Everybody weighs in on Harry Potter!
As the Harry Potter franchise has evolved, much of the early Christian controversy over the boy wizard and his adventures has calmed down. But with a new film in theaters and the final Potter novel on the horizon, Christian critics and writers still have plenty to say. Here’s a few Harry Potter-related resources from around the Gospelcom Alliance:
- We’ve already noted Past the Popcorn‘s review of the new Potter movie. For additional points of view on the film, see reviews of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at Hollywood Jesus and Preview Online.
- The Culture Beat bloggers have written repeatedly about Harry Potter and the upcoming seventh book in the series.
- Writer and humorist James Watkins has an excellent essay hitting the major points of the “Should Christians read Harry Potter?” debate.
- Digging way back in time, religion columnist Terry Mattingly wrote a two-part essay (link goes to part 1; here’s part 2) about the new (at the time) Harry Potter phenomenon.
- Connie Neal wrote an insightful essay about how youth workers should approach the Harry Potter series over at Youth Specialties.
- During the height of the Harry Potter controversy, Christian media expert Al Menconi caused a bit of a stir himself with two essays encouraging Christians to “not sweat the small stuff” when it came to the Harry Potter books.
Whether you’re already lining up outside your local bookstore for a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows or are planning to avoid the entire phenomenon altogether, take a few minutes to browse some of these links–perhaps you’ll be struck by a different perspective you hadn’t considered before.
