Christianity and Literature
Haven't been blogging for awhile, reason being - I have been spending quite a bit of time catching up on my reading. Books on my reading lists include: Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward, Daniel Bell's Coming of Post-industrial Society and Edgar Snow's Red Star over China (Mandarin Translation - that explains the snail-paced rate).
In the process of managing my email box, happened to come across an email sent by an old friend regarding the Harry Potter series (yes I know now's Da Vinci season); nevertheless, thought i'll rehash my reply to her down here. Just so in order to articulate my stand on the role and significance of Christianity in the realm of literature.
Here's it:
Her email:
BEn, are u in favour of Harry Potter?
This article sent shudders down my spine..... have a read, the link is there.
http://www.bibleplus.org/Potter.htm
and my reply:
I haven't read any - and I don't intend to - of the Harry Potter books yet, so I wouldn't be able to comment on the validity of these observations. Its not surprising however, given the nature of the contents (and the popularity of the books) to find evangelical Christians up in arms against the book... in fact, you'll be surprise to find many mainstream Christians arguing against mythological beasts (like those from LOTR and Chronicles of Narnia... although the fact that both Tolkien and CS Lewis are well-documented Christians mitigates the criticisms).
Furthermore, many of us Christians seem to forget that the gift of creativity and imagination is something that God has given to us - and if put to good use (Bunyan, TS Eliot) provides an excellent tool in which to communicate the gospel truth - in ways that are both meaningful and inspirational.
based on my random observations, I think the Harry Potter series are probably entertaining enough - at least for the casual and less-discerning reader. What it lacks however, is the transcendental mythology that is of the stuff of LOTR and Narnia... time will tell whether it stays on the best-seller lists (the same can be said for Da Vinci Code actually).
Last but not least, as Christians, we need to avoid the 'devil behind every bush and angel behind every empty parking lot' syndrome - which is what many charismatic churches tend to do
In the process of managing my email box, happened to come across an email sent by an old friend regarding the Harry Potter series (yes I know now's Da Vinci season); nevertheless, thought i'll rehash my reply to her down here. Just so in order to articulate my stand on the role and significance of Christianity in the realm of literature.
Here's it:
Her email:
BEn, are u in favour of Harry Potter?
This article sent shudders down my spine..... have a read, the link is there.
http://www.bibleplus.org/Potter.htm
and my reply:
I haven't read any - and I don't intend to - of the Harry Potter books yet, so I wouldn't be able to comment on the validity of these observations. Its not surprising however, given the nature of the contents (and the popularity of the books) to find evangelical Christians up in arms against the book... in fact, you'll be surprise to find many mainstream Christians arguing against mythological beasts (like those from LOTR and Chronicles of Narnia... although the fact that both Tolkien and CS Lewis are well-documented Christians mitigates the criticisms).
Furthermore, many of us Christians seem to forget that the gift of creativity and imagination is something that God has given to us - and if put to good use (Bunyan, TS Eliot) provides an excellent tool in which to communicate the gospel truth - in ways that are both meaningful and inspirational.
based on my random observations, I think the Harry Potter series are probably entertaining enough - at least for the casual and less-discerning reader. What it lacks however, is the transcendental mythology that is of the stuff of LOTR and Narnia... time will tell whether it stays on the best-seller lists (the same can be said for Da Vinci Code actually).
Last but not least, as Christians, we need to avoid the 'devil behind every bush and angel behind every empty parking lot' syndrome - which is what many charismatic churches tend to do
posted by Benjamin Ho at
5:06 AM
1 Comments:
Benjamin, you should check out Father Roderick's tremendous podcast series called the "Secrets of Harry Potter." http://www.sqpn.com/scripts/harrypotter.php. He gives a detailed analysis of both Christian and non-Christian themes in the series, and pulls a tremendous amount of theological truth out of the series. I personally love them!
Also, Lewis does have a great essay on this in one of his books, entitled "Christianity and literature." ck out this link list; http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ26.HTM#MYTH%20AND%20IMAGINATION
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