Spoiler alert!

Harry Potter has to be the most loved, hated, revered, frustrated, and misunderstood boy who ever lived.

When he was an baby, his parents were killed by a really bad man who also tried to kill him. As a result, Harry’s got a wicked (pardon the pun) lightening bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. The Dursleys, the aunt and uncle who raised Harry, treat him like a red-headed stepchild. On top of that, his beloved, formerly imprisoned godfather and his protector-headmaster were both killed. Right in front of him. A rather ordinary teenaged boy who happens to be an orphaned wizard, Harry is believed to be the “Chosen One” destined to kill or be killed by the man who hunts him, the evil Lord What’s-his-name.

Can’t the kid just go to his prom and worry about pimples, algebra, and the SATs like other 16-year-olds?

Harry Potter, with the world on his shoulders, has mesmerized the globe. The first six books of British author J.K. Rowling’s seven-book series — Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Sorcerer’s Stone for us illiterate Americans), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince —- have been translated into 63 languages and have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide.

The sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released on July 17 to much fanfare and anticipation (and tight security). "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," the movie based on the fourth book, is set for release on November 18. The first three movies have grossed over $2.6 billion worldwide

Rowling’s books have been the subject of much discussion and consternation, especially among Christians. Do the books promote witchcraft? Do they lure impressionable children into the occult? Does the Bible forbid Christians to read fantasy literature with magical elements?

When Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone premiered on ABC last year, I intended to watch an hour’s worth to see what the Harry Potter hype was all about. I ended up watching the entire movie, which I found completely charming. I hadn’t read any of the books at that point, but “the boy who lived” had captured my already-active imagination.

While I appreciate the complex plots, the emphasis of good over evil, and renewed love of reading among children, as a Christian I struggle with the magical elements of the series. Other Christians seem to have a similar love-hate relationship with Harry Potter.

“I read [the books] with a certain sense of guilt because I don’t think I should be allowing my mind to focus on things such as witchcraft,” Philip Craig confessed.

Some say the books will influence children to dabble in the occult, forbidden by the Bible, while others believe they teach valuable moral lessons and that Christian parents can use the books to share the Gospel.

“As to the typical reasons I've heard of Christians not wanting to delve into Harry Potter (sorcery, etc.), there is a big difference in my mind between believing in sorcery and witchcraft and reading a fantasy story about it,” said Tom Truman, who blogs at Grinding Gears. “[T]he books have given our kids good human examples of right and wrong. I think Paul’s advice regarding eating ‘unclean’ foods is applicable to books some would call unclean as well.”

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 point of view.

“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.’”

A common theme in the books is the battle between good and evil. “J.K. Rowling has really done an amazing thing,” says Davette Shands, a Christian whose daughter has also read the books. “She has captured an essence of spirituality that a lot of people seem to miss, much in C.S. Lewis’ tradition. The most recent novel incorporates the idea of the selfless sacrifice.”

Granger also contends that the magic presented in the Harry Potter series is merely background, a vehicle to drive the story and is not the ultimate meaning. The books are so popular because they “echo the Great Story we are wired to receive and respond to,” he insists.

French philosopher Blaise Pascal said that within each human heart is a “God-shaped” vacuum. Literature, art, music, films, etc., that attempt to fill this emptiness resonate with believers and unbelievers alike on a subconscious level. Granger and others believe Rowling’s stories do this. In Part II, I’ll explore these ideas, as well as review the latest book in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Originally published October 25, 2005, on Townhall.com

Read Part II of this review.