November 11, 2002

Some find gospel truths hidden in Harry Potter
___By Shelvia Dancy
___Religion News Service
___WASHINGTON (RNS)--As the latest silver-screen version of Harry Potter's kid-wizardry arrives this month with the usual glimpse into a world of muggles and magic, two Christian writers say the stories offer more--a glimpse of the gospel.
___"Some people will tell you they've found 64 specific places where Harry Potter illustrates witchcraft, but my approach was that I could do the same thing and find the gospel," said Connie Neal, author of the book "The Gospel According to Harry Potter: Spirituality in the Stories of the World's Most Famous Seeker."
___"I found more than 80 parallels," she said. "Once you start looking for it, you get an eye for it and you see it everywhere you look."
___In fact, the Potter books "are an enormous opportunity for speaking about Christian themes and truths and ideas," according to Francis Bridger, principal of Trinity Theological College in Bristol, England.
___"The books open the door for talking about things such as right and wrong, the nature of faith, loyalty, bravery and trust," said Bridger, who wrote "A Ch armed Life: The Spirituality of Potterworld."
___"We can use the books for the sake of the gospel rather than shutting the door on them," he insisted.
___Bridger, who stumbled upon Potter while volunteering to read to schoolchildren, said he's done just that during speaking engagements at churches.
___"I think they're really quite surprised to hear me as a Christian minister standing there saying, 'You can enjoy these books,'" Bridger said. "The fact that this is on safe territory--stuff that they know--means a lot of people are more receptive to hearing about the Christian gospel. I'm able to point beyond the Harry Potter stuff to say, 'There's another story that's even more important than this, and that's the story of the gospel.'"
___One of the most basic biblical parallels surfaces in the story of the death of Harry's parents, Neal said.
___"The story opens with Lord Voldemort throwing the curse of death to kill Harry's father, but when he throws the curse at Harry, (Harry's mother) jumps in front to take the curse of death and she dies," said Neal, a former youth pastor. "That's the story of Jesus' death for our sins."
___Another parallel is the story of Lord Voldemort himself. "He's a wizard who went bad, worse than worse," Neal said. "That, in a nutshell, is the gospel message throughout the Old and New Testament--that before the world began there was an angel who went bad, worse than worse."
___In the story of Harry's entry into a world of magic via train platform nine and three-quarters--a stop invisible to most--Bridger sees "quite a neat parable for the Christian faith."
___"Harry enters this magical world by faith," Bridger pointed out. "At platform nine and three-quarters, he's invited to go from the ordinary world to the magical world and he has to do so by a leap of faith. It's quite a significant comment about the nature of faith."
___Neal said author J.K. Rowling's tales of good battling evil parallel a constant biblical theme, and the author's reflections on the nature of evil are "brilliant."
___"If she is not writing from some deep understanding of the biblical definition of evil, she must have picked it up from somewhere, because the evil nature she depicts is exactly in keeping with what the Bible teaches about the nature of evil," Neal said.
___The Potter books also reveal, as does the Bible, that "bad guys come disguised," she said.
___"The Bible says evil masquerades as light," she noted. "Look at the facade of Quirrell in book one. He acted like he was Harry's friend, but behind the scenes he was the one who tried to kill Harry in the Quidditch match. He came to kill, to steal and to destroy."
___Although there isn't any discussion of God in Rowling's books, she does "write about all these profound things that are the stuff of Christianity," Bridger said.
___"She's not trying to write a religious book, but I think the underlying themes have very strong implications," he said. "We read about the nature of friendship, what it means to be loyal, how to act in ways in which evil is defeated and right wins. Those are all very profound spiritual and religious things."
___Bridger, who compares the Potter stories to the Narnia Chronicles of C.S. Lewis, said he understands the concerns of those alarmed by the liberal sprinkling of magic throughout Rowling's books.
___"I understand their concerns because if I believed the Potter books were based on occult principles I would be the first to caution people to avoid them," he said. "But the more you read them, it becomes clear that the magic here is not intended as occult magic any more than the magic in fairy tales or (J.R.R.) Tolkien's Middle Earth or C.S. Lewis' Narnia."
___Neal said she doesn't expect readers will "accept all my musings," but for "Christians who want to communicate with the world, you have to know the cultural language."
___"Anyone working with this generation of people has a challenge in that we have to find a way to relate biblical truths in relevant ways, and one of the easiest ways to do it is tying it into pop culture," said Neal, who once held neighborhood Harry Potter/Bible study groups at her home. "Almost every kid on the block knows the Harry Potter stories. Like any good missionary, you learn the language and the culture--you don't go and demand that they learn yours."

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