Harry Potter vs. Lord Of The Rings

Harry Potter Critique
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,
by J.K. Rowling

I have had many questions regarding the Harry Potter books. Many of the critiques I have read are coming from Christian groups stating that is Satan’s book and it will destroy children’s minds. Although I agree with some of the criticisms that this is a book that introduces witchcraft to children like no other, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will become witches and disavow their Christian faith.

However, keep in mind that children have not yet formulated clearly their faith or the concepts of absolute truth like adults. I have read letters from parents stating that they have read the Harry Potter books with their children and have not noticed any negative effects that would undermine their faith. My question would be, how do they know? These concepts and ideas may not come to fruition for years.

When I was introduced to Tarot cards and Quija boards in my pre-teen years I would have said that they had no negative effect on me. In fact, I thought they were fun. But they introduced me to a concept that contacting spirits was okay and that the spirits were friendly. Therefore, it was easier for me to get involved in divination, psychic readings, and the like because it was familiar and what I thought to be safe. How wrong I was.

Christians who have criticized the Harry Potter books have been met with criticism themselves. I have read statements saying that Christians are alarmist and are overreacting…The characters are fictional not real… At least they get children to read when they normally would not…There are many books have had witches in them, what is so bad about Harry Potter? In other words, what is the big deal?

I subscribe to a conservative book club and each month I receive their list of recommendations and with it they include a monthly newsletter with a critique or praise of certain books. In this newsletter they outlined how they select children’s books to make sure that they are of good teachings and concepts that would not offend or undermine a Christian’s faith. One the editors in the Homeschooling Division, Dan Neyer specializes in fiction, especially the bold imaginary variety one associates with classic fairy tales of J.R.R Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. They asked him his opinion of the Harry Potter books and this is his critique.

Dan begins his review of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by distinguishing himself from other Christians, who “condemn all works that contain witches, wizards, and magical elements. Using that criteria,” he observes, “we would have to eliminate many of the great works of Western civilization, such as The Tempest, The Chronicles of Narnia, the Magic Walking Stick, the Princess and the Goblins and Tennyson’s Idylls of the King.”

“It is not so much the presence of magical elements as the absence of something else that mars the Harry Potter books, explains Dan. “The classic Christian works exemplified by the classic fairy tales of our civilization always emphasize that it is the dumb third brother with the good heart who triumphs over evil. He is often aided by a wise magician or a good witch, but his success comes from the goodness of his heart. It is he who stops to feed the blind beggar or to help the old woman of the glen.”

“This tradition is perfectly in keeping with the spirit of the Gospels. It is not enough therefore to have magicians who are good. The magicians must have a subordinate place in the story to the good hero. In The Idylls of the King, Merlin’s powers are subordinate to Arthur’s power, which is the power of innate, Christ-centered goodness. As Christ renounced the temptation in the desert to use magic to convert, and as Christ refused to use magic to save his own life on the cross, so must the hero of a true fairy tale renounce all magic that is not subordinate to the reign of charity.”

“The wizards in Harry Potter’s books are not subordinate to the hero with the good heart; they are the heroes. They are the modern, post Christian heroes. But they are very old heroes. They are the Gnostic’s fantasy heroes. Gnosticism is Christianity without Christ’s humanity. And the literature of Gnosticism has wizard heroes but no human heroes. Indeed the humans in this book are boorish, dumb, and worthless. Which is the way the Gnostic always regards humanity. The popularity of this humanity-hating book is perfectly in tune with this anti-human of centuries.”

That is the best critique of the Harry Potter books I have ever read.

Still skeptical? Consider this, let us compare the Harry Potter books against J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy “Lord of the Rings”. The two central characters, Harry Potter and Frodo Baggins have something in common, both have had supernatural, witchcraft-type powers bestowed upon them. If you are familiar with both stories, what did each character do with that power?

Harry Potter embraces and learns how to harness the power. However, what does Frodo Baggins do with that power? What is his primary goal throughout the trilogy? His goal is not to embrace that power, his goal is to throw it away. Although at the end of the book Frodo succumbs to the power himself. Tolkien demonstrates that even a man with a strong will and a good heart alone cannot resist the temptation to be like God.

Tolkein, unlike J.K Rowlings recognizes that such power can only corrupt. The clear Christian message of "Lord of the Rings" is that we cannot resist temptation on our own. We need a savior. Which book teaches a more valuable lesson?

I cannot recommend the Harry Potter books to any child. These books are not necessarily a “how to” book on witchcraft, although there are some elements that suggest that, but it is a book that introduces children to post-modernism, moral relativism and Gnosticism. A recipe that cannot be good for our children’s ability later in life to separate truth from fiction regarding God, angels, demons or witches.

Brian Flynn