Posts tagged as:

Magic

Railroads and Magic

by Travis Prinzi on January 8, 2009

hogwarts expressI’m willing to bet a few lines from one of J.K. Rowling’s favorite authors, Edith Nesbit, went through her mind as she was imagining all the magical happenings around trains and railroads while writing Harry Potter.

First, from a quote I posted from The Enchanted Castle a few days ago:

“I think magic went out when people began to have steam-engines,” Jimmy insisted. (Chapter I)

Then, from later in the same book:

“I don’t understand,” says Gerald, alone in his third-class carriage, “how railway trains and magic can go on at the same time.”

And yet they do. (Chapter VIII)

And in Harry Potter, they do so most potently.

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New Poll: What magic artifact was the coolest?

by korg20000bc on May 29, 2008

By Matthew

There’s plenty of items in the Harry Potter stories that I’d love to get my hands on.

Oh, what fun could be had.

Please vote and comment on what you selected.

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Magic in Prince Caspian

by Travis Prinzi on December 19, 2005

A few days ago, I wrote a response to Dr. Ted Baehr’s opposition to Harry Potter while embracing Narnia, charging that he terribly misread the use of magic in the Narnia series as well as Harry Potter. I thought I’d beef up my defense a little by documenting the “uses” of magic in Prince Caspian. Keep in mind that Dr. Baehr actually claimed that C.S. Lewis made it clear that to “use” magic was wrong. Now let’s check out Prince Caspian (I’m quoting from the 1994 HarperCollins edition). If I miss any magical references, please add them in the comments.

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Magic in Narnia and at Hogwarts

by Travis Prinzi on December 15, 2005

La Shawn Barber has posted a response to Dr. Ted Baehr’s criticism of Harry Potter’s use of magic as opposed to Narnia’s. Baehr is the chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, and he has offered us the typical “Narnia is good, Harry is bad” argument and, in my opinion, has supported it poorly. In trying to explain the difference between Hogwarts and Narnia, he asserts the following:

C.S. Lewis made it clear in his novels that it is wrong to “use” magic, especially for personal gain, but even when people do such an evil thing, there is a deeper magic (or law) written into the creation by the Creator to right the wrongs.

In the first place, this is a nice and convenient way of handling things, isn’t it? When Jadis “uses” magic to affect the death of Aslan, it’s wrong, but when Aslan uses magic in his resurrection, we can rename that magic “law.” Cute. But wrong. In fact, both the deep magic and the deeper magic were written into creation by the Creator, and Lewis does not shy away from using the term “magic” to describe what Aslan has done.

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The Magic of Resurrection

by Travis Prinzi 12.06.2005

For years, believers in Christ have been captivated and inspired by the resurrection of Aslan in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Aslan explained that it was the result of the deeper magic from before time. Lewis, of course, was not trying to portray what we might call “pagan” or “occulting” magic. He was [...]

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Theology Needs Literature

by Travis Prinzi 09.22.2005

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 [...]

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Magic for Muggles

by Travis Prinzi 09.21.2005

So declares the wizard Arthur Weasley as Harry Potter explains to him the use of a telephone in Chamber of Secrets. Indeed, Mr. Weasley. Ingenious. But somehow, I fear, troublesome as well.

I recall very well the days when I was adamantly opposed to the Harry Potter series. The reason I primarily cited above all else was that in every interview I heard with little children, they always said their favorite part of the book was the magic. That was dangerous, in my opinion.

Now, truth be told, I had only seen one 30 second news segment, in which the 4 or 5 kids interviewed said that magic was their favorite part. But telling that part of the story wouldn’t help my rhetoric any. “Every interview I’ve ever heard with children” was a much more impressive thing to say.

It turns out that even if it is true that every child adores the magic in the Harry Potter books (and they do), my argument failed terribly anyway, as I would soon find out when I finally sat down and watched the first two movies and then plowed through the five Potter books available at the time. Now, I’ve got a new take on things: The problem is not that kids love magic; it’s that adults do not.

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