So other classes may be suspended for Labor Day, but not ours! Today we’re going to discuss revelation. Not the Book of but how God is revealed to humans. (As an aside, one of my professors once told me to remember that the biblical book is the Book of Revelation, not Revelations. Now every time I hear someone say Revelations, I think, “Oh no!” and now you will too!)
Anyway, when Christians talk about revelation (not the Book of) they’re talking about how they receive knowledge about God that is authoritative. We all know how hard it is to get truthful knowledge about other things—enter Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise’s marriage—so imagine how much harder it is to evaluate what’s true when it comes to an ineffable, abstract, possibly-non-existent being! That’s why Christians have said there are several reliable places in which God is revealed. These vary slightly from denomination to denomination, but I am going to talk about four common ones here: Scripture, reason, tradition, and experience. Together they are known as the Methodist Quadrilateral, and they are commonly accepted sources in many traditions.
First, Scripture. Super unsurprisingly, Christians believe that the Bible says something truthful about who God is and how God relates to humans. I would say that of all the four sources I’m going to discuss this is the one that bears the least resemblance to Harry’s world. There are no books quite like the Bible in Harry’s world, but it’s interesting that the authoritativeness of books is definitely a hot topic: Tom Riddle’s Diary, the Half-Blood Prince’s textbook, and Rita Skeeter’s biography of Dumbledore are just several examples of books that actually sway people from believing what is true rather than revealing it. Books, it seems, are sketchy.
Next up, reason. Christians believe that when they think logically about God, it can reveal something truthful about the divine-human relationship. Reason is also important in Harry’s world. Characters like Hermione and Dumbledore use their smarts in the service of revealing love (aside: I said in a previous blog post that I consider love to be the equivalent of God in the series. You’re welcome to debate that, if you like). One great example is how Hermione creates S.P.E.W. for the liberation of house-elves after learning about and researching how they’re treated.
Third is tradition. When Christians talk about tradition, they’re talking about the traditions of the Church, and they consider those to reveal truth about God. The wizarding world also has its own set of traditions that reveal love—Christmas dinners and the opening banquet at Hogwarts are two examples that immediately come to mind.
Finally, experience. I think this is the most interesting source of revelation both for Christians and in Harry’s world. For Christians, experience is the most controversial of the sources because people can share the same event and yet have different experiences of it. Take Jon and Kate’s marriage. Two people in the same relationship and two very different takes on it! You can also consider how people react to violence. For one person, being in a car accident can be psychologically traumatizing while another walks away with a broken arm but nothing else. That makes experience a tricky source of revelation—if two people can have opposite experiences of the same event, then who’s right? This is a question that pops up in Harry’s world, too. Take Harry’s experience of Dumbledore in books 1 through 4. In those books, Harry sees Dumbledore is a reliable, almost infallible wizard whose protection is a given. Then note Harry’s experience of Dumbledore in the later books. He’s suddenly a person with many flaws, so many, in fact, that Harry wonders whether Dumbledore’s mission and values are worth trusting at all. And so book seven becomes a faith journey in which Harry must explore and decide for himself how his experiences of Dumbledore are trustworthy.
Wow, there is so much more to say here. I’ve touched upon just a few examples of how these sources appear in the series, but I hope you’ll think of many more! And so, this lecture is complete. Let the discussion begin!
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Thinking of Harry’s relationship with Dumbledore as a single, unified experience makes a lot of sense. It never occurred to me to consider their relationship that way.
On a micro-level, it astounds me how much Harry’s King’s Cross experience in Book 7 fulfills William James’ criteria for religious experience in a weird, wizardish kind of way. Despite Harry’s attempt to describe his setting in familiar terms, his sensory experience remains essentially ineffable aside from a few non-specifics such as the presence of a physical space in which “to be.” (US 707) Most readers familiar with Harry know he’s not quite the brightest star in the heavens, yet throughout his King’s Cross experience he enters a noetic state– he seems simply to know all the answers to the questions he asks of Dumbledore and visa versa. Some readers see this all-knowing Harry as a symptom Jo Rowling’s desperation to tie up as many loose ends as possible before the novel’s conclusion, but Harry’s ability to simply reach this pinnacle of understanding helps make his encounter with Dumbledore more identifiable as a classic, textbook religious experience. If William James taught a course at Hogwarts on the deeper magic of love, I’m sure he’d be itching to use Harry’s King’s Cross episode as an example of reported Divine experience.
Your posts really get me thinking! Thanks so much, Danielle!
I don’t believe in God.
I don’t think it makes a difference in appreciating what JKR wrote. I have seen it suggested that it might and I beg to differ. This is the second thread specifically linked to the belief in God did I miss a memo?
908ssp,
You mightn’t have missed the memo but you are ignoring Rowling’s own words. She has said that she thought that the Christian content of the Harry stories was obvious and from very early on she didn’t talk candidly about her faith because it’d give the story away.
So, you don’t believe in God. Rowling does and posts like these should help you understand where she is coming from. Comprende?
