Harry Potter, youthful student-wizard at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has piloted his trusty broomstick into the popular culture and public consciousness. He has brought with him some magical friends, as well as fodder for debate on whether young minds can be corrupted by stories about children casting spells that, among other things, turn mice into snuffboxes.
As usual, the party poopers are some conservative Christians (them again) who think that anything associated with witches and magic must be the work of the devil and yet another sign that Armageddon is about to crash around our ears.
Since I am an evangelical Christian as well as a political conservative, I usually pay attention and often agree when conservative Christians speak out. Still, I must part ways with those who see the visage of Satan behind Harry's goofy spectacles and winsome grin. I believe they have misplaced something which should be to Christians – of all people – second-nature: their sense of wonder.
C.S. Lewis, one of the most admired 20th century Christian writers, wrote incisive and profound theological books for adults. He also wrote such books for children. Only he didn't call them theology books. He called them fairy tales. These were stories of magic and wonder. Lewis believed that cultivating a sense of wonder – of the possible hidden just behind the ordinary – was key to a healthy view of oneself as related to the outer and inner worlds.
Today, television, movies and books are replete with stories of u201Crealu201D kids facing u201Crealu201D challenges. The realists among us (my son will tell you that I, regrettably, am one more often than I need to be) nod with approval that such stories teach children what life is u201Creally like.u201D
Lewis, ever insightful, was suspicious of such stories. He believed that tales of triumphs in fanciful worlds were healthier than those of successes in the real world. To him, the issue of the fanciful tale was a continuing happiness of the imagination – while that of the realistic story was the reader's discontent that he or she wasn't the sports champion or the school hero and would likely remain that way. Lewis believed that this was because realistic stories caused readers to dwell on themselves, while fanciful stories caused them to delight in imaginary possibilities.
Lewis wrote that adult readers are also susceptible:
The dangerous fantasy is always superficially realistic. The real victim of wishful reverie does not [thrive] on the Odyssey, The Tempest…: he (or she) prefers stories about millionaires, irresistible beauties, posh hotels, palm beaches…things that really might happen, that ought to happen, that would have happened if the reader had had a fair chance. For, as I say, there are two kinds of longing. The one is…a spiritual exercise, the other is a disease.
Lewis further felt that fantasy stories got readers in touch with their spiritual sides, and that good magic was a legitimate allegory for the power of the Christian God. In one of Lewis's most-read stories, u201CThe Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,u201D several typical English youths find in their attic a portal to a magical world ruled by the lion-king, Aslan, who typified Christ. Other Lewis stories also convey the Christian message through the proxy of magic and other fanciful ideas and characters.
Some would say that using magic and witches to convey spiritual truths is illegitimate; that the Bible itself condemns witches and their work. But the Bible is clearly condemning the contacting and summoning of the power of evil to do selfish bidding.
The character of Harry Potter is nothing if not good and self-sacrificing. He also recognizes, and does his best to resist, the pull of dark magic. He is one of an honored series of youthful characters who set the course to their destinies by confronting evil and choosing good. For better or for worse, but mostly for better, they teach our children.
For me as a youth, my heroes and role models leapt and soared through the slim, colorful pages of u201CSpider-Man,u201D u201CFantastic Fouru201D and u201CMighty Thoru201D comic magazines. My mom called them u201Cthose funny-books.u201D But to me they were conveyers of that delicious u201Cwhat-ifu201D feeling of the nearly possible, the should-be possible, the maybe possible. Their characters were superhuman, yet still human. They were people like me, yet different in ways only supernatural. They were wonderful. So perhaps, in another world, I could be, too.
Sheer fancy? Maybe not. The need for wonder is, I believe, God-given, and is meant to lead us to something. The Bible says that u201Ceye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.u201D So who can say what is possible?
Harry and his friends – in their earnest, brave and magical manner – perhaps give us some clues.
December 19, 2001
