Why I'm Writing About Harry Potter Now
For various reasons (none of them good) I never finished reading Harry Potter when the books were new. Fortunately, I have remedied that in recent weeks. I really enjoyed finishing the story and wanted to write some of my reflections. As you may have gleaned from my ability to put off the ending to such a gripping tale for several years, I'm not an expert on the story or the wizarding world, nor am I an expert on the author and her intentions. The following is absolutely my own interpretation of and reaction to the story and is in no way intended as comprehensive literary criticism nor as a necessarily unique interpretation.Incidentally, I also just read through 1 Corinthians, a verse of which is engraved on Harry's parents' tombstone--"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." I shall thus frame my meditation around 1 Corinthians 15.
The Good News -- Unrelated to Harry Potter
1 Corinthians 15 begins with perhaps the most concise historic / factual account of the gospel (i.e., the good news that Jesus came to proclaim).
- Christ (Jesus) died for our (i.e., every person's) sins in accordance with Scriptures
- He was buried and rose on the third day in accordance with Scriptures
- He appeared to his disciples and then over 500 witnesses (i.e., this was Paul's challenge to say 'go ask people who were there--we're not making this stuff up)
- He then appeared to the apostles (i.e., those he commissioned to plant the early churches), and finally of those Paul, author of the letter
- Summary: The good news Jesus preached was of his own victory over death that that was effectual in paying for the sins of all people. Our relationship with God was restored and hope given not only to the Jews, but to the Gentiles as well.
While I could (and have, and will) discuss other aspects and implications of the gospel ad nauseam, the main point I want to meditate on is that the actual good news is about Jesus, not about others who demonstrate entailments of the gospel or are types and reflections of the actual savior. While Harry Potter is the 'savior' of his story, I am not making a claim that he models or reflects Jesus, nor that the analogies I will later draw relate to the gospel, which is first and foremost good news of Jesus.
Characters: How Do I Fit in the Story?
When I read fiction, I like to try and immerse myself in the story. Perhaps I will try to identify with one of the characters and attempt to empathize based on my experience or hypothetical reactions to their situations. One of the things I love most about Harry Potter is the richness with which characters are developed and portrayed. The other thing I love is the story itself, which I think Rowling tells beautifully through her characters.
Not Harry
Harry as savior was great from a human standpoint because he relied so much on other people in order to succeed. The fact that he is not the only sacrificial lover makes the story all the richer. Add to that his character flaws (e.g., isolating rage, arrogance, pride) and not-infrequent uses of unforgivable curses, and we have a very human and pretty accessible protagonist.
However, Harry as savior also means I'm reticent to assume I'm intended to identify with him. The value or truthiness of the prophecy in the story is questionable, but it does suggest (as it plays out, anyway) that Harry is in some way unique--mostly in the circumstances of his receipt of love that protects him from death. At any rate, if I tend to see the story as about myself, then I have missed the point. I think we can certainly learn from Harry, but I didn't walk away thinking he was my vantage point in the story.
Perhaps, I thought, I was Ron: on the right team, perhaps largely unhelpful, but occasionally given a moment of glory and chance to be the hero. But I think the uniqueness of Harry's role as savior is that he is not the only savior, but the leading savior: without Ron and Hermione, Harry cannot succeed. Without Dumbledore's guidance (which admittedly he does submit to in a quasi-Son-to-Father way), Harry would be lost. Without his mother's love, he's just another casualty of Voldemort's megalomania.
Snape or Malfoy: The dilemma
Ultimately, however inelegant, I think the story frames it such that we want to emulate the heroes (Harry's ultimate selflessness, Ron and Hermione's loyalty, Neville's bravery), but I don't think we are the heroes--not to say a good deal of us do heroic things on small and even large scales. But on a cosmological level, I think the story does a fair job of relating to the sinner's plight: be like Draco Malfoy and assume superiority and remain loyal to the Dark Lord, aka the prince of this world, aka the Devil, or be like Snape, known to have allegiances to the Dark Lord but committed to remorse (i.e., repentance), suffering for our enemies, and a life of sacrifice without accolades or sometimes even base recognition.
The fact that Snape was at one point genuinely on the wrong side is what makes him seem more relate-able. For once, I too was an enemy of God. But only through true repentance and acceptance of another as my savior (not necessarily well-done by Snape), can I be justified and made whole. And the beauty of Snape's story is he suffered. He was miserable in his remorse and commitment to help his 'enemy' Potter and actually living in the world of the enemy, Voldemort. And he sacrificed for him (sure, it was for Lily, but for illustrative purposes let's say it was for Harry, of whom he was not fond).
Plot Points and Themes
Resurrection
Interestingly enough, 1 Corinthians 15 speaks at length of the importance of resurrection to the gospel: Jesus's death is only good news if in fact he rose from the dead--because that is the promise that we have. Since we have died to sin, we need new life, otherwise we have just plain died, there is no 'good news' to hold on to, and we (Christians) are to be pitied above all others (for wasting our lives on such foolishness).
But just as death came from one man (i.e., sin came into the world from the first sinner), so shall life come from the perfect man (perfect because he is God). In other words, the good news is Christ has conquered death, and he delivers his kingdom (that he conquered when he defeated death) to God, and he will reign until all enemies are vanquished--the last enemy to be destroyed is death.
The Harry Potter story has a lot of interesting thoughts on resurrection (e.g., the Resurrection Stone, Inferi, ghosts, corporeal memories). The interesting thing about the Resurrection Stone is that is that it is insufficient to bring people back--earthly death to earthly life is not satisfying. Rowling portrays some sort of afterlife, be it through portraits, ghosts, or whatever King's Cross was where Harry met Dumbledore, and thus the magical version of resurrection in its actual sense is unsatisfying and morbid at best. Harry uses the stone for the purpose of memory, gathering strength from the loved ones who sacrificed for him--a great tale, but once again not reflective of the actual gospel which comes with actual resurrection to a new Earth, which is not being brought back from death into the same world in which we died. Here again is a great theme of memory and death that entertains but pales in light of truth. Still interesting that 1 Corinthians 15 says so much on resurrection when Deathly Hallows does as well.
Conquering Death
Ultimately, Harry Potter is about how love mysteriously conquers evil. Paul talks about the mystery of the resurrection, and in other places talks about the mystery of the gospel. The whole Jesus thing is pretty complicated from a human standpoint, but ultimately makes God seem a lot more glorious when we put into perspective that we're the kinds of people who betray those we love, or who pursue grandeur or immortality at the cost of other's lives or safety. But in the end, the sting of death (sin) is conquered through Christ who gives us victory.
To wrap it all together, the Deathly Hallows made the possessor victory over death only insofar as it made one conqueror of the fear of death. When God (also a trinity) is in us, we have conquered the fear of death, not necessarily psychologically, but spiritually because of the guarantee of an inheritance in the future kingdom that comes at the resurrection of those who call on the name of the true savior.
