Looking for God in HP - Chapter 1

Okay. I've read the first chapter of Looking for

God in Harry Potter three times now and done a little research. I hope I've got a handle on it b/c it is the most important chapter for nay-HP-sayers. So I want to get it right.

(All unmarked quotations are from John Granger's book Looking for God in Harry Potter.)

The number one thing Christians have against Harry Potter is magic. They think that it's "all" about magic, drawing young minds into the occult. So that definitely bears some attention.

Strangely enough though, Harry Potter isn't even about magic. It's contains magic, but that is not the subject of the stories. Lord of the Rings contains magic. Chronicles of Narnia, Shakespeare's The Tempest (which I've read but can't remember) and L. Frank Baum's Oz stories contain magic. Hey, even the Bible contains magic! So the question is, Does Harry Potter draw you into the occult?

Mr. Granger thinks it no less likely than being drawn into time travel by reading science fiction. So unless you're Napoleon Dynamite's Uncle Ricco, you should be okay.

But seriously, if anything, HP encourages "a rewarding spiritual life" b/c the "stories 'sing along' with the Great Story of Christ..." I've found that in HP and especially LOTR, my spiritual walk is actually enhanced and enriched. God has often taught me things through these books. I'm not suggesting to read them instead of the Bible, but He does bring things to mind.

So, the magic. What is it?

There are two types of magic.

1. Invocational

2. Incantational

Invocational magic is sorcery, meaning "to call in" a demonic or spiritual power like Nikabrik attempts in Prince Caspian with the White Witch. This is a no-no, what the Bible is talking about.

Incantational magic, however, is different. It's in keeping with English fantasy and means, literally, "to sing along with" or "to harmonize." When I first read that definition, I got a picture of Aslan singing Narnia into being. And that makes perfect sense. If all of creation came into being by "God's creative Word, or his song," (here I wrote Aslan in the margin), then his Song/Word is still active in this world and our lives. So to use magic in story form, like HP or Narnia or LOTR, is just a plot device, a literary device, a motif, to "sing along" with what God is doing.

Furthermore, incantational magic is a "part of God's world, much like Natural Law or morality. It is something that is deeply interwoven into the universe" (Facing the Facade). This reminded me of The Simarilion. The Valdar heard God's song of creation and went down to complete it. Sounds like more magic.

Here is the best way I've seen it explained, from a Christianity Today article:

"Incantational magic, by contrast, is about harmonizing with the will of our creator—and that's the sort of spells we find in the works of Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein, two of Rowling's favorite authors.

Now, Wiccans might argue they're simply seeking harmony with nature, while Buddhists seek inner harmony with the world around them, and the Jedi of Star Wars seek harmony with the Force. But to me, the magic in Harry Potter doesn't get as far as invocational vs. incantational. It's more like the mutant powers of the X-Men in that it's something that certain characters are born with—in the world of Harry Potter, you accept it and move on [italics mine]. There's no religion or worship involved (other than references to Halloween and Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter), and only the evil dabble with the "Dark Arts." Thus children are taught Defense Against the Dark Arts as a subject in school.

You accept it and move on. It's just a story. And it doesn't pull you into the occult. It draws you up into God's Great Story.

Another example of good magic harmonizing with God's Greater magic is in Narnia where Prince Caspian uses Susan's horn. This is musical magic. "Caspian blows on this divinely provided instrument in his crisis. By sounding a note in obedience and faith, Caspian harmonizes with the underlying fabric and rules of the Emperor over the Sea, and help promptly and provincially arrives."

My friend Megan had some insight as well:

The whole series was just amazing. And for all the complaining christians do (who usually have not even read it) about how we should beware involving ourselves in witchcraft, they seem to miss the mark almost entirely. Reading with discernment is important in anything you read, we should never stop thinking and discerning, but the magic is a plot device, a motif, just as Narnia is, to teach us about our real world by taking us up out of it. We all need to be discerning, and no one "has" to read the books- but anyone warning emphatically against them who HASN'T read them through needs to keep in mind, for all their opinions, in the end, they actually don't REALLY know what it's about.

Her comment about missing the mark entirely is a good one. Like I've already said, these books are not about magic. "An Orthodox Christian bishop has noted that Harry haters 'have missed the spiritual forest for the sake of their fixation on the magical imagery of the literary trees." There are robust and deep Christian imagery in these books. There are so very many good things to be learned through the story. The story is not about magic.

And finally, I'll revisit the fear of HP as a gateway to the occult. I personally believe that HP does not lead anyone into invocational/bad magic any more than LOTR, Narnia or the Bible does. I suppose that cannot be proved, but I have not heard that Satanic followers have increased b/c of HP. "And even if children were being seduced into the occult because of their desire to do spells, I have to hope this would be understood by thinking people as a shameful, tragic aberration, more indicative of the child's spiritual formation than a danger in the books." There is much to be gained in the books and no fear to be had. In my opinion of course.

(After having bought Looking for God in Harry Potter and committed to reading it and reviewing it, I found out that he wrote another book summarizing the complete series - How Harry Cast His Spell. I'll just finish this book and get the next when I'm done!)