Granger, John. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House/Salt River, 2004. 202
+ xxi pp. $16.99 (USD). ISBN: 1-4143-0091-3.
[1] Since the initial American release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s
Stone in 1998, Harry Potter novels have been at the centre of controversy.
Some irate parents have engaged in book-burnings, demanding that
Harry Potter be removed from public school libraries, while many
parents and teachers have developed elaborate curricula around the
books as a means of motivating children to read. Not surprisingly,
many observers ascribe the controversy to the ongoing culture wars
between conservative Christianity and secularism. The more interesting
controversy, however, has been between those Christians who condemn
Harry Potter as promoting Wicca and those who see Harry Potter as
consistent with, if not supportive of, Christian values. Remarkably,
this latter debate is not primarily between conservative and liberal
Christians; rather it is a split down the middle of conservative
evangelical Christianity.
[2] John Granger has been engaged in this debate among conservative
Christians since publishing The Hidden Key to Harry Potter in 2002
(reviewed in the Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 3 [Spring
2003]). He returns to the fray with Looking for God in Harry Potter.
This much improved follow-up to Hidden Key represents a thoughtful
contribution to Christian argument about Harry Potter.
[3] Granger’s thesis is that Christian parents not only have
nothing to fear from the Harry Potter books, they can actually find
in the novels profoundly Christian symbols and themes that make
them appropriate reading and excellent starting points for theological
conversations with their children. He zealously takes on Christians
who condemn the books because they are about magic, which he compares
to that found in the fantasy books of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.
Granger argues that Rowling, like Lewis and Tolkien, intentionally
smuggles in Christian ideas under cover of fantasy literature. Granger
is so zealous in his arguments that one would almost conclude that
it is not Christian parents who should be afraid of Harry Potter,
but rather non-Christian parents who do not recognize the way the
novels (in Granger’s oft used quote of C.S. Lewis) “baptize
the imagination.”
[4] In response to claims that the Bible condemns positive portrayals
of sorcerers and witchcraft, Granger suggests that there is a crucial
theological distinction to be made between “invocational” magic
and “incantational” magic (4). Invocational magic, which
calls upon powers and principalities opposed to God, is what is
proscribed by the Bible. Incantational magic is not only “in
keeping with a long tradition of English fantasy,” it “shows—in
story form—our human thirst for a reality beyond the physical
world” (4), a reality that points to Christ. Nowhere in the
Harry Potter novels is invocational magic used—even among
the evil wizards.
[5] Refining his discussion from Hidden Key, Granger argues that
the Harry Potter novels are chock-full of Christian symbols—from
the phoenix to the griffin, from Harry’s stag patronus to
the unicorn, Rowling uses numerous symbols that have been associated
specifically with Christ since medieval literature. This is only
natural, Granger says, given that Rowling is not only a member of
the Church of Scotland and has a formal education in classical languages
and literature, but is a great admirer of C.S. Lewis.
[6] To buttress his argument that the Harry Potter books are Christian,
he examines the moral themes that are central to the novels. For
example, every novel condemns some form of prejudice—against
Muggles, giants, foreigners, the poor, mudbloods, etc. The analogies
to our world, he suggests, are obvious. Moreover, like the New Testament,
the central theme in each book is that sacrificial love, rather
than power, prevails. Love cannot be vanquished by death, and indeed
points to a reality beyond death that is efficacious in this life.
Even when Harry acts in ways that are morally questionable (e.g.,
lying to a teacher or acting nasty to a friend), Granger notes that
Rowling is realistically depicting Harry in the process of growth
in moral identity.
[7] The penultimate chapters of Granger’s book examine in
detail each of the first five Harry Potter books to reveal their
Christian symbols and themes. These chapters appear to be a direct
response to Richard Abanes’ Harry Potter and the Bible: The
Menace behind the Magick—a scathing evangelical critique of
Rowling’s books. The aim of these chapters is to provide detailed
evidence of the Christian elements in the Harry Potter novels and
thematic discussion guides for parents and Sunday school teachers
who want to use the books to explore theological ideas with children.
In keeping with that aim, the final chapter of the book is a practical
how-to guide for parents who want to learn how to talk theologically
with their children about the books they read.
[8] Granger is chiefly addressing conservative Christians with his
arguments. He goes to great lengths to demonstrate his own conservative
Christian credentials: he is an ordained Reader in the Orthodox
Church; he and his wife home-school seven children; they do not
own a television; they are selective in what they allow their children
to read; and he did not allow his daughter to read the first Harry
Potter novel she had received as a gift from the family pediatrician
(whom he knew to be an evangelical Christian) until he read it first. Of
course, that first reading convinced him that this was something
that his daughter, and all of his children, should read.
[9] As a Christian trained in Latin and Western classical literature,
Granger is able to position himself as a balanced, thoughtful reader
of Rowling’s books. He appears to be developing a following
among evangelical Christians. His articles on Harry Potter show
up regularly in conservative Christian publications such as Touchstone
Magazine and his books are being reviewed positively in conservative
Christian on-line magazines, including American Daily and Faithfulreader.com.
At times, however, one wonders whether Granger loses his balance.
For example, his demeaning comments about the “real-world
magic” of Wicca appear uninformed, claiming that “this
magic depends on . . . help from demons and believing you
can control what these demons will do” (190). One wonders
if his own distinction between incantational and invocational magic
might, in fact, apply to real “real-world” members of
Wicca.
[10] Scholars of religion and culture may be interested in Granger’s
book primarily as an example of what I take to be an increasing
tendency among conservative Christian thinkers to move away from
simple condemnation of all that passes as popular culture toward
a more considered engagement with what popular culture has to offer.
Put differently, Looking for God in Harry Potter represents a departure
from a stance that H. Richard Niebuhr described as "Christ
against culture" toward a stance of "Christ transforming
culture." As such, Granger's most significant contribution
may be his modeling of a constructive way for conservative evangelicals
to think about how Christian values might relate to the wider culture.
Paul Custodio Bube
Lyon College
Batesville, Arkansas
pcbube@lyon.edu
