Wizards, Witches and Hogwarts: Should Christians read the Harry Potter books?

By Rev. Todd A. Peperkorn

Good question! It so happens that I recently read the Harry Potter books. Harry Potter is a young boy (11-14 years old) who discovers that he is a wizard, and is sent off to a school for witches and wizards called Hogwarts. There is magic, potions, spells, a game played on broomsticks called Quidditch, and a bad guy named Lord Voldemort who is out to get Harry Potter.

Along the way, Potter deals with the struggles young people face: conflicts with friends, difficulties with parents and other authority figures, growing pains, a crush, and identity questions. But it is given a fresh perspective because it isn’t taking place in a math class.

So how do Christians interpret this? We could ask the same question about horror movies, or the shows on television right now like BUFFY or ANGEL. As Christians, we know there is no way to completely separate ourselves from the world. Indeed, Christ Himself calls us the “salt of the earth” (Matt. 5:13). We can hardly be the salt of the earth if we remove ourselves from the world around us. At the same time, however, there are things that are right and wrong that we need to recognize.

So there are two basic views Christians can take. On the one hand, we are told in Luther’s Small Catechism, “We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise and give thanks.” If books like Harry Potter lead young people into an unhealthy and dangerous fascination with the occult, then we must be wary of it.

On the other hand, St. Paul used the poetry of the ancient Greeks as an opportunity to speak the Gospel. He quoted one in Acts 17:28,“for we are also His offspring.” It is possible for Christians to observe culture, books, movies and use them as a way to teach virtue and morality, or converse about the Christian faith. For instance, Martin Luther considered Aesop’s Fables (an ancient Greek book of stories to teach morality) to be the greatest literature and most important reading for Christians after the Bible!

We can also learn about how our culture understands magic. Magic in the Harry Potter books has nothing to do with God or Satan. It’s just magic. It’s secular, like science, only different. It’s not harmless, but it is morally and religiously neutral. Now we know differently, but we can learn a great deal from these books about how the world around us handles the supernatural.

So the bottom line is this: The Harry Potter books are fairly well written and creative. They have elements that clearly are not Christian, but the books may start a conversation on hard-to-talk-about topics. They certainly aren't great books, but they are probably less harmful than many other so-called “realistic fiction” books on the market today. In other words, read it for yourself, and then get your parents to read the books with you!

The Rev. Todd A. Peperkorn is Pastor at Messiah Lutheran Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He is the editor-in-chief of Higher Things.