Title: How Harry Cast His Spell: The Meaning Behind the Mania for J.K. Rowling's Bestselling Books
Author: John Granger
Genre: non-fiction, Christian non-fiction
I checked this out at the academic library where I work. I was intrigued that an author that was publishing a pro-Harry book would be published by an imprint of Tyndale House Publishers. Unless you have been living under a rock the past decade or so, you have heard about the concerns and controversy of Harry Potter by some adults, mostly because of the witch and wizard characters. Granger wrote this book mostly for them. When these concerned adults fixated on the witches, wizards, and (fake) spells (if they bothered to read the books in the first place), they missed the Christian symbolism in the books. If you're thinking, "What Christian symbolism?", than you need to read this book too!
So what are the Christian symbols used in the Harry Potter series? Here are a few examples (I can't tell you all of them, you have to read the book for yourself!):
* the "mascot" of Gryffindor house is a red lion. A lion has been used as a symbol of God in the Bible and throughout English literature (i.e. The Chronicles of Narnia) (pages 19, 106-107).
* the phoenix was a symbol of Christ during the Middle Ages- hence the nickname of "The Resurrection Bird. "The phoenix here, of course, portrays not only the Resurrection of Christ but also the Christian belief that he has intervened for humanity and taken the curse of death upon himself" (102).
*One person, two natures symbolism (concept comes from the Bible) (Chapter 5)
Rowling also uses alchemical symbolism throughout the series to chronicle Harry's journey from boy to man, non-believer of magic to wizard. While we view alchemy today as a pseudoscience where medieval scientists labored in vain to turn objects into gold, in the world of literature, alchemy "can simply be defined as the transformation of something common into something special" (50). So alchemical "writing techniques" are used to highlight the conflict/journey/resolution of a character and they are used to edify the personal life and beliefs of the reader (page 31).
Other positive aspects of the HP series that Granger critiques are the Hero's Journey formula used within each book (Chapter 3), the emphasis on choice and free will (page 86), the dangers of prejudice (Chapter 6), the parallels of Harry's life to King Arthur (page 86), and the spiritual themes of each book (Chapters 11-17).
