Theology Needs Literature

Challies has jumped onto the “Harry Potter is influencing people become witches” bandwagon, and The Fat Triplets have started a discussion about it. Challies hinted at a future post on the subject that would make a lot of people angry. It’ll be interesting to hear him tease out what he meant by his statement, since it is really just one kinda obscure statement in the post.

I have no idea whether or not my following comments apply to Challies himself, because like I said, we’ve only heard the one unexplained statement from the post in question. But here are a few thoughts about theologians who oppose Harry.

The great problem with most theologians is that they’re great at theology but lousy at literature. So much trouble springs from this. The constant practice of systematic theology without little to no engagement in literature and the arts causes, for one thing, a really bad view of the Bible, which communicates its truth not through scientific precision, but through various literary means. If you can’t wrap your head around various types of symbolism, you’re going to miss a lot of what the Bible has to say.

You’re also going to miss the greatness of the Harry Potter series. Arguments against HP normally go somewhat like this:

Major Premise: Harry Potter is about kids learning witchcraft.
Minor Premise: The Bible says witchcraft is wrong.
Conclusion: Harry Potter is wrong.

When you apply this kind of strict syllogism to the matter, you’ll always come up with that answer. But it’s far too simplistic, primarily because it ignores the use of magic as a literary device. Sometimes I think we might not being having this debate at all if JKR used a word other than “witchcraft.” But that word is not a magic word that has the exact same meaning in every context (biblical exegetes should know at least that much about the use of language).

So my advice for Christian theologians is this: Take a few literature classes. It may be the best thing you could possibly do for your preaching, your theology, and your encounters with culture. Learn about symbolism, and spend a little time working through the use of magic in literature, and then READ the Harry Potter series, and then come back and talk about it.

Feel free to join the discussion over at the Fat Triplets, but please be gracious, whatever your position.

Tagged as: Harry Haters, Magic, theology