasy. Fans, are no better or worse than the rest of society. I'm sure "bad people" would not be an empty set.
Cheers!
David Johnson
The difference between fantasy and religion, is that fantasies have to pay taxes.
Any idiotic belief system that is adopted by enough people can become a religion.
That appples to Star Trek, Christianity, The Greatfull Dead, or the Republican Party.
@mike,
Talk to God/Jesus. He is apparently allowing it to happen right now.
@ kristyan. Thank you 3rd grade teacher for pointing that minor error out. I see my point was still made, so clear comunication has been made. Go show your level of spelling on the english class blog. Moron
@mike
That should be:
"Thank you, 3rd grade teacher, for pointing out that minor error."
And it's 'communication', you dumbazz. You aren't even capable of PASSING third grade, much less teaching it, you little dork. When you grow up and learn to write, you might be credible as someone who can discuss the finer points of religion. Until then, please, either sit down and shut up or be prepared to be ridiculed as you so richly deserve.
Sorry Mikey. (BTW "Roman Catholics" should be capitalized.) Your "aloud" thing was the FIRST thing I noticed, and immediately distracted me. If you aren't educated enough to get that, then why should we pay attention to what you are saying? YOU have the PR problem, and attempting to insult/invalidate the grammar observation doesn't fly here.