Deuteronomony 32:2

"Let my teaching fall like rain and my words like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants" (biblegateway)

 

There is a debate over whether the series is a series that is purely made of fantasy or if it is a pure coming of age story. I would suggest it is a perfect mixture of both, but others might argue one side or the other.

 

Much of the controversy that exists within the Christian community about the Harry Potter series is in its use of magic.

 

In Revelations 21:8 those who practice magic are condemned alongside murderers, idolators and the sexually immoral. (biblegateway).

 

So, it is understandable that many Christians especially Christian parents would not want their children reading a book where a child uses magic.

 

So, for Christians they have issues with the fantastical aspects of the series.

 

But in defense of this argument many pro-Harry Potter writers argue against this and say that these books are not purely fantasy books about magic, but are truthfully more about coming of age and learning.

 

Dan McVeigh writes, “the notion that Harry and his friends must be entirely good or bad makes some sense in the conventions of fantasy, but none at all in the Bildung universe of the school series, in which the whole point is to learn, sometimes through mistakes, or misbehaviour” (McVeigh, 199).

 

Thus the focus of the books should not be on the magic aspect of the series, but actually on the school and the learning aspect of it.

 

Harry and his friends are caught up in a battle of good and evil, this battle becomes more and more profound over time and it is up to them, especially Harry to defend the good.

 

But the point is he is not going to, nor should he, have the answers right away. He is going to make mistakes, and not always appear righteous, but he learns from his education at Hogwarts and through the wisdom of his parental figures like Dumbledore, Sirius, and the Weasley’s, and with them he will eventually understand what is right and what is wrong.

 

This learning is key in Christianity as well. Like Harry, Christian children must learn the difference between what is good and what is evil. They must look to their parents and to their church in order to find the guidance that will set them on the right path.