Scripture Quotations and Struggling with Faith

by Johnny

I received an early morning surprise yesterday as I checked this site and clicked on the link to MTV News where J.K. Rowling opened up about the Christian content in the Harry Potter novels. I do have to say that it was inevitable. JKR told Evan Solomon in July 2000, “[T]here is so much I would like to say, and come back when I’ve written book seven.” Or how about Ernest Tucker who wrote in October 1999 that “Rowling, aware of the protest, said she couldn’t answer the questions about the book’s religious content until the conclusion of book seven”?

And now she has done it. JKR goes so far as to say that, at least to her, the religious parallels have “always been obvious.” More important, however, are her comments regarding the scriptures found on the tombstones of Kendra/Ariana Dumbledore (“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” found in Matthew 6:21; not 6:19 as the article asserts) and James/Lily Potter (“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” found in 1 Corinthians 15:26) in the last novel:

“They’re very British books, so on a very practical note Harry was going to find biblical quotations on tombstones,” Rowling explained. “[But] I think those two particular quotations he finds on the tombstones at Godric’s Hollow, they sum up — they almost epitomize the whole series.”

This is important because these “biblical quotations” form the foundation for a series that has been maligned by “Harry Haters” for reflecting anti-Christian values or the likes of Lev Grossman who see them as devoid of any religion for that matter.

The context of Matthew 6:21 deals with Jesus commanding his followers to store up treasures in heaven for your treasure reflects where your heart is. The most obvious example is Albus Dumbledore who knew this scripture too well and was filled with remorse over his obsession over the Deathly Hallows, thereby neglecting his family. His heart was not in the right place, because he was seeking earthly treasures. In the series as a whole, we see various characters’ “treasures” being a reflection of their hearts. From Voldemort to his Death Eaters to even Professor Quirrell, Lockhart, and Umbridge, we see that their treasures reflected the poverty in their own hearts. The treasures of greed and hate lead to opening yourself to possession, exploitation, torture, racism, and murder. For someone like Harry Potter, his treasure was the desire for a family and is reflected in his bravery and self sacrifice because of his love for his friends, whom he saw as his only family since his parents were murdered.

The context of 1 Corinthians 15:26 is as the article says is “one of the central foundations of resurrection theology.” It also reflects the theme of death that pervades the whole series. The series starts with Harry Potter orphaned because of the murder of his parents by Voldemort, and as the series progresses, more beloved characters die as casualties in the war. This theme of death is reflected in JKR’s own thoughts on the loss of her mother over a decade ago. She told Meredith Vieira back in July that:

Definitely, Mum dying had a profound influence on the books, because I had been writing about Harry for 6 months when she died. And on the first draft, his parents were disposed off really quiet and at an almost cavalier fashion. 6 months, and my mother dies, and I really think from that moment on, Death became a central, if not the central theme of the seven books. And, ummm, in many ways, all of my characters are defined by their attitude to death and the possibility of death.

This is why the scene of Harry seeing his parents and family in the Mirror of Erised was her favorite in the first novel. The greater implications of Paul’s words are the concept of a life after death, something that JKR struggles with:

“The truth is that, like Graham Greene, my faith is sometimes that my faith will return. It’s something I struggle with a lot,” she revealed. “On any given moment if you asked me [if] I believe in life after death, I think if you polled me regularly through the week, I think I would come down on the side of yes — that I do believe in life after death. [But] it’s something that I wrestle with a lot. It preoccupies me a lot, and I think that’s very obvious within the books.”

JKR mentions Graham Greene, who was a Catholic and the author of such works as The Power and the Glory, The Heart of the Matter, The End of the Affair, Brighton Rock, among others. I never read any of his works but several of his novels reflected one’s struggle with faith. Greene said at one time, “If you have abandoned one faith, do not abandon all faith. There is always an alternative to the faith we lose. Or is it the same faith under another mask?” Another time he said in an interview, “I don’t like conventional religious piety. I’m more at ease with the Catholicism of Catholic countries. I’ve always found it difficult to believe in God. I suppose I’d now call myself a Catholic atheist.”

JKR reflects that Greene’s struggle is her struggle and we can say that the Harry Potter novels reflect JKR’s own internal struggle dealing with such issues as death and life after death. This of course is very honest of JKR. Of course every Christian struggle one way or the other and it is these struggles that bring us closer to our faith rather than ceasing it. John Granger commented on this “struggle” in JKR’s interview with Meredith Vieira by saying:

Ms. Rowling has told her that her “struggling with religious beliefs and so on” are “quite evident” in Deathly Hallows. And they are. But this is not the struggle of a skeptic or of a school child who is beginning to re-examine mechanically held beliefs. This is the agony of the agnostic who knows that there is no knowing for certain rationally but that not believing has consequences and belief in many ways is always a choice. Seeing what happens to those who choose not to believe, or, to use another word Ms. Rowling contrasts Harry and Voldemort with, those who choose not to trust, Harry chooses to believe and to trust.

In the end, if I am interpreting JKR’s words correctly, we can see that despite her struggles, she, like Harry, chooses to believe and to trust. The MTV News article says what John Granger, Travis Prinzi, and others have known all along: that there is Christian content in the Harry Potter series and that JKR is a Christian herself. This news was a delight simply because JKR said that she would elaborate only after the series has concluded (I’m hoping this will be the first of many of JKR’s discussions on this). It only added to what we already read in the last novel because as JKR said, “You’ll have read it.”