In late October I wrote a piece for Townhall.com on Harry Potter and Christians. I briefly discussed John Granger's response to Christians who say the Bible forbids books like Harry Potter:
John Granger, an Orthodox Christian, homeschooling father, college professor, author of Looking for God in Harry Potter, and former Potter skeptic, has put a great deal of work into researching Christian themes and symbolism in the books. For example, he draws a distinction between invocational magic, or sorcery, clearly condemned in the Bible, and incantational magic, as practiced in the books. His site, HogwartsProfessor.com, is a treasure trove of Harry Potter-related information written from a Christian perspective.
“Objections to the magic in Harry Potter…mistake the edifying use of magic in literature for actual invocational sorcery condemned by Scripture which it clearly is not,” he said. Granger even claims that Harry Potter is “Christian fiction.” According to Granger, J.K. Rowling is an Inkling, a group of British writers that included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, who wrote Christian fiction. He argues that this “marks her as a writer in the English traditions of writing faith edifying literature, what is often called ‘baptizing the imagination’ or ‘smuggling the gospel.’”
Invocational and incantational distinctions aside, one can make a compelling case that all forms of magic are forbidden, but are Christians forbidden to read about it? I can't call myself a witch and be a Christian, but as I Christian, I can read fictional stories about witches.
According to Dr. Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, there's a vast difference between magic as practiced in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and magic in Harry Potter. Baehr writes:
Some Christians are disturbed by C.S. Lewis's use of the word "magic" in The Chronicles of Narnia. Magic is forbidden in the Bible. Revelation 21:8 makes it clear that "those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars — their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur."
C.S. Lewis made it clear in his novels that it is wrong to "use" magic, especially for personal gain, but even when people do such an evil thing, there is a deeper magic (or law) written into the creation by the Creator to right the wrongs…Thus, both C.S. Lewis and Tolkien reinvested the word "magic" with redemptive meaning. In The Chronicles of Narnia, Lewis uses magic as a synonym for laws that God has written into the universe. Although the stories by Lewis are fantasy, they should not be confused with the world of the occult. The worlds Lewis and Tolkien created are real worlds with real consequences and real hope.
One of the essential building blocks of any theology or philosophy is ontology, which simply means the nature of the ground being, or the very essence of the world in which we live. For a Hindu and most occultists, people live in an imaginary world, a Great Thought, an Illusion. For Christians and Jews, however, we live in a real world with real pain, and real suffering — a world that needs a real God and real salvation.
For a Christian, therefore, things are real, and, as shown in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, actions have consequences. When Edmund succumbs to the temptations of the White Witch, he has to pay the consequences, or Someone has to pay in his stead.
In contrast, with their occult, nominalistic ontology, the Harry Potter books propose that the world can be manipulated through magic. Things change shape; nothing is really real. Therefore, there is no need for a savior since one has merely to have the right incantations or think the right thoughts to be saved. Thus, the individual shapes the world and is in that sense: god. (Source)
While I agree with Baehr's assertions about the use of magic in Narnia and Harry Potter, I don't agree with his implication that the Harry Potter books show "right incantations" or "right thoughts" will save people. I think he's confusing two things.
First, a work of fiction can contain Christian themes and symbols and be permissible without explicitly pointing to Christ as Savior. I don't think the Potter books imply at all that incantations will ultimately save people, but even if they did, the story itself symbolizes salvation, redemption, sacrificial love, the doomed quest for immortality apart from God, etc.
Second, Narnia is also symbolic of those ideas, but Aslan, though he may represent Christ, is still a talking lion. He invokes the image of the Lion of Judah, yes, but he is not actually the Savior. While his self-sacrifice parallels the Gospel message, so does Lord Voldemort's doomed-to-fail desire to live forever apart from God.
Then again, perhaps I'm reading Baehr wrong. I believe he is biased against the Harry Potter books, but I'm biased in favor of both Narnia and Harry Potter as appropriate reading for Christians. Reasonable Christians can disagree about these things, though.
Update: Pastor Shaun says:
It cannot be argued that all forms of imagined magic are by nature evil. Such a view stilts the creative process our Creator endowed us with. Further, it degrades our ability to accept the supernatural. Our very being cries out that there is more beyond the realms of physical sense.
December 15th, 2005 at 5:00 pm
I agree.
