I have always found the witch hunt of J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series a little bewildering. Well maybe witch hunt is a strong phrase. I can totally understand why parents would choose not to read them to their children, especially as the story progresses with maturity in proportion to the age of it's heros. I would not give a 12 year old Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as a little light bedtime reading. I found it traumatic and I'm 26 next week...
I first got into the books when a great debate sprang up about the books within the online 24-7 community after book four. Were they evil? What is the spirit behind the story? Really excellent questions, very important to ask in today's society with Paul's words ringing in our ears...
"...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Phillipians 4:8
In response to the debate I decided to read the books as many of their protagonists had yet to lift their dustjackets. What I discovered was a rich world of good and evil, with values of family, friendship, sacrifice and adventure. I have to admit I was hooked.
PLOT SPOILER WARNING!
As I read the conclusion to the series I was very moved. My faith in Jesus makes me a sucker for any story a sacrificial theme. Anyone who stands in front of someone else and gives their life freely, with love has me in tears. Steve and I were reading the story aloud to each other and it was a test of Steve's patience as everytime this occured or was referenced I would burst into tears and loose my voice. Harry's walk to forbidden forest most of all.
PLOT SPOILERS OVER :)
This morning a good friend sent me this link. It's an article about J.K. Rowling finally revealing what she personally does believe. So is it sorcery? Maybe Aliens? Nope, J.K. Rowling is a Christian...
"CHRISTIAN motifs play a central role in the Harry Potter stories, author JK Rowling told an American television audience on July 29... it had “always been difficult to talk about that because until we reached Book Seven, views of what happens after death and so on” an explicit discussion of the books’ Christian motifs “would give away a lot of what was coming”... “Every time I've been asked if I believe in God, I've said yes, because I do, but no one ever really has gone any more deeply into it than that, and I have to say that does suit me, because if I talk too freely about that I think the intelligent reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what's coming in the books..."
PLOT SPOILER WARNING
"In the final book of the seven-part saga, Rowling introduces the first explicit reference to Christian faith. In the Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter visits the grave of his parents on Christmas Eve in a church graveyard and reads the inscription on the headstone: "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."
Rowling does not identify the passage for her readers: 1 Cor 15:26, where Paul discusses the significance of the resurrection of Jesus."
I have to say I was pretty choked when I read that. It was particularly moving when she described her faith as sometimes struggling. I can't read Harry Potter without seeing Christian themes all over it. But then I do see people's concerns with them, she does paint the dark as well as the light. Sometimes the dark is frighteningly accurate. In everything I think people need to pray and excercise judgement. What's fine for one may be disturbing for another...
So J.K. Rowlings a Presbyterian. Who'da thunk it? xc