Book Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
In one of the few cases in which I will ever retract a previous, written statement, I have to say that I can no longer completely agree with what I wrote 6 years ago.
While I believe that we, as believers, need to be aware of becoming involved in demonic practices, I have seen far too many Gospel-centered teaching, conversing and Christian connecting happen using the Harry Potter books as a "common ground" for me to dismiss them.
Therefore, I serve myself up a heaping helping of crow, in a delicously, non-judgmentally baked slice of humble pie. Congrats to ya, JK Rowling... you may have been a huge cultural help to Christians everywhere!
Book: "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"
Author: J. K. Rowling
Available: In paperback or hardback at Amazon.com
Background: First printed in 1998, this children's book quickly sky-rocketed to the top of all the sales charts and also quickly became the target for many parents' groups that moved towards banning the book from schools and libraries. This book currently is the Number 1 most "challenged" (meaning, it is being considered for "banning") book of 1999, 2000 and it is in the running for 2001.
Summary: A young wizard baby is orphaned when his parents are killed during a battle with an evil wizard. He is then placed with a "Druggle" (regular person) family. At the age of ten, after years of abuse and insult at the hands of his aunt and uncle, Harry Potter is invited to attend Hogwart's School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. There, he must contend with hostile teachers, new experiences and the return of the evil wizard that killed his parents.
Mad Parts:
+ When Harry's aunt and uncle try and hide him from the mysterious invitations that can always find him. Amusing.
+ Harry's continuing success after the harsh treatment at the hands of his aunt and uncle. No matter your age, the desire to see harry succeed is infectious and you find yourself rooting for him.
Mad Props:
+ For a well-written book. J. K. Rowling did a superb job creating a fantasy world that we could step into and visit through Harry's eyes.
Mad Slops:
+ For paralleling "James and the Giant Peach" specifically and Roald Dahl generally. This book had the same sort of "tone" and "voice" that the former did and some of the parallels are pretty glaring. I'm not trying to imply anything, I'm just stating that if you've read any of Dahl's works, you might get a been-there, done-that feeling.
+ For basing an entire story-line around wizardry and witchcraft.
Mad Minister's Verdict:
I had a class this past Summer semester called "Communication Law & Ethics." One of the assignments for this class was to write a report on a "banned" book (in my case, I chose a "challenged" book) and place ourselves in the shoes of someone on the school/library board making the choice whether or not to ban the book. After looking on the American Library Association's website, I was reminded (by its prominent placement there) that the first Harry Potter adventure had been a hot topic and one of my pastors had actually mentioned it on a Sunday morning.
I thought and prayed long and hard over that particular project. Media is something close to my heart and Ted Stanton's Comm Law & Ethics class had made me think long and hard about issues of freedom of speech and religion and how those laws related to media, especially in the case of the process of "banning books." After seeing how strong a reaction the first Harry Potter book had garnered, I decided that this book needed to be the one I read and wrote my report on.
In the paper I wrote, I gave the decision that I would not vote to ban the Harry Potter book. My reasoning? That if one is to ban a book such as "Harry potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," then the book series "The Chronicles of Narnia" and others will not be far behind. Because I am not willing to take those quality, Christian classics out of the hands of children, I would not vote to ban Harry Potter, or any other book for that matter (within reason, of course - there are always extreme cases for consideration, so don't "Sound Off" about "what if-this" or "what if-that").
Now, as a book reviewer, I will say this: the Harry Potter books are very well written books. They're compelling and quickly engaging to children, teenagers and/or adults (being the latter, I found myself swept up into the story). J. K. Rowling did a great job setting up a fantasy world, creating memorable characters and crafting a first adventure for this endearing title character. Nobody can deny this and it is very easy to see why this series of books has caught on with children and parents alike. This is the kind of fairy tale that we don't often see being widely published and mass marketed in this day and age. And it is light-hearted and innocent… at first glance.
Now, I am not one to look for the "lurking evil" in each and every secular media piece. There's plenty of great secular media out there, and more often than not, the artistic quality is far better than the "Christian" stuff that gets put out. However, the bottom line with this particular book series is that it does promote witchcraft. Plain and simple. One could argue that "Well, they're good witches/warlocks" or "It's a positive, uplifting story that promotes following your dreams," and it does fit both of those statements.
While the witches/warlocks are good ones, it does portray witchcraft as being something that can possibly be good. And no matter what the perceived level of innocence is on the part of the author, the reader and the publisher, none of that discounts what the Bible has to say about witchcraft.
The Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, chapter 18, verse 10 states that anyone who "engages in witchcraft" is "detestable to the Lord." Take a second and get up and go look it up in your own Bible. I'll wait. Then, take a look at the New Testament book of Galatians, chapter 5, verse 20. "Witchcraft" is listed among the things that are of "the sinful nature." Now, neither of these verses is proof-texting. Taken in context, both Old Testament and New Testament, we're being warned about taking part in witchcraft.
And taking part never starts as "taking part." It starts as "just looking," or "just curious." And it progresses from there. While the Harry Potter books are great entertainment, they still invite us to view witchcraft as something that could inherently be good. And the fact of the matter is that if you are a follower of Christ, you cannot do so. We cannot take that chance at being drawn deeper into something that God calls us not to be.
So, my recommendation? If you're a follower of Christ and you're reading this, then I have to say I cannot recommend it to you, and I do this out of love rather than legalism.
Mad Points: 1 outta' 5. (Bolstered by a good story, good characterization and good writing.)