I said much the same thing in this post a while back when Doug Phillips was arguing all magic is evil.
Love the new blog.
December 15th, 2005 at 5:21 pm
I found John Granger's book very interesting, and was intrigued by his contrast of the role of invocational and incantational. However, it has always seemed to me that "light" magic in Rowling's wizarding world really corresponds to technology in ours. The implication of the story is always that there is no moral connotation in such use of magic. "Dark" magic, however, seems to have serious moral implications for the user, which is just what you have been discussing.
December 15th, 2005 at 7:32 pm
Good post, Shaun. Thanks for visiting FFC. I hope you visit often.
December 15th, 2005 at 8:53 pm
I'm working on a full post on this issue since it's been raised here, but it seems like the critics are terribly missing the point of JKR's use of magic, which is to combat materialism/naturalism.
I also think that people who argue like Baehr does needs to read the Chronicles again. For example, the "magic" of Prince Caspian is nothing like he says it is. It's flat out incantational magic that can be studied and learned and is a lot like JKR's magic.
December 15th, 2005 at 9:28 pm
Magic in Narnia and at Hogwarts
La Shawn Barber has posted a response to Dr. Ted Baehr's criticism of Harry Potter's use of magic as opposed to Narnia's. Baehr is the chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, and he has offered us the typical ̶…
December 15th, 2005 at 9:36 pm
Here's a brief response to Dr. Baehr. Thanks for point this story out.
December 16th, 2005 at 12:38 am
Good work, La Shawn.
How about fire-water cordial, given to Lucy, that heals? Is that magic? How about a horn that can call humans into Narnia? Is that magic?
Plenty of magic in Narnia that isn't "law". Way to hang in there, La Shawn!
December 16th, 2005 at 9:13 am
Granger's work is pretty much foundational to the material on our site in any of our "apologetics pieces" especially. The distinction of incantation versus invocation is a tremendous one and whole books could be written on the subject. The technology analogy is a correct one; I suppose writing computer programs (which is what I do for a living) is "incantational".
An interesting thought was posted by Merlin last month comparing wands in Harry Potter to the Jedi's use of light-sabers in the Star Wars films, esp. in relation to forces of good and evil. He notes "The wand is a symbol of the fact that magical power comes from beyond the user and is tied to a tradition of symbols and objects" and "[the wand] is the symbol of the fact that a wizard's power flows not from his own being - although it can be honed and refined to be more effective through his own efforts…".
December 16th, 2005 at 3:52 pm
Thanks for including me as an update!
Shaun
December 16th, 2005 at 5:26 pm
The magic in HP's world seems to me to be more of a natural skill set than occultic practice, and obviously it's not something any of us in the real world could adopt even if we wanted to. (Too bad - it would be nice to apparate to work!) In our real world we transform things all the time to serve our purposes - it's called, among other things, engineering. But there definitely remains in HP's world reality which is "really real" and that no one can manipulate - including (but not limited to) death and the power of love and sacrifice. People who do attempt to manipulate these things do so at their peril.
In fact, the only resemblance I see in HP to occultic practice is Divination - which is either soundly mocked, unable to be understood by humans or else leads to possession by Voldemort (NOT a good thing).
I am so excited to find this web site - there are really other Christians who are Harry fans, as well as Narnia fans! I am SO glad you're out there. Thank you, LaShawn!
December 16th, 2005 at 5:43 pm
Thanks, Dana. I came out of the closet as an HP fan only recently, and I was determined to create a place where Christians could talk about fantasy books without being preached to about the "dangers" of the occult. If Christians think HP books are biblically prohibited to read, I certainly hope they're being consistent in their condemnation.
December 27th, 2005 at 1:53 am
I agree that the use of magic and powers are often improperly condemned by Christians. We should not be concerned about whether or not supernatural powers are used, but instead how they are used. I have been reading Wendy Alec's new book, "The Fall of Lucifer," and one thing that has struck me about this story is the stark contrast between powers used for evil, and powers used for good. In the book, Lucifer has an incredible amount of supernatural power, being in control of over 1/3 of the heavenly forces. When he rebels against God, he still has incredible supernatural powers. What changes, however, is the way in which he uses this magic. Where it was previously used for good and to serve the Lord, it is now used for his own gain. If you're interested in good vs. evil
and supernatural power struggles, you should check out this book. It may help to lend insight into views on Harry Potter as well.