It is not exactly breaking news to say that the Harry Potter books contain a fair amount of explicitly Christian material. Still, I was unaware that J.K. Rowling had ever commented directly on the matter. In preparation for tonight’s Mockingbird meeting, I came across the following excerpts from an interview conducted after the release of The Deathly Hallows. Nothing too profound but encouraging nonetheless:
“The truth is that, like Graham Greene, my faith is sometimes that my faith will return. It’s something I struggle with a lot. 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.”
“They’re very British books, so on a very practical note Harry was going to find biblical quotations on tombstones, [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.”
Of course, the quotations to which she’s referring are:
“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:19)
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:26)
As an aside, if you’re looking for the Jarvis Cocker-Harry Potter connection, look no further than The Weird Sisters frontman in Goblet of Fire. And yes, that’s Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead on guitar…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tNUAumvfzg&w=600]
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8 responses to “J.K. Rowling on Gospel Themes in Harry Potter”
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thanks for pointing this out! I’m terribly interested in parallels between the Gospel and Harry Potter, and it’s encouraging that she’s (at the very least) ambiguously sympathetic.
very good interview.
Somewhat off topic, but I think yall will like this:
http://vimeo.com/4621529
Peace. – Caleb
Thanks Dave. Very cool. I am big HP fan and was totally excited by the Christian themes at the end of Deathly Hallows. I can’t wait until later this summer when I have time to re-read it.
Hi Colton, I have a personal question? When you read the end of Deathly Hallows, was it up to your expectations? Did Rowling really portray the Christian themes that you hoped for when you re-read it?
I’m not sold out on the Christian theme of her book although there is no denying the good and evil!
There are actually quite a few other statements Rowling has made on the matter.
From an article by Max Wyman of the Vancouver Sun on October 26, 2000, when asked if she is a Christian:
“Yes, I am,” she says. “Which seems to offend the religious right far worse than if I said I thought there was no God. Every time I’ve been asked if I believe in God, I’ve said yes, because I do, but no one ever really has gone any more deeply into it than that, and I have to say that does suit me, because if I talk too freely about that I think the intelligent reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what’s coming in the books.”
From an interview with Meredith Viera after the release of book 7:
“Well, there clearly is a religious undertone. And it’s always been difficult to talk about that because until we reached Book Seven, views of what happens after death and so on, it would give away a lot of what was coming. So yes, my belief and my struggling with religious belief and so on I think is quite apparent in this book.”
wow, Travis, thank you so much. those are amazing!
is it true what i hear about them splitting the last book into two movies? i’m very interested to see how they handle the ending.
DZ, yes, it’s true – they’re splitting the last book into two movies. On the one hand, from a purely artistic point of view, it’s kind of silly and annoying – they haven’t cared enough about portraying the entire book for the other 6, so why the 7th? (money, of course).
On the other hand, it’s not going to hurt my book sales to have one more major Potter event before the cultural hype dies down, so I’ve decided, for the very same reason (money) that I’m happy with it.