16 May

The Gospel According to Harry Potter: Spirituality in the Stories of the World’s Most Famous Seeker

Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0664226019
Manufacturer: Westminster John Knox Press
Average Customer Review: (From 13 total reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

Product Description:
In a book that is sure to delight Harry Potter fans and spiritual seekers alike, Connie Neal embarks on an exploration into J.K. Rowling’s created world of magic and mystery and enumerates more than fity “Potteran” themes that can be seen as glimmers of the Christian gospel. With an arsenal of charming allusions and parallels, Neal persuasively demonstrates that Harry Potter need not be rejected as a threat to the Christian faith, as some have claimed. Written accessibly in short three- to four-page chapters, Neal’s The Gospel According to Harry Potter is both a much-needed stroke of interpretive genius and a fascinating reflection on our time’s most popular literary series. This is a must-read for everyone intrigued by the Harry Potter phenomenon.

Customer Reviews

The Deathly Hallows makes it very clear! by Charles D. Wood
Connie Neal’s book was written before the last book of the Harry Potter series. She can easily and confidently update it now that the series is finished and the truth is even more obvious. I was skeptical about a Gospel connection since I had given credence to the bad press on J.K. Rowling’s use of witchcraft before I actually read the series. (I am very ashamed of that now.) I did not comprehend her clever symbolism until I read the last three chapters of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows a second time; that’s when it hit me squarely between the eyes that Rowling did plow a road into the pagan world that any thinking Christian should be able to use.

Connie Neal caught on quickly to what should have been obvious to the careful reader. The compelling world of Harry Potter did not make paganism and Satanism attractive at all, but she used some of their terminology without any real promotion of real Wiccan style of witchcraft. Rowling’s witchcraft was her magic quill and amazing compelling storytelling craft. The parallels to paganism are themselves symbolic of fallen world and so Hogwarts School and the Muggles are various levels of philosophy and logical reasoning. I am afraid that most of us are in the lowest “Muggle” level. (I was more than most)

I am now praising God for J.K. Rowling’s genius and am so impressed with how she probably outdid C.S. Lewis and Tolkein both. That is hard for me to say because I have been such a fan of these great Christian thinkers and authors ever since I discovered them as a child. I did not fully understand what their stories were really about until later. I wish somebody would have told me the Gospel when I was a child, it would have been easy for them to use The Lord of the Rings as a vehicle to explain the sacrifice of Christ for the people that He created since I knew there must be something deep and profound about The Lord of the Rings, I just couldn’t make the connection for myself until later. I discovered Narnia later and Lewis’s “magic” was even clearer to my mind than Tolkein’s. (I understood because I had become a believer by that time.)

Not only did J. K. Rowling give us an important tool to reveal the Gospel truth, she taught me to not give up on those who need the Gospel most, those who are looking desperately for some sort of “magic” to help them have power over the madness and ugliness that is stealing hope from the dying world. Evil has been vanquished by the ultimate “Deathly Hallows” of the cross of Christ, now we must get the truth to those who haven’t understood 1 Corinthians 15:26 quoted by Rowling that “the last enemy to be destroyed is death.” Harry faced the question skeptically at first in symbolism, but his eventual personal discovery has given the neediest in the world the heads up that maybe death and suffering are considered an “enemy” by God. Jesus Christ did in reality what couldn’t even be conceived or believed by an uncomprehending, lost world! I also love the way that Harry discovered his treasure and his love was so much with his friends that he was willing to give his life to save them. (I risk giving away too much for those who haven’t yet read the Harry Potter series.) Don’t be afraid of what you don’t know yet.

I plan on helping people who do not know that evil, death and despair have been destroyed in reality. The law of God and the mercy of a loving Savior are still yet to be discovered, but they are well acquainted with Harry Potter’s world. It is no great leap now that the light has shone even deeper into the abysmal darkness of the pagan world thanks to J. K. Rowling and people like Connie Neal who have the vision to see and clarify the lost world’s obstructed view.

Tedious and petty by A. Sanders
I found Neal’s book to be an interesting approach to the controversy between Christian Potter lovers and haters, yet I felt it was a rather weak and unimpressive attempt on Neal’s part.

In Neal’s introduction, she claims to have a dual purpose in writing the book: 1) to present a counterargument to the idea that just because one can examine the series and “find things [that] can correlate to real-world occult practices” (Neal viii), this proves that the Harry Potter books are about witchcraft, and 2) “to interest people who have been turned off by traditional ways of communicating the [gospel] message” (Neal xiii).

To be fair, I do believe that Neal technically achieved both of these goals in her book; she does present a compelling counterargument to the idea that the Potter books are about witchcraft, and her writing does seem to have the potential to interest people in the gospel who have been turned off by traditional evangelistic methods.

However, I believe her first goal is achieved even before reaching the midpoint of the book, and the remainder of the book feels tedious and petty. Concerning her second goal, I believe the non-Christian reader’s interest may be piqued by Neal’s unconventional communication of the gospel, yet the author’s continual reemphasis of a handful of biblical truths seems likely to detract from the power of her evangelistic effort. The reader will likely experience déjà vu every few chapters: “Hasn’t the author previously explained, thoroughly, this exact same point half a dozen times?”

A word of advice for would-be authors: do not achieve your goals halfway through a book. If you find you have made your point after only 80 pages, end the book there. If you continue rambling, the readers will likely lose interest in the remainder of the book and, if they continue reading until the end, will walk away with a bad taste in their mouth. Visionary goals and insightful revelations only make a powerful impact on the reader if they are able to finish a book, reflect on the intriguing arguments presented within it, and walk away continuing to ponder what they have read.

Neal’s ideas in and of themselves have a strong potential to influence readers, but in actuality she significantly hindered her books’ potential by her presentation of these ideas.

Excellent Book by God’s Muggle
I loved the connections in this book to Bible passages. It is an enjoyable read all on it’s own and has a lot of “I never thought of that” ideas. Thank you Connie Neal!

A good answer. . . by BAW
to some “Christian” critics of HP. He doesn’t go as far as Granger does in his estimation of the relationship between HP and Christianity.

He wrote this fairly earl in the series; I wonder if there is anything that he would add or change now. (I think most analysies/commentaries on HP should come out in a revised edition after the seventh & last book is published.)

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Posted on Friday, May 16th, 2008 at 1:04 am under Paperback .

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