When Connie Neal first read the Harry Potter books, she waslooking for examples of how the best-selling series ran counter toher family's Christian values.
To her surprise, Neal discovered that the books by J.K. Rowlingactually could be used to illuminate traditional biblical precepts ina culturally relevant way.
Instead of explaining to her three children why they couldn't readthe Potter series, Neal, a Christian author and activist, createdBible study lessons for them from the books.
Each week, her family would gather with friends and neighbors toread the Potter books and discuss how the actions of variouscharacters highlighted the Bible's teachings on right and wrong.
Now Neal has collected these discussions in a thoughtful new book,What's a Christian to Do With Harry Potter? (WaterBrook Press,$12.95). Laced with references to the Bible, it celebrates "thetremendous opportunities afforded Christians by the Harry Potterbooks and the worldwide interest they have generated.
"I propose that the Harry Potter books are deeply moral and can behighly instructive as 'training in righteousness' if one rightlyaligns these stories to Scripture," Neal writes. As one example, Nealcompares Lord Voldemort, the champion of evil in the Potter books, toSatan. She points out that Voldemort's effort to kill the baby Harrywas thwarted by his mother, who gave her life to save her child's.
"Voldemort's power was broken when Mrs. Potter willinglysacrificed her life for Harry; Satan's power was broken when Jesusdied on the cross to sacrifice his life for us," Neal writes.
In her book, Neal writes that other Christians might see danger inRowling's series.That's the position of Richard Abanes, author ofbooks warning of the dangers of the occult for Christians. In his newbook, Harry Potter and the Bible: The Menace Behind the Magic(Horizon Books, $11.99), Abanes argues that the Potter seriespresents a psychological and spiritual danger to Christians.
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