Book Review: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Harry Potter
2011; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 60; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1177/014833311106000225
ISSN2056-5666
Autores Tópico(s)Themes in Literature Analysis
ResumoBOOK REVIEWS 365 of our earnest Puritan forebears could so terribly err while telling their own story as a continuation of salvation history, what will save us from similar blind spots? Levy examines imagination, not advanced hermeneutics and discernment, but her study puts us on a collision course with these issues. My chief objection to Levy's argument is that in her admirable desire to raise imagination up from its stepchild status in the house of faith, she has elevated it too far. Arguably Levy's definition of imagination as "that human capacity to receive and respond to God's revelation in our everyday lives" either broadens the term beyond usefulness-any means by which we receive God's self-communication is now dubbed "imagination" -or givesimagination a greater burden than it can bear. While imagination is one powerful means by which God speaks with us, is it truly the gateway for all others? Jesus' story of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25) implies that we meet him by serving those in need, quite apart from our imaginative experiences. Though this parable, like his others, clearly appeals to the imagination to encourage that service, he seems to say that some will encounter him without it. Finally,if Levyis right that "the objective authority of the church's teaching" and "of the scriptural word" are reduced when "we focus on the imaginative power of the individual" (104), what, if anything, will hold the imagination itself accountable? Some readers may wish Levy would acknowledge a larger role for scriptural and church authority and hesitate to accept fully her claims for the imagination. But we all can benefit from Levy's strong faith that God is present and working even in ways that we find "messy" (108). She is sure of God's love and his ability to communicate graciously with us through our human capacities, particularly imagination, and in this we would do well to follow her example. Julie Straight Northwest Nazarene University The Life, Death, and Resurrection ofHarry Potter. ByJohn Killinger. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2009. ISBN978-0-88146-162-6. Pp. 164. $17.00. This book, appropriately, consists of seven chapters in which John Killinger explains parallels between the seven Harry Potter books and themes, stories, and biblical passages well known to Christians. He sees Harry as "a Christ figure, the Messiah" and Voldemort (Harry's nemesis in the books) as "the embodiment of evil in the world" (2). Other identifications are obvious in chapter titles, such as "Our Dumbledore Who Art in Heaven:' This kind of allegorical one-to-one identification permeates Killinger's book, and it impoverishes Rowling's books. In discussing archetypes and citing biblical parallels, Killinger seems to be giving readers thekey to Rowling's books. This is all problematic, for the Potter books are 366 CHRISTIANITY AND LITERATURE so richly encoded that-infused as they are with Christian allusions, echoes, and parallels-there are numerous other keys (for lack of a better term) to the books as well. I have heard one speaker at a Potter conference in Toronto proclaim that she is an atheist and she loves Rowling's books. Another troubling aspect of The Life, Death, and Resurrection ofHarry Potter is that the author represents himself as uniquely interpreting the Christian aspects of the Potter books before the septet was completed. He contends that he was "alone in insisting on the identification" of Harry as Christ and Voldemort as evil (2) and that "nobody" -later qualified to "almost nobody"- perceived Harry's "similarity to Jesus" (8). From books and articles before Killinger's 2002 book God, the Devil, and Harry Potter, to others published since Harry's saga was complete, a significant number of analysts have explored the Christian elements in the books. Connie Neal's groundbreaking Whats a Christian To Do With Harry Potter? predates Killinger's first book, and her recently expanded The Gospel According to Harry Potter appeared just before Killinger's current book. Moreover John Granger has written extensively on the Christian elements in the series, and his The Deathly Hallows Lectures features Christian symbols as a part of one of the five keys to reading Rowling...
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