Popular culture is so full of religious imagery and theological ideas that I’ve decided it would be fun to write a series of posts on this intersection. If you have any suggestions for any songs/books/tv shows/films etc that you’d like me to write about, I’m completely open to suggestions. At the moment, some of my ideas include Atonement, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, but I want to write about things that you want to read, so feel free to let me know what you want. First up – Harry Potter! If you don’t know how the series ends yet, and don’t want it spoiling, I would strongly suggest staying away from this post.

Since Harry Potter first became popular, there’s been a strong objection to it from the religious right on the grounds that it promotes paganism and witchcraft. I can only assume that these originate from people who have never read past the first couple of chapters. One of my favourite memories from my church-going days is being dragged along on one of the rare occasions that I didn’t feel like going to church, this time because Deathly Hallows had been released a day previously and I hadn’t had chance to finish it yet, and having the minister open the service by telling us how much she loved the ending and how well it showed the power of sacrifice. The glee I felt from seeing the shock on the faces of some older members of the congregation was probably a little un-Christian, but it was a great moment nonetheless.

J.K. Rowling has said in the past that she is a Christian, and although the books don’t seem to be an exploration of Christian themes in quite the same way as the works of J.R.R Tolkein or C.S Lewis, there is some definite allegory in the series; most markedly, Harry’s somewhat salvific -even messianic- role in the plot. It’s fairly well recognised that there’s something of Jesus to be found in Harry: I mean, he dies and then returns to save all of mankind, so J.K.R makes it fairly explicit, but you can finds hints at his Christ-like nature right through the series. As the books go on, readers increasingly get the impression that Harry is special and marked out (literally) for something, and from the fifth onward we see the relevance of prophecy in predicting both his birth (“born to those who have twice defied him, born as the seventh month dies“), and the events of his life (“either must die at the hand of the other“). In terms of the death itself, the allegory goes further than simply having him die and come back to life, because Harry makes a choice to sacrifice himself to stop any more deaths and in doing so invokes the same magic that had saved him when his mother sacrificed herself for him. Once he’s returned from the ‘afterlife’, we see that none of Voldemort’s spells are holding and he’s unable to kill anymore, which is a direct consequence of Harry’s sacrifice and very much a mirror for the atonement model of salvation in which Jesus’ sacrifice is salvific for all who choose his side.

One of the most interesting scenes in the series, particularly as far as allegory goes, is the climax to The Chamber of Secrets. We see Harry drawn into a murky underworld with two satanic minions (I don’t think I need to go into too much detail to explain why Voldemort is the ‘Satan’ of the series, or why a deadly giant snake and the memory-ghost of Tom Riddle seem like satanic minions), and we see him saved and literally “raised up” through his faith in Dumbledore (“He’ll never be gone – not as long as those who remain are loyal to him.“). There’s a very Hellenic, pagan feel to the underworld imagery and mythical beasts – not exactly an uncommon theme, given J.K Rowling’s degree is Classics – but something very explicitly Christian about Harry’s salvation, and it seems to point the way for another Biblical figure being personified in the series. Dumbledore is very much the ‘God’ of the series.

At first glance, Dumbledore is everything we associate with a classical view of God; an wise old bearded man, kindly and benign, who observes characters from his high tower, distantly guiding the course of events. It presents of very particular view of God’s interactions with the world: sometimes verbally directing characters and sometimes concealing information. He’s actually a very manipulative character when read closely, and seems to follow the pattern of Greek Gods playing chess with the lives of the lesser mortals. By the end of the book, we realise that everything he has done was with the intent of raising Harry like a lamb to be sacrificed at the perfect time, from leaving him in an abusive household for years to hiding important information about his life, in a way that certainly mirrors God’s plan for Jesus. It marks Dumbledore out as an incredibly flawed and questionable character, certainly less than benign, and in doing so raises some questions about how benign a God who involves himself in human affairs could really be.

Dumbledore’s godly role is particularly an interesting one given J.K.R’s later revelation about his sexuality and the uproar that it seemed to cause. A queer embodiment of the divine is something which theologians and biblical scholars have explored in depth, but I can think of very few other example where we can find this in popular culture. I wouldn’t like to comment on its significance for queer readers, but I’m fairly certain that it is significant. A lot of people criticise Rowling for not giving Dumbledore’s sexuality more visibility and essentially leaving it as an afterthought to his character, and certainly it’s never said explicitly, but I do think that there are hints to be found throughout the series, and a quick re-reading of the chapters regarding his relationship with Grindelwald show some fairly strong implications. It’s something never made particularly clear in the series, as I see it, because we read from Harry’s perspective and a) Harry is an unreliable narrator, often to the point of being flat-out oblivious to things and b) if Harry had put the pieces together regarding Dumbledore’s orientation, would he even have cared enough for it to be worth a mention, given that it’s completely irrelevant to his interactions with Harry?

There’s definitely an obvious exploration of Christian themes, often interwoven with classical mythology (not unlike the New Testament!) in Harry Potter with everything from subtle allegory to the explicit quoting of a Bible verse –Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also– albeit with a very different intended meaning to that of Matthew 6:21. It’s definitely worth a re-read with your eyes open to the theological themes. Give it a go – pick a chapter and see what you can find in there.