by Emily Griesinger, Ph.D.
| Three years ago, I was approached by James Hedges, the chair of Azusa Pacific University’s Department of English, to teach a section of Children’s Literature in the Adult and Professional Studies Program. The course went smoothly until I decided to substitute Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis as an example of children’s fantasy. Why would a Christian professor teaching at a Christian university ask her students to read a book about witchcraft and wizardry? Thinking about that question consumed an entire summer and resulted in two articles and three conference papers. Those interested may want to read the complete articles, one in Christianity and Literature and the other forthcoming in Christian Scholar’s Review. Space permits me to share only the highlights here.
I began my research by reading everything I could find that had been written
or said about Harry Potter, including many articles students brought to
class. Some of these were insightful; most were not. For example, who
could take seriously the “Harry Potter Books Spark Rise in Satanism
Among Children” article that appeared in a satirical newspaper called
The Onion? Many of my students did. I even received an email copy
of this article from my own father, a committed Southern Baptist who got
it from a concerned lady in his Sunday school. Among other things, this
article claims that applications to the first church of Satan in Salem,
Massachusetts have gone up from 100,000 to 14 million because children
are reading Harry Potter! The
London Times, allegedly cited in The Onion story, had to
apologize for confusion to readers who did not grasp the material for
what it was – a joke. Reactions to The Onion hoax suggest,
albeit in exaggerated form, the real concerns of parents, teachers, and
even professors of children’s literature about the most problematic
feature of the series, which is its positive portrayal of witchcraft and
wizardry. |
A more sensible and perhaps more biblical approach is that of Connie Neal’s What’s a Christian to Do with Harry Potter? “If we want to have a positive influence and enter into meaningful discussions with kids who love Harry Potter, we’ll do well not to show signs of ignorance about what’s really in the books while seriously questioning or condemning them.” Moreover, since sincere, Bible-believing Christians seemingly led by the same Holy Spirit arrive at opposing conclusions, as Neal puts it, we need not expect consensus. Even Christians reading Christianly may disagree about Harry Potter.
Since the representative fantasy text on my syllabus had originally been
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and since Lewis gave serious
attention to children’s literature, and fantasy in particular, it
seemed appropriate to ask how Lewis might approach the Harry Potter debate.
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