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Abstract
This article discusses the reasons for the religious reactions to the Harry Potter novels, arguing that the books contribute to, and reflect, the reconfiguration of religion in contemporary society. The article analyses the media qualities of fantasy literature and the specific representation of magic in the novels and argues that these aspects form an important part of the reasons for the religious reactions. Fantasy literature and other popular culture that represents and mediates religious expressions and phenomena actively contribute to the reconfiguration of, and communication about, religion in contemporary society and are thus of consequence for what we understand ‘religion’ to be in the study of religions.
Acknowledgements
I am very grateful for the helpful suggestions made by the anonymous reviewers of the Journal of Contemporary Religion.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. Throughout the text, ‘Harry Potter’ will be italicised when reference is made to the series as a whole, while the ‘Harry Potter’ in Roman is used to refer to the character.
2. Others identify allusions to the gospel, deep Christian structures or allusions to medieval hagiography (Barber; Hennequin).
3. Scholars have previously pointed out that some forms of paganism and new religious movements rely on the reading of fantasy and science fiction (Luhrmann; Mikaelsson; Bittarello).
4. Wouter Hanegraaff’s understanding of disenchanted magic is discussed below. I have not included it here in the literature review, since he does not deal with Harry Potter.
5. Many examples of non-technologised magic can found in the books, but the technologised magic is not in itself an indication that the magic of Harry Potter is disenchanted. Scholars of religion have regarded the magic of ancient or early religions as instrumental and technological (as evident in e.g. Otto and Stausberg; McGuire 36). However, the instrumental aspects are often qualified by other aspects (e.g. Feldt, “Monstrous”).
6. Yet, even if, in line with Durkheim, anything can be made religious, my argument is that, by analysing the media aspects of literatures, paraphernalia, buildings, etc., we find that some of these are indeed more prone to elicit religious use than others. This is in line with current trends in media and materiality approaches to religion (Meyer et al. )
7. A perspectivist approach is compatible with critical realism (Schaffalitzky de Muckadell).
8. For an introduction to the modern genre of fantasy, see Feldt, Fantastic 43–5.
9. Indeed, we may speculate that fantasy literature sometimes participates in a religious struggle on the side of magic or ‘spirituality’ against traditional religion(s). As Sylvia Kelso demonstrates, in fantasy fiction, traditional religions are often presented as impotent and ossified in contrast to practitioners of magic who are portrayed as spiritually potent (65–6, 70, 72–5).
10. It is often very difficult to ascertain what is meant by the labels ‘real’ and ‘true’.
11. According to Petersen (417), this is one of the criteria of distinction for religious texts. However, some types of fantastic literature and fantasy present themselves as factual narrations (cf. Horace Walpole; Todorov 27–8), just as some use pseudonymity .
12. Note that Lachmann’s definition is broad and mode-based and that it includes fantasy (7–26).
13. The real authors and redactors are of course not always known.
14. Reflections on destiny and the importance of the hero’s choices which are bound up with the fate of the world are common in fantasy as well as in medieval literature, as Senior shows. In Harry Potter, prophecies play an important role overall for the quest and success of Harry Potter (e.g. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 739–44) and support the underlying teleology, even if some mockery is directed at professor Trelawney as a character (Sky 245-6; Ostling).
15. As the above makes clear, this point could be connected to Durkheim.
16. Although the British boarding school context may come across as exotic to some reader segments, in British young adult fiction, the boarding school setting is well known (Manlove).
17. The type is well known from a sub-genre which features portals to another world or other times (as in Pullman’s His Dark Materials or Lewis’s Narnia series). Other types of fantasy may be set entirely in another world (e.g. LeGuin’s EarthSea stories). However, even in such fantasy, the existence of and the relations to the everyday world may be reflected upon (as in the prologue and appendices to Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings or with regard to the ‘everyday life’ in the Shire—the home or everyday realm of the protagonist Hobbits—regarding the ‘fantastic’ elves).
18. Indeed, Harry Potter may have been a factor in (and a reflection of) the changes in, and the status of, the term ‘magic’ in the discourses of religion in contemporary Western religion.
19. For discussions of the expressive vs formative qualities of popular culture, see Partridge (Re-enchantment 1 122–6; Forbes and Mahan; Deacy and Arweck).
20. See the journalistic discussion by Abby Ohlheiser. Examples of religious or religion-resembling usage can indeed be located online (e.g. on the web site “Harry Potter for Seekers” and related links). As a study of online religion (Helland), the analysis of such material goes beyond the framework of this article.
21. We may compare this to the situation in ancient Near Eastern studies where analyses of The Gilgamesh Epic are vital to any treatment of Babylonian religion, even if this epic was never used in a religious way.
22. However, other works of fantasy do, e.g. Lewis’s allegorical Christian fantasy novels.