Harry Potter vs Christianity?

Just amazing. This is just amazing. This is why you shouldn't be afraid of critics even if they form the majority. You should certainly listen to them, but not be afraid of them.

A decade ago, 'La Pierre Phylosophale' or if you want the 'Philosopher'stone' came out. I watched the movie and i was hooked. Few weeks after i was told that the movie was a mere rendition of a book. Everybody was talking about it. Even school kids who abandoned the reading discipline and habit of their fathers found a new delight in reading that book. The most amazing story that i came across a decade ago was that of a 8 years old girl who read the whole hundreds of pages of the mystical novel in less than a week. Talk about a reading 'renaissance' to our young generation.

For those who know little about fantasy novel, the book i am talking about is the first in the long series of successful books "Harry Potter and the Phylosopher stone". For those who aren't aware, this week the last sequel movie of the last book "The Deathly Harrow part two" is out on the Big Screen (a.k.a  movie theaters)!

A decade ago, the immense success of J.K Rowling's book attracted a lot of critics from the Christian circles, particularly the evangelicals as usual. I read incredible parallelism about her story characters and events with demonic practices. It is to the point that one Christian author i was reading made the claim that J.K Rowlings agenda was to teach young minds sorcery and human sacrifices. Well, maybe or maybe not. Whatever the case, he was totally against the books. At that time, only three of the seven books were out.

In 2007, the last book came out (the 7th Novel on the Harry potter' series) and at the Pretoria Cathedral's youth group it was the subject of a discussion. "Should we read Harry potter?" seemed to be the question.

So you might understand my surprise when i read this in Christianity Today Magazine :

"Moderns are immunized against sacramental experience, prayer, and worship, yet still long for the transcendent, something beyond the ego. We find it in sports, film, and music, but most powerfully in books, especially in novels in which the heart recognizes its reflection in a character like Harry. We recognize and imaginatively experience our hearts' end in Christ's victory over death."

So after 7 years of unquestionable success, J.K Rowlings with her teenagers heros and heroines finally gained the evangelical heart. Harry Potter did not turn out to be the great threat predicted a decade ago when it first appeared, so a different explanation needed to be found. Now Harry Potter is no longer the
Satanic Trojan Horse for our generation but he is now the symbol of sacred spirituality in disguise for our generation in the same order as the 'Chronicles of Narnia' from C.S Lewis and the 'Lord of the Rings' from Tolkien, absolutely intriguing. I like the turn of event!

As for me, i just like how the event turned out for the Harry Potter's books in the evangelical minds. I'll let you with the concluding word of the author: "The release of the final Harry Potter movie isn't an end at all. The Hogwarts saga, through its revelation of the great hunger of readers for transcendence and, ultimately, resurrection, has provided both a role model for future novelists and screenwriters, as well as incentives for publishers and studios to seek out these postmodern parables. This is a great thing. The love of these books and their characters confirms the power of traditional Christian literary arts to reach and stir the human heart. It also confirms Tertullian's remarkable observation that "all souls are Christian souls": that we all have darkened hearts that only Christ can illumine."

Apparently, only time can give the judgement to either vindicate us or condemn us. i hope you are on the right side of history.

Have a nice evening and weekend in Jesus name.