Harry Potter now required reading

Course focuses on boy wizard books
Prof sees parallels with the Christ story

ST. JOHN’S, NFLD. — Harry Potter has moved from the bestseller list to a university reading list. In a new course at Memorial University of Newfoundland, professor Jennifer Porter and her religious studies students are exploring biblical themes in the six books penned by British author J.K. Rowling. [See: The Gospel According to Harry Potter: Spirituality in the Stories of the World's Most Famous Seeker]

“I think there’s a sense that popular culture and media generally are ignoring religion or that religion doesn’t play a part in our popular consciousness anymore,” says Porter. “I want students to realize that religion permeates pop culture. It’s in the lyrics of songs they listen to, it’s in television shows.”

The story of Harry Potter, she says, bears a striking resemblance to the biblical story of Christ. Like Jesus Christ, the young wizard spends the first years of his life unaware of his great destiny, Porter says, but in the end both are the ones chosen to save a world in peril.

“Harry fights evil. He’s the one who was chosen to battle evil and defend the world from the greatest evil the wizard world has ever known,” she says.

Christ imagery is common in literature, from the Chronicles of Narnia to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. [See: Finding God in the Lord of the Rings]

The 48 students in Porter’s class will also explore the Christian themes of other cultural heavyweights, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Simpsons, Star Wars and the Tolkien trilogy.

“Far from living in a secular culture, we live in a very, very spiritual one. There’s religious themes and dimensions to just about every aspect of our contemporary culture,” Porter says.

For Karen Bailey, 22, the course was odd enough to be interesting. “You’re learning about stuff you’re actually interested in,” she says.

She hadn’t read any of the Potter books before taking the course. “Now I’m going to read the rest,” she says.

But not everyone is a fan. Pope Benedict has said the books corrupt the Christian faith. “These are subtle seductions that are barely noticeable, and precisely because of that have a deep effect and corrupt the Christian faith in souls even before it could properly grow,” he wrote in 2003.

But Porter says she’s hasn’t had any complaints about the course.

“I think some people think it’s a bit frivolous to study Harry Potter instead of the (Hindu) Vedas or the Bible,” she says. “But it’s interesting to look at those places where religion is to be found in our contemporary context.”

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