908ssp, I don’t think it makes a difference in appreciating what JKR wrote. I have seen it suggested that it might and I beg to differ. This is the second thread specifically linked to the belief in God did I miss a memo?
I’m in agreement with you that one need not subscribe to any particular belief system in order to appreciate Rowling’s work.
Korg’s response is quite correct – it’s part of understanding and analyzing a series written by a Christian author, writing in a Christian tradition of literature. You’ll find all sorts of perspectives here on faith, religion, politics, etc, but we try as hard as we can not to cross the line into allowing anyone to proselytize, so you won’t need to fear that. But there will be posts exploring theological themes; I mean, you can’t really explore a series which favorably quotes Scripture without going there.
Danielle, in particular, is a theologian and a guest blogger who teaches a class at Yale on Harry Potter and Christian theology, so her posts (she’s got one left, next weekend) will be about that. Not all posts will be theological; the majority won’t be, in fact.
Books, it seems, are sketchy.
Danielle, yes, there’s a lot of interesting stuff about books themselves. It might be interesting to factor The Tales of Beedle the Bard into this discussion about reliable books. This magical book full of kids’ tales seems to be, when interpreted properly, something of a powerful guidebook for the trio. Once Hermione’s overly-rationalistic attempts at interpretation are set aside, Harry is finally set on the Quest/Test (thanks, Arabella!) crisis and forced to make the right decision.
Danielle,
I’m not entirely with you regarding books in the series. Sure, there is peril and untruth in the books you mentioned but you are omitting Hogwarts: A History that never seems to let Hermione down and most particularly Tales of Beedle the Bard. That is the one book that most of the Wizarding World passes off as childish fairy stories but it actually contains the most needful knowledge. That Dumbledore hands his copy on to Hermione shows that at least he believes that itwill bear up to the logical/academic scrutiny that Hermione will give it. Sound familiar?
korg, looks like great minds think alike
I almost factored in Hogwarts, A History as well, but then it struck me that that book ends up being a picture of the winners (the powerful) writing history, as there is no mention of house-elf slavery in the entire volume.
Great introduction for a discussion, Danielle. When you wrote about the Methodist Quadrilateral, my ears pricked up(metaphorically speaking, of course)as I spent many of my formative years in a small town that had two churches: (1) Catholic and (2) Methodist. Anyway, my impression here is that the area of DH that fits Harry’s conversation with Dumbledore at King’s Cross station would be experience. Experience is what changed Saul of Tarsus to Paul the Apostle, and there are a number of people in the Christian tradition who had “revelations”(NOT the title of the last book in the NT!) such as Bernadette, Theresa of Avila, and one of my personal favorites, Julian of Norwich, she of the Mantra ” And all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” ( I’m convinced that JKR knew that and utilized that in the last lines of her epilogue).
908ssp, you did not miss a memo. It is possible, of course, to enjoy the Harry Potter books if you don’t believe in God. However, there are multi-layers to understanding and getting deeper meaning from them if you understand that JKR put a lot of Christian symbols into these works. That’s pretty much what the Hog’s Head and John Granger’s blog, Hogwarts Professor are about–fans of the books discussing the layers of meaning in the books.
Hmm. There is that. But the Wizarding World didn’t think of it as slavery so they wouldn’t frame it like that. That does not make the book undependable but rather incomplete. It doesn’t speak for everyone or from all points of view.
On St. Paul’s experience, it should be noted that his experience isn’t taken to be normative for anyone else to have the same or similar things happen to them. Plus, St. Paul didn’t just take his experience & run with it. Instead, it drove him into the Scriptures & before he was accepted into the fold, so to speak, he made a defense of his experience & the Gospel entrusted to him before the other apostles at Jerusalem. So, his experience of meeting the risen Christ was confirmed by those who had also walked & talked with the Lord & followed after Him.
Danielle,
You mentioned that ‘there are no books quite like the Bible in Harry’s world.’
Well, except for the Bible itself. The epitaphs Dumbledore put on the gravestones in Godrick’s Hollow show he was very familiar with it, and assumed that others would know what he meant. Hermione certianly did, even though Harry seemed ignorant of it at the time. Out of all the books and philosophers, both muggle and wizard, that Dumbledore could have quoted from, he chose the Bible.
I’ve always been fascinated that God chose to reveal himself in Scripture primarily by story. Even the commands are only given in the context of his relationship with people. Great narratives spanning thousands of years, all true history, yet rooted in the lives of individuals.
No wonder Rowling, Tolkien, Lewis, etc, etc all chose story as their medium to talk about profound Truth.
Black Angus, I think you hit on an important point regarding the use of story in scripture. N.T. Wright seems to drive this point many times in his books of the need to look at scripture as that grand narrative that came to a climax in Jesus of Nazareth. Furthermore the narrative is still going on as we’re obligated to bring New Creation into the present, and I think Rowling and her predecessors have touched on this by using story to convey that “great story” that is continuing.
revgeorge, you also touched on a crucial point about the experience of St. Paul driving him to search the scriptures and to search after those who walked with Jesus, but I would like to make a seperate point and continue the story theme here. For Paul, the story changed, his worldview changed. Before he became a Christian, Paul and his fellow countrymen had the same scriptures as his fellow Jews that were Christians, but drew much different conclusions on what was the hope of Israel and what Israel should be, in light of that controversial figure who was crucified and, as some were saying, rose from the dead. I think experience, tradition, and scripture all come to a head here as people can share the same event, tradition, and scripture, and come to a profound different conclusion from those three. Not sure if I’m making sense or if I have a point.
