The Lessons of Harry Potter -- a reprised posting for a new movie

This Friday (November 19, 2010) Harry Potter again returns to the big screen with Part One of the film version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  Over the years these books have attracted millions of readers, both young and old, and the films have drawn in myriads more, but even as they have been among the most popular books and movies of the last two decades, they have had their share of controversy.  For the most part the criticism has come from Christians who dislike the fact that wizards and witches are the heroes of these tomes (never mind that the same can be said about the C.S. Lewis Narnia series).   Some of this is addressed in several pieces at David Crumm's blog Read the Spirit.

I probably won't be there opening night -- hate the crowds -- I shall see it soon enough.  But, in the interest of stimulating the conversation I am reposting a column I wrote for the Lompoc Record in 2005 (and subsequently reposted at other intervals) about the lessons the series offers us, about such things as morality, courage, and the like.

This column appeared as part of my Faith in the Public Square series that appeared at the Lompoc Record each Sunday for nearly four years. 

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Harry Potter offers important lessons

Earlier Published column ---

Faith in the Public Square
Lompoc Record/Santa Maria Times
November 20, 2005

Harry Potter hits the big screen once again this weekend, and I'm looking forward to the big event. I may be a 47-year-old pastor with a Ph.D. in theology, but I have been intrigued with Harry's story since I first read “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone” to my then 8-year-old son.

Praised by teachers, community leaders, and even some religious leaders, the series has not been without its critics. Critics from the Christian community charge the books with glorifying the occult, witchcraft and paganism.

Although the heroes may be wizards and witches, witchcraft is not the point of the books, nor is it their main attraction. They are attractive because they are imaginatively written, and they strike young and old alike with a sense of empowerment and moral courage. Instead of leading children into Satanism, the books offer important lessons about courage, loyalty, determination, and even death.

Harry Potter follows in the footsteps of other beloved fantasy stories, including C.S. Lewis' beloved “Chronicles of Narnia”  and the “Wizard of Oz.”In many ways, Harry Potter may find its strongest parallels in the “Star Wars” movies. As with “Star Wars,” the intent of Harry Potter is not religious, but spiritual lessons are inherent in both series.

“Star Wars” and Harry Potter raise the question of good and evil, posing for us both the attractions and the dangers of evil, while helping us see that life is full of complex choices that are not always black and white. Harry Potter, like Luke Skywalker, is a hero who battles evil and makes choices that are at times ambiguous and even unsavory. He disobeys his elders, challenges authority, fudges the truth at times, and yet he is the hope of his community, the chosen one.Though it appeared that Darth Vader was to be the chosen one, he was lulled into evil and was redeemed by his son who resists the temptation of evil. Harry Potter also must resist the lure of evil so that he can save his own community from evil's threat.

Harry Potter is a risk taker and a questioner. He is wise beyond his years and takes a life-path that would be difficult for ones much older than he. Still, he consistently makes the right choices, and, like Luke, he goes in the company of friends who remain loyal to him, and he to them.Then there is the wise and sometimes distant figure of Dumbledore, who like Obi Wan, watches over Harry. Dumbledore gives Harry room to grow, to choose, and even to fail, but the hope of the community lies in Harry's hands and so Dumbledore is there to guide him.

There is another theme that runs through the series.Harry is marked, even protected, by the sacrificial love of his mother who had died at the hands of his nemesis Lord Voldemort. A scar on his forehead forever stands as a reminder of his mother's love that turned away the evil designs of Voldemort and continues to protect him as he matures.

Though I cannot read my own theology into Ms. Rowling's words and images, her description of an act of love does remind me of something I read in my Scriptures about one whose death serves as a sign of divine love for humanity. Even as Harry acts in response to his mother's love, I, too, seek to act in response to this expression of love given from a Roman imperial cross.

Harry Potter is not for everyone. The books become darker and more intense as the series and Harry mature, with death, disappointment, and loneliness looming larger in the later volumes. Parents of younger children may want to read and discuss the books with their children, but if you choose to read (or watch the movie), take note of the message of courage, of loyalty, of persistence, and of love that mark these books as a worthy read for people of all ages.

Dr. Bob Cornwall is Pastor of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Lompoc.

November 20, 2005

Media New and Old -- Sightings

Media comes in all forms these days.  Yes, even this blog could be considered a form of new media.  I don't pretend to be a journalist, though I was a member of an award winning high school newspaper staff.  Back page editor my senior year!

