Outside Reading -- by Laura Feldt

 Ashley Frost 
Outside Reading "Harry Potter and the Contemporary Magic: Fantasy Literature, Popular Culture, and the Representation of Religion"
   
     C.S. Lewis' books and J.K. Rowling's books have been debated for years about the intention of their religious natures.  Even if these books are not explicitly, or even purposefully, religious, does that mean that they are not?  Is it possible that Lewis’ and Rowling’s use of myth and storytelling has allowed them the freedom to write non-religious books and yet still express the holy “otherness” that is Christianity?  The very nature of mythology is prone to be similar to Christianity because of the magic that happens.  “Among the variety of literary genres, fantasy literature has particular media qualities which, I argue, make this genre particularly prone to religious use and reactions” (Feldt).  Feldt goes on to explain that “in most fantasy literature, the heroes are not just individuals, but upholders of moral standards; the quest of the hero concerns not only his own coming of age, but the fate of the entire world.”  These characteristics of heroes in fantasy and myth are strikingly similar to the characteristics of the savior and hero of the Bible.