God, the Devil, and Harry Potter: A Christian Minister's Defense of the Beloved Novels

by John Killinger

Book Overview

""The Potter stories, far from being 'wicked' or 'Satanic, ' ... are in fact narratives of robust faith and morality ... ""What Ms. Rowling has furnished us, besides what the Brits call 'a good read,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031230871X
• ISBN13: 9780312308711
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

An Interesting View on the Series

John Killinger's book is a fascinating read and one that I was eager to get started. I am a Christian who happens to be a Harry Potter fan and was eager to see if my thoughts on the series were in fact what others were thinking. I like the book for the most part, I truly do. I can see the analogies he makes very clearly and have often sited the same passages in my defense for the books. I do feel that he has left some details lacking and could have gone on to explain his hypotheses on certain areas a bit better. I found myself in certain sections agreeing wholeheartedly with his assertions (such as Harry Potter being the embodiment of hope for those he is trying to save much in the same way Jesus was viewed by his disciples) but on other areas I found myself scratching my head wondering where the heck he had gotten that information from. Some of it does appear to be pulled out of thin air or he stretches the reading so far that it fails to make any sense whatsoever. I would be interested to see another book such as this be released now that all the books in the series are released. I wonder what John Killinger would have to say about the "resurrection" of Harry at the end of book 7? What other symbolisms could be made from such simple things such as Dumbledore's core group of defenders being called the Order of the Phoenix (the phoenix in fact being a symbol for Jesus in history) or what he would have to say about the true master of death symbolism? It would be interesting to say the least. If you are not a huge fan of ancient mythologies or theologies you may find this book to be lagging in some areas. It may in fact bore a reader with only an interest in Harry Potter and not any of the hidden messages within the text. The only part that did annoy me a bit was what appeared to be simple errors when discussing the Harry Potter world, something that should have been more closely researched if he was releasing a book about that universe. In the first book Hagrid did not turn Vernon into a pig it was in fact Dudley. And in the third installment of the series a Patronous is not used to repel a boggart but instead it is used to repel dementors. These errors, although very trivial, do make me question his authenticity about his literature studies or his basic knowledge of the books he writes about. Does he truly care about the Christian world view on these books or is he in fact trying to profit off the Harry Potter series? It has to make you wonder just a bit! All in all I will be rating this book a 4 for several reasons: 1. The book is put together in a sensible fashion that makes for a very well-organized read. It also makes this book great research material since all the areas are easily marked for quick reference. 2. I do believe that his heart is in the right place and his views are so interesting. 3. His research into ancient texts, not just the Holy Bible, is interesting and must have taken much time to locate. I am very

What more can I say?

Dr. Killinger makes a lot of sense. If you've been worried about your children reading these books, please worry no more. And please take the time to understand what Dr. Killinger has to say. He doesn't just spout opinion, but explains his premise excellently. He's brilliant and right on point.

Good input into the debate

I had some trouble rating this book, three or four stars. I think that in defending Harry Potter some of the premises go too far but it is still interesting and an informative contribution. If it drives the reader to a dictionary to theological terms I see no harm in that, though personally as a very amateur theologian I had no trouble understanding it. I think it's a mistake to impute an esoteric theological message to the author. As supplementary reading I highly recommend Hal GP Colebatch's "Return of the Heroes: Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Social Conflict" which I have reviewed on its own page.

Great book

I found this book absolutely wonderful. I am a Harry Potter fan, and I am also a Christian. I have read some of the other literature about the Harry Potter series, and have found myself getting defensive. This book gave me a lot of things to think about that I hadn't considered in my readings of the HP books. People who haven't even touched the HP books because of their religious views ought to read this book before they speak out against the HP books.

A REFRESHING READ

A nice book indeed. Well written with a goodly amount of common sense. I found it quite refreshing after reading some of the books by some of the bible thumper ilk. While I am a confessed Christian, some of my fellow Christians rater embarrass me from time to time. While not a fanatical Harry Potter fan (I did enjoy the books though, I must admit), I do like reading a well researched piece of work. This is one of those. I do not like reading work accomplished by individuals who are trying to grind their own ax. Killinger did a very fine job with this one. While I felt that some of his points were a bit of a stretch, they certainly made more sense than burning a book, any book, before you actually read it, such as the nut case in New Mexico did recently. Recommend highly. Your a brave man Rev!