Gospel According to Harry Potter: Spirituality in the Stories of the World's Most Famous Seeker

I had the pleasure of seeing Connie Neal speak in person a few years ago. I had read her book prior to the event. There was quite a mixture of people in the room: christians, jews, atheists, wiccans, etc. Everyone seemed to find the talk quite interesting despite their differences in religious beliefs. What struck me most about what she said is this: (I'm paraphrasing) in a work this size you can find almost anything you look for. Every religion or political cause could find something to back up their claims. (Kind of like the bible, in my opinion) Does Ms. Neal really think Jo Rowling purposely wrote biblical teachings into Harry Potter? Nah. But, the comparisons are fascinating and there are definately some moral lessons to be learned from the books.

Connie Neal's book was written before the last book of the Harry Potter series. She can easily and confidently update it now that the series is finished and the truth is even more obvious. I was skeptical about a Gospel connection since I had given credence to the bad press on J.K. Rowling's use of witchcraft before I actually read the series. (I am very ashamed of that now.) I did not comprehend her clever symbolism until I read the last three chapters of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows a second time; that's when it hit me squarely between the eyes that Rowling did plow a road into the pagan world that any thinking Christian should be able to use. Connie Neal caught on quickly to what should have been obvious to the careful reader. The compelling world of Harry Potter did not make paganism and Satanism attractive at all, but she used some of their terminology without any real promotion of real Wiccan style of witchcraft. Rowling's witchcraft was her magic quill and amazing compelling storytelling craft. The parallels to paganism are themselves symbolic of fallen world and so Hogwarts School and the Muggles are various levels of philosophy and logical reasoning. I am afraid that most of us are in the lowest "Muggle" level. (I was more than most) I am now praising God for J.K. Rowling's genius and am so impressed with how she probably outdid C.S. Lewis and Tolkein both. That is hard for me to say because I have been such a fan of these great Christian thinkers and authors ever since I discovered them as a child. I did not fully understand what their stories were really about until later. I wish somebody would have told me the Gospel when I was a child, it would have been easy for them to use The Lord of the Rings as a vehicle to explain the sacrifice of Christ for the people that He created since I knew there must be something deep and profound about The Lord of the Rings, I just couldn't make the connection for myself until later. I discovered Narnia later and Lewis's "magic" was even clearer to my mind than Tolkein's. (I understood because I had become a believer by that time.) Not only did J. K. Rowling give us an important tool to reveal the Gospel truth, she taught me to not give up on those who need the Gospel most, those who are looking desperately for some sort of "magic" to help them have power over the madness and ugliness that is stealing hope from the dying world. Evil has been vanquished by the ultimate "Deathly Hallows" of the cross of Christ, now we must get the truth to those who haven't understood 1 Corinthians 15:26 quoted by Rowling that "the last enemy to be destroyed is death." Harry faced the question skeptically at first in symbolism, but his eventual personal discovery has given the neediest in the world the heads up that maybe death and suffering are considered an "enemy" by God. Jesus Christ did in reality what couldn't even be conceived or believed by an uncomprehending, lost world! I also love the wa

Connie Neal hits a home-run with this book! She gives an overview of the first four Harry Potter books, then draws scriptural parallels with incidents from each. For example, in the first book, Harry has been raised by relatives who have tried to keep him as down-trodden as possible; they are determined to keep the truth of his identity a secret from him. But one day he receives a mysterious letter not only addressed to him personally, but also to exactly where he sleeps! "Mr. H. Potter, Cupboard Under The Stairs, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey". His Uncle destroys the letter before Harry can read it, but more keep coming every day. No matter how hard Uncle Vernon tries to evade the letters and to keep Harry from reading one, every one of them knows exactly where Harry is. Finally, in desperation, Uncle Vernon takes the entire family to an island in the sea. The last letter is hand-delivered by a trusted messenger, and is addressed "Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-On-The-Rock, The Sea". Here we see a beautiful illustration of "The Unstoppable Invitation" that God sends to each one of us. Not only does He know our names, but He sees every detail of where we are, and He will not allow anything to stop us from receiving our invitation to His Kingdom. He even sent a personal messenger to make sure the invitation was delivered! He sees beyond our circumstances and surroundings and knows our true identity and destiny, even when we can't. Connie Neal's book is an invaluable resource for starting faith-based discussions with your children and friends who have read the books. I am reading through this with my 11-year old daughter, who is as big a Harry Potter fan as I am. I heartily give it two-thumbs up!

This book is wonderful! It is really helpful. I started reading the Harry Potter books after the second movie came out and I loved them! The only problem was that all my friends hated them and said they were evil, satanistic, etc. When ever I tried to bring the subject up they would change it immediatly. As a last straw I bought this book and read it. It was truely amazing. It makes so many connections between my two fave books. So one day at school I gave this to my best friend and told her to read it. Well, she didn't at first but I finally persuaded her to. After she did, she told me that she may have been wrong about HP and was sorry for judging it before even reading them. About a week later during lunch she came up to me and told me that she had actually watched the movie! While she's not as big of a fanatic as me, she still enjoys them. This book is a great way to show your friends that Harry Potter is not at all what the christian critics make it out to be. I highly recommend this book!

Connie Neal has written a gem of a book that any parent or caregiver can use to help the child(ren) in their life benefit from the moral reflection available in the Harry Potter books. It is so wonderful to see a Christian using sanity, reason, and common sense in dealing with the Potter phenomenon instead of the knee-jerk reactions made by so many Christian "leaders" who don't even bother to READ THE BOOKS before they condemn them. Way to go, Connie. Thank you.