www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Last Harry potter book

Zenovia,

Have you read any of J.R.R. Tolkien's works or C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia?" Also, what do you think of classic fairy tales, Hans Christen Andersen, Brothers Grimm, etc?

I'm just curious because all through Christian history, writers have told tales that were mythical (involving magic, dragons, faeries, etc.) and those tales were, mostly, seen as parables or lessons. I don't see how Harry Potter is any different. I'm not an avid reader of the series but I"ve read some of the first novel and watched a few of the movies and I saw nothing objectionable in them. In fact, as Gordo and PJ have pointed out, there are value lessons on virtue to be learned in these books. God bless.

Joe

PrJ,

We have some friends of ours that took a similar position. I was very concerned about the books, until my wife and I stumbled acros a copy of "The Prisoner of Azkarban" while visiting Italy on pilgrimage and I was hooked! (Imagine, walking around the holy places and historical sites of Assisi and Rome, and I found it difficult to set the book down...such was the "spell" I was under!) Our friends attended a Church where the RC priest told the parents that it was a mortal sin to allow their children to read the Harry Potter books. After reading it ourselves, we disagreed with his assessment. If any of our kiddos were inclined towards the occult or occult practices, it might be a different story.

Thanks for the link.

Gordo

Dear Joe,

I was thinking about fairy tales even before you mentioned it, and how magical they are, and what would differentiate them and the Harry Potter books. I think the difference is age, and that 'young' children have vivid imaginations, and can't differentiate between reality and that which isn't reality.

I think I would relate the Harry Potter stories to the current TV series about 'good' witches. What would separate a 'good' witch from a bad one? It seems that both the Harry Potter series, and the TV series that are so prevalent today, tend to influence and introduce older children, and young adults to the magical world of the occult.

Fairy tales are not generally read after a certain age...or they shouldn't be. That's what a teacher told me when I picked one up to read at the age of ten.

Zenovia

P.S. I think I better add that I haven't read any of the books, nor seen any of the movies...so frankly, I don't know what I'm talking about.

I have already pre-ordered my copy of the last book. At one point, I heard objections to the books, and wondered if they were suitable reading. Two incidents happened that changed my mind - well, one changed my mind, the other just annoyed me. The annoying one first. A fundamentalist teacher came into the library raving about witchcraft in the Potter books and that she wasn't going to let anyone in her class read them without a note from a parent. The principal overruled her, of course, but I couldn't resist adding, "aren't you a little old to still be believing in witches?" What changed my mind was an eight-year-old third grader who said, "they're not real." He was right, they are not real, just fantasy writing to be read and not taken too seriously. So, does Harry die, does Dumbledore resurrect like the phoenix, and is Snape good or evil? I will find out in July.

Wondering,

I think you are correct. Harry Potter bites the proverbial dust - but he does it destroying the evil that took his parents. Ron and Hermione carry on the memory of Harry and eventually become instructors at Hogwarts, telling stories about the most powerful wizard - Harry Potter, who was their friend.

Sniff, sniff. The End

Gordo

The devil's greatest triumph is in convincing people that he does not exist. If you truly believe that evil personified and his devotees do not exist, than you are in the same boat as the eight year old. There are things that I have seen of which I will not speak, but I KNOW that evil exists. You would be wise to dothe same.

Alexandr

Witches do exist, I had one come to my office (I think she wanted acupuncture to quit smoking.) I asked her about what she did and she said that the was a bona fide witch!

She was tattooed with all of the symbols and was pierced in her ears (about 10 in each ear,) in her nose, her lip, her bely button, two piercings that were covered by her shirt (*ahem*) and one *down there*

I told her that her junk jewelry (the ear jewelry was green!) was throwing of anything that I could do with acupuncture and that she would have to take that stuff out to get any result. She never came back.

I haven't read the books, I have only read the Bible once and I think that I should re-read it before anything else. And, I don't really enjoy fiction, it takes too long, I'd rather watch a movie.

I haven't seen the movies either, I have movies that I think would be a better use of my time to watch first.

(I'm not judging anyone who likes them, I don't know anything about the movies or stories.)

But, my question is what is the world view of the series?

In the fairy tales and in the English writers there is a Christian world view. Case in point, the dragon is a symbol for the devil specifically or paganism by way of analogy. Dragons are always evil in the stories. Or they give knowledge with a horrible price (Genesis?) that has to be paid for gaining it.

Maybe that is the difference. Is the magic used for good or evil? Is there a clear sense of right and wrong? Or is there equivocation?

Zenovia,

I've also heard that those who do magic in Tolkien's and Lewis' books are not humans. The Elves and Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings are not human, those humans who did magic in the Lord of the Rings were evil (or so I've been told, I'm not a Tolkien scholar.)

I've also been told that no human did magic in the Chronicles of Narnia except the evil ones.

I'm open to correction on this one as I've only seen the movies and haven't read the books.

Sometimes they read like Leviticus!

Dr. Eric

PS No I never got an itch or a lazy fingerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Oh oh!

Yes, evil does exist. However, much of witchcraft, palm reading, ouiji, spells, etc., as commonly practiced, are sheer silliness. I will accept that some of the practitioners of the above are gullible and deluded. I suspect that there is little, if any, real power behind any of it.

What would you say to the fact that most cases of demonic possession that I am familiar with can be directly attributed to the use of a ouija board? Not merely Obsession or Oppression, but actual Possession. A fool deals lightly with that of which he has no understanding.

Alexandr

From the book, Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts:

"What this means is that the nature of ultimate reality, the fundamental metaphysical truth, is loving relationship. God from all eternity has existed as a loving relationship among three persons. Moreover, God loves all His creatures so deeply that He was willing to sacrifice Himself to show how much He loves them and wants them to love Him in return. ... If this is true, the story about Harry Potter's mother and the power of her blood is a reflection of one of the deepest truths about reality, namely, that all of us are loved by One who was willing to spill his blood and die for us. Furthermore, the love of Harry's mother is a picture of the fact that love is a greater and more powerful thing than evil and death. It was her sacrificial love that protected Harry when Voldemort and Quirrell tried to kill him. ... As Dumbledore explains to Harry, the one thing Voldemort cannot understand is love (SS, p. 299). His way of life is the complete opposite of love. Rather than being willing to sacrifice himself for others, he is willing to sacrifice innocent beings for his own selfish purposes." ("Heaven, Hell and Harry Potter" pages 74-75)