Danielle, when you brought up experience as a revelation and Harry’s time in King Cross, it got me thinking more about his relationship with DD (which you touched on very well).
Love may serve as God in the series, but DD in some ways serves as a god-like (dare I say Christ-like? or God-the-father-like?) figure as well. Harry’s experience with DD in King’s Cross is a revelation of the trust and love the former has for the latter (and of course vice versa), basically of the relationship itself. Harry’s belief and faith in DD is finally restored.
Within the context of the books the epitaphs Dumbledore put on the gravestones could just be words of wisdom coming from his own mind. Of course we know where Jo took them from and what they are hinting at but it doesn’t mean that inside the story they have the same exact meaning.
Shimon, if we were talking about high fantasy, then I think you’d be right to suggest they’re aphorisms from Dumbledore’s own reflections. But given that the secondary and primary worlds interact, and everything that belongs to the primary world can collide with the secondary world, I think it’s safe to assume the Bible’s existence in the Harry Potter stories.
If the Biblical quotations don’t have the exact same meaning inside the text as of outside of it, then they’re still pretty close to one another.
Danielle, this is a fascinating post and is making me think hard. My ideas keep getting tangled, but let me see if I can straighten them out enough to make sense.
As a point of interest: The Catholic Church categorizes revelation as either public, requiring the allegiance of faithful Catholics, or private. Experience, even big well-known experiences like Lourdes and Fatima, are considered private revelation, at best useful for assisting devotion inside the greater truth. I don’t know how much of that distinction Rowling’s own church retains, but I think most Protestants (if we remove the reference to Marian apparitions
) would agree.
As for Rowling herself, I’m not so sure. The sense I get from her comments is that reason and experience are stronger sources for her belief than a particular commitment to Scripture or tradition. Of course, she’s also talking to an audience of almost every imaginable perspective, as well as dealing with her own struggles with agnosticism, so it’s hard to say for certain.
My loosely-formed take on her approach to revelation is that here her postmodernism is pretty well-developed: Question it all. Make sure it holds up to analysis. Make sure you’re interpreting it correctly (Riddle’s diary, Rita’s book, Beedle’s tales, Dumbledore’s words and actions, teachers’ statements, experiences, etc.)
Also, perhaps part of her excellent portrayal of the gray and confusing search for truth is in showing the fallibility of reason itself. Reason is easily colored by imperfect information, by emotion, and by experience. Harry’s reason pushes him to pursue the Hallows; Hermione’s convinces her that the Hallows cannot exist. (We won’t talk about Ron’s.
)
In Dobby’s grave, Harry uses a reason that is greater than mere mental cogitation, allowing Voldemort to take the Elder Wand and choosing through love to trust Dumbledore. It’s not quite a blind choice, but it’s not cool logic; rather, it’s the combined greatness of reason informed by faith and love.
Oh my goodness, so much to say here! First of all, Fricka, I think you’re right on about the Julian of Norwich quotation–I even wrote about it in my book! Great minds must think alike.
Also, several of you commented on Hogwarts: A History. It’s true that, in many ways, it’s the closest we get to something as authoritative as Scripture in the Bible, but my sense is that it lacks some of the gravitas that the Bible has. What do you all think? As for Scripture…can you believe I never considered Scripture as a source of authority in Harry’s world? It’s a brilliant idea, Black Angus!
Black Angus also made a comment about God choosing narratives as a way of self-revelation. I was actually thinking about that today while listening to Paradise Lost via Librivox (which, by the way, is a terrific free resource by which to hear recorded books in the public domain). The story of Adam and Eve is one that always captures me because I think it encapsulates a universal human experience of ‘falling’ from a state of innocence. Isn’t it amazing that a story about two people eating an apple can resonate with people over many thousands of years?
Finally, 908ssp, sorry to have shocked you! As Travis said, I’m a theologian and teach a course on the Harry Potter series and Christian thought at Yale. One of the goals of my work is to refute Christian thinkers who have deemed the books to be evil or witchcraft, and these blog posts seek to do that too. So, I hope that you’ll find these posts intriguing at an intellectual level if not at a spiritual one.
Okay, I’ve been blabbing and am totally exhausted now! But keep the discussion going, and I’ll be back soon. Your thoughts are terrific!
I love the analogy between Hogwarts a History and the Bible as authortative texts. Both books suffer from the fact that many people own them but hardly anyone actually reads them. And as Hermione so frequently shows, we’d be much better off if we did. The fact that neither book discusses evey possible topic does not, I think, detract at all from their authority as to the things actually discussed.Thanks Danielle for a great post.