‘From Harry Potter to Jesus Christ’ is a good example of engaging aspects of our wider culture, in this case Harry Potter, with the Good news of God’s love to us in the person of Jesus Christ. It is provided by Joe Egerton from the online Journal of the British Jesuits, ‘Thinking Faith’.

Joe Egerton shows how Harry Potter can help us to enter into conversation with non-Christians about central aspects of the Christian faith. For example, the theme of virtues such as constancy, courage, friendship and love are all in J K Rowling’s life of Harry Potter. Other central aspects of the Christian faith also appear in Harry Potter: freewill, evil, death, life after death, personal responsibility and repentance.

Of course there are aspects of Harry Potter’s life that are not easily engaged with the Gospel and sometimes we may try too hard. For example, Joe Egerton uses ‘the resurrection stone’ in Harry Potter to converse with the catholic practice of appealing to the saints for help. Personally, I would chose to converse about other themes. But the challenge of entering into spiritual conversation is put before us and I am grateful for the analysis and thoughtfulness of the article.

All in all, a good example of engaging  our culture in conversation with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Article, From Harry Potter to Jesus Christ.