Anonymous Patron sends this “essay from YouthWorker, a journal for those who work in youth ministries. The essay offers an insightful perspective on why Christians should not be threatened by fantasy lit, and in fact, can use it to understand biblical teachings. The author, Michael Perschon, writes, “I believe fantasy can help us to pay attention to the things God desires to awake in the human heart.”
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Error
Near the end, it should actually read:
“They awaken us to the concept of a call that’s larger than ourselves, as when the wizard Gandalf tells Frodo of the need to destroy the One Ring, or Hagrid informs Harry Potter that he’s not just a normal boy but rather a wizard with the potential to do great things. The Bible tells us we’re made in the image of God, the pinnacle of creation, made to do great things for the Kingdom of God.
Fantasy awakens us to the miraculous and the supernatural. In the midst of an all too empirical Christianity, fantasy points a finger to the world of faerie lying just beyond our natural sight…..
The best (read: least controversial) example of this come from C.S. Lewis The Chronicles of Narnia, where the Christian metaphor is blatant. There’s no doubt that Aslan is Narnia’s Christ figure. But the connection doesn’t have to be that blatant in order to be that powerful in illustrating primary world truths.
In my own reading of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, I believe that J.K. Rowling has successfully fulfilled her right, as one created in the image of God, to create a secondary world. Harry Potter’s world isn’t ill-done, and I don’t believe it’s meant to delude the mind from which it came, nor those to which it goes. I believe this, because its secondary world points to my primary belief.”