Can Christians Read Harry Potter to the Glory of God?

Recently, I had a student in class ask my opinion about whether Christians should read fictional series like Harry Potter. This has been an issue I’ve thought through before. Growing up, I remember hearing people in my church say that the Harry Potter books were from the Devil and that Christians should not read them. At the time, I did not pay much attention to the debate because I was not particularly interested in those books anyway. Easy to avoid the controversy when you didn’t care one way or another.

As I grew older, however, I became much more of a reader. I now try to read every day and enjoy a wide variety of genres. Since I graduated from seminary, I have significantly increased my fiction reading and have worked through the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs (John Carter), J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter), and Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson). I fully acknowledge those series are not technically written for adults, but I suppose that shows I will always be a kid at heart.

Reading fiction has helped improve my reading speed and ability to concentrate. It has also given my imagination a much-needed boost. In my opinion, these are only a few of the many benefits fiction can offer Christians.

But what about the objection that books such as Harry Potter contain magic and witchcraft and therefore should not be read by Christians? Put another way, would I recommend Harry Potter or Percy Jackson to children? Or, would I let my kids read such books? In answering that question, I think there are several important considerations.

Some stories are more appropriate at certain ages than others.

I still have young children, and I have sometimes hesitated to let them read particular stories because I want to delay exposing them to certain themes. Those themes might include intense anger, jealousy, violence, murder, or other difficult subjects. Once a child has been introduced to certain ideas or images, they cannot simply be “unlearned.” For that reason, there can be real wisdom in delaying some stories until a child is mature enough to process them well—even when the stories themselves are ultimately good and worthwhile.

One does not have to approve of everything in a book for the book to be profitable.

This principle applies to many areas of life. Consider the Bible itself. Scripture includes accounts of rape, adultery, sexual immorality, deception, and murder. Yet the presence of sinful actions within those stories does not mean we should avoid reading them. Obviously, Scripture includes such accounts for a reason.

In the same way, a reader does not need to approve of every character, plot development, or action within a fictional story in order to benefit from the story as a whole. The value of a story is often found not in one isolated element, but in the way its characters, conflicts, and themes work together. So, we ought to consider the individual elements of a story, yes. But we also should consider the whole story. What kind of themes emerge out of the story as a whole? Does the story glorify what the Bible glorifies? Does the story condemn what Scripture condemns? Those are helpful questions to ask.

God designed stories to be a theater for learning.

This is perhaps the most important point. Like sketches or dramatic illustrations, fictional stories (and fantasy in particular) provide a setting in which specific virtues, vices, choices, and consequences can be highlighted. Stories can place qualities such as justice, mercy, courage, loyalty, and sacrifice on vivid display in ways that ordinary life often cannot.

For example, in Percy Jackson, one of the temptations placed before the young hero is the possibility of becoming immortal. Yet he recognizes that accepting immortality would mean abandoning his family and friends. The story therefore places loyalty and faithfulness in direct conflict with selfish ambition. Although the setting is entirely fictional, the virtues being illustrated are very real, and dare I say, praiseworthy.

Someone might object, “I cannot read Harry Potter because it is set in a magical world, and the Bible forbids magic.” But this is where the idea of fiction as a theater for learning becomes helpful. The use of magic in Harry Potter does not function in the same way as the occult practices condemned in Scripture.

In the Bible, forbidden magic involves attempts to access supernatural power apart from God, to manipulate spiritual realities, or to seek knowledge and power outside the means God has established. In Harry Potter, however, magic functions primarily as part of the fictional world in which larger moral questions are at issue. The central conflict is not really about whether magic itself is good or bad, but about how that power is used: for selfish ambition and domination, or for sacrifice, friendship, and the protection of others. Magic therefore functions as a literary device through which larger themes are developed.

It is ironic to me that many Christians accept reading Chronicles of Narnia, which has magical properties used for good and evil, but are unaccepting of Harry Potter. I think most people acknowledge that the world of Narnia is teaching something deeper than whether magic is good or bad, and I think we need to be open to the same thought regarding Harry Potter.

Fiction can also teach us how to read the Bible better.

One unexpected benefit of reading long fictional series such as Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, or John Carter is that they can help us understand something about the way the Bible itself should be read.

Christians sometimes develop the bad habit of “proof-texting”—going to an isolated Bible verse simply to support a point we already want to make. But the Bible is not merely a collection of disconnected statements. It tells a developing story that unfolds across history.

You would not expect to understand the fourth book in the Harry Potter series very well if you had never read the first three. In much the same way, you should not expect to understand the book of Revelation well if you have ignored the Old Testament. Biblical books build upon what came before them, and the Bible’s themes, promises, covenants, and expectations develop as the story progresses.

Reading good fiction can train us to pay attention to that kind of development. Because the Bible reads as a story—just a true one!

Conclusion

God has created human beings to appreciate and learn through stories. Fiction can sharpen the imagination, develop reading skills, help us think more carefully about virtue and vice, and even teach us to pay attention to the development of a larger narrative.

For those reasons, I believe Christians can read books such as Harry Potter thoughtfully and even do so to the glory of God.