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The Perils of Shape Shifting: Harry Potter and Christian
Fundamentalism
Leanne Simmons
Published online: 5 August 2012
#Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012
Abstract Some conservative Christians have condemned the Harry Potter series, claiming
that the stories lure children into witchcraft and contain a completely relative morality. In
this article, I posit that both of these concerns are deeply related to fundamentalist Chris-
tians’perceptions of appropriate selfhood. Employing Robert Jay Lifton’s work on the
evolving shape of postmodern personalities, I demonstrate that J. K. Rowling’s portrayal
of magic is what Lifton would call “symbolic self-projection.”In so doing, I will show that
these fundamentalist concerns are really objections to the notion that a “centered self”is the
locus of moral control. The divide between the world of Harry Potter and that of fundamen-
talist Christians is really a struggle over the appropriate shape of the human personality.
Keywords Harry Potter .Fundamentalism .Ethics .Selfhood
Introduction
In the final volume of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J. K.
Rowling (2007) includes two allusions to scripture: the first is a reference to the teaching of
Jesus, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”(Matt. 6:21), and the second is a
quote from the Apostle Paul, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death”(1 Cor.15:26).
These sayings provide the moral keystones that define Harry Potter’s quest, and, by taking
them to heart, Harry will have found his own center and the foundation from which he may
make the ultimate sacrifice—the offering of his life for another. Despite these affinities with
the essence of Christian hope, the fears of some conservative Christians have not been
assuaged; many regard the books as “anti-Christ.”In these circles, there are lingering
suspicions that the popular series contains spiritual threats to basic tenets of Christian faith.
Based on a perusal of websites, it appears that fundamentalist Christians
1
have had the most
militant anti-Potter reaction. Some fundamentalists have lobbied to ban the book from public
Pastoral Psychol (2013) 62:53–68
DOI 10.1007/s11089-012-0478-4
1
For the purposes of this essay, I shall borrow Robert Jay Lifton’s rather broad definition of “fundamentalist.”
He claims that “fundamentalism includes a literalized doctrine, religious or political, enclosed upon itself by
the immutable words of holy books. The doctrine is rendered both sacred in the name of a past of perfect
harmony that never was, and in the center of a quest for collective revitalization”(1993, pp. 10–11). When
referring to Christians within this definition, Lifton includes many types that are differentiated in other
schemata of classification, such as fundamentalists, evangelicals, Pentecostals, and a variety of sub-categories.
L. Simmons (*)
All Saints Presbyterian Church, 7170 Beaver Run Road, Midland, GA 31820, USA
e-mail: lsm609@aol.com
institutions and, in the most extreme cases, have burned the books in protest. These concerns
have lifted the Harry Potter series out of the arena of “mere”children’s literature into the
arena of public moral debate.
This essay will address two of the primary objections by fundamentalist Christians
to J. K. Rowling’s work. However, it is best to begin by stating that I regard these
objections as evidence of a great divide between the worldview of Harry Potter and
that of fundamentalist Christians. There is a common “quelle”from which both of
these fundamentalist concerns spring. While objectors decry occult influences and
“Potterethics”(Abanes 2001), I posit that both of these objections flow from the
way in which Rowling valorizes a particular formation of the human psyche. Inten-
tional or not, Rowling traces her narrative of Harry’s self-development along a path
known as “proteanism,”a form of post-modern individualism which focuses on the
ability of the identity to “psychically shape shift”as the person adapts. Since most
fundamentalists tend to view the self as structured by an ethically rigid Christology,
Harry Potter’s behavior and evolution of identity is at odds with fundamentalist views
of appropriate selfhood. When J. K. Rowling’s works are rightly understood as a
collage of symbolic metaphors for self-empowerment and identity formation, it
becomes evident that Harry Potter is not “witchcraft repackaged,”but psychology
repackaged. It is the issue of human identity that separates Harry’sworldandthatof
fundamentalist Christians.
Fundamentalist objections to the Harry Potter series
The story of Harry Potter
Although Rowling’s narrative is filled with complex characters in complicated power
relationships, the basic plot of the Potter series is straightforward enough for a child to
follow. It is a basic tale of good versus evil in which the main character, an orphaned boy
named Harry, is confronted with his own role in that struggle. Raised in the abusive home of
his maternal aunt, Harry is ignorant of his own true heritage as a wizard until an endearing
half-giant named Hagrid arrives to expose Harry’s hidden past. Hagrid tells Harry that his
parents (a witch and a wizard) were not, as he believed, killed in a car accident, but were
instead murdered by an evil wizard named Voldemort. In time, Harry comes to know that the
real target of Voldemort’s murderous attack was not his parents, but himself. However,
because his mother sacrificed her life in an effort to save him, her dying act resulted in a
magic shield of love. Not only did her love shield him from Voldemort’s curse, but the attack
back-fired violently on the love-less wizard Voldemort, causing his power to break and his
being to degenerate into something horribly less than human. Harry, by contrast, is left only
with a scar on his forehead—a reminder of the curse that failed.
Harry is 11 when the first book begins his tale, and each subsequent book narrates another
year of his life as a student wizard at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. By the
end of the series Harry is 17 and his personality has evolved in the shadow of both his
education and his relationships at Hogwarts. Most notable among Harry’s relationships are
those with Hagrid, the half-giant gamekeeper, Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster, Ron, a
fellow student and Harry’s best friend, Hermione, also a student and the brightest girl in their
class, and Ginny, Harry’s ultimate love interest. Together, these characters become allies in
the battle to keep Voldemort from regaining substance and power; they also play key roles in
helping Harry to locate his own personal meaning in the midst of this struggle against evil.
54 Pastoral Psychol (2013) 62:53–68
