Leonie Caldecott

The darkness in the Harry Potter books has alarmed some Christians, who claim that the books encourage an unhealthy and dangerous interest in the occult. Catholic writer Michael O’Brien says: “Rowling’s wizard world is gnostic in essence and practice, neutralizes the sacred and displaces it by normalizing what is profoundly abnormal and destructive in the real world.” But John Granger, author of Finding God in Harry Potter, believes that J. K. Rowling is following in the footsteps of C. S. Lewis in using magical themes to point up archetypal human experiences that relate to salvation history as understood by Christians.