Well, enough about my journalist credentials.  Martin Marty gives a report on a conversation about media at the Religion Communication Congress -- an event that occurs every ten years.  The topic of conversation, of course, had to do with the changing fortunes of media.  Indeed, like so many churches, they wondered how to reach the younger generations, the ones not so tied to paper!  Read on, offer your thoughts.

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Sightings 4/12/10

Media New and Old

-- Martin E. Marty

Every ten years a Religion Communication Congress meets, as it did last weekend in Chicago. I attended, as is my decennial habit. Though I could not stay to the end, I did get to chair a panel on “How Social Change is Changing Media Coverage of Religion.” The hundreds of attendees got to hear sundry biggies in the communications-and-religion fields, had good times, and did other things which are very important to those/us in those fields. The RCC and associated hosts performed well, as they have done ten and twenty and more years ago.

The theme was “Embracing Change: Communicating Faith in Today’s World.” Faith at RCCongress means “many faiths,” denominations, agencies, service organizations, et cetera. Picture every person in all of them being very busy these years, as the breathless pace of developments in communications – we don’t have to spell them out here! – and the drastic changes in the context of what is covered or addressed by these communicators should induce anxiety beyond that which afflicts people in this business even in quieter times. This brings us to the point that is relevant to the mission of Sightings.

Against all odds, the Congress folk, aware as people in communications are trained to be, are jostled but not undone by the changes and challenges. Some have been dragged screaming into the technical world in which they must operate. No one seems secure or untroubled. Yet the plenary sessions, the workshops, the interviews, the hotel hall chats, also confirmed that these survivors from earlier communications eras (which were ending around 1970 when RCCongresses got started) relish the tasks to which they feel called. They know that what Joseph Schumpeter observed about capitalism is true in their field, that “creative destruction” makes old instruments, methods, and treatments obsolete. Keynote homilist Pastor Otis Moss III had the gathering learn to chant “Moses is dead!” (Joshua 1:2), not because values associated with Moses are outdated, but because the means of continuing his work keep changing -- and no one can hide from the changes.

Much of the talk had to do with the failure of most media and messengers to reach and serve and gather newer generations, who never did know “Moses,” as well as the indifferent seculars who had never been touched. Still, for all the realism in diagnosis and practical envisioning going on, the Congress people did not seem to be done in. The historian in me says: Moses “dies” in every generation. The promised land is always partly out of reach. If I, a print media hanger-on shaped in the middle of the twentieth century, were starting out now, I would be bewildered, tempted to be immobilized by questions: How would I get the ear of these generations when pop culture provides their mental and spiritual environment? How would I keep up in an internet world which adds new data and opinions by the second? Should I try to? Which gatekeepers should I trust, and should there be gatekeepers? How best would I put my journalist-school learning to work?

But while I would keep asking such questions, others would have moved on, inventing, experimenting. One hears little at such congresses of jettisoning the traditions which the name Moses evokes. One hears much about how hard it is to reach, converse with, and learn from the hoped-for publics. I would lose credibility if I suggested that someone has the formula for dealing with radical change. But I would also lose it if I reported on people defeated.

For Further Information:

The RCCongress website is http://www.rccongress2010.org/.


Martin E. Marty's biography, current projects, publications, and contact information can be found at www.illuminos.com.


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In this month’s Religion and Culture Web Forum, Web Forum editor emeritus Spencer Dew explores the relationship between Jack Kerouac’s religious thought and its expressive practice in the act of writing: “Indeed, his entire oeuvre can be read as an expression of his personal religious stance, a kind of ‘fusion’ of Catholic theology with notions taken from Buddhist philosophy and practice.”

Through a close reading of Kerouac’s novella Tristessa, Dew suggests that such a fusion—despite exemplifying Kerouac at his writerly best—leads to a solipsism that is ethically troubling, and likely reflective of Kerouac’s personal and professional shortcomings—especially later in his life. “Devotion to Solipsism: Religious Thought and Practice in Jack Kerouac’s Tristessa,” with invited responses from Benedict Giamo (University of Notre Dame), Nancy Grace (College of Wooster), Sarah Haynes (University of Western Illinois), Kurt Hemmer (Harper College), Amy Hungerford (Yale University), Omar Swartz (University of Colorado, Denver), Matt Theado (Gardner-Webb University), and Eric Ziolkowski (Lafayette College). http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/webforum/index.shtml



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Sightings comes from the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.