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By Michelle Watt

(Oh yeah, I’m going to spoil the ending in this article. You’ve had long enough…)

I have to admit, I jumped on the Harry bandwagon late. Quite late. I only picked up Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone last year, when my mum lent me a pile of books to read when Anastasia (my daughter) was napping. Prior to that, I had steadfastly refused to read the series, as I found the hype a bit irritating. I figured there was no way they could be as enjoyable as everyone was making out: which, in the words of Albus Dumbledore, “goes to show that the best of us must sometimes eat our words” (1).

The book I read just before I started HP&PS was The Da Vinci Code(2), which I had also refused to read previously because of the absurd amount of hype that came with its publication. Yet, whether you like it or not, the phenomenal following these two books have attracted will mean that they will leave an indelible mark on our society. A whole generation of young people have grown up with Harry, Ron and Hermione, and will have taken on board, to some degree, the ideals and themes Rowling has presented them with. So, as a parent, and a nearly-trained teacher, I thought it would be a good idea to bite the bullet, and find out what the hype was about.

So, yes, I’m now a bit of a HP fan, and I lined up at 9:01am on the 21st of July for my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, desperate to find out how it would all end. I was worried I’d be left unsatisfied. I didn’t think JKR would be able to tie up everything nicely, I was sure I’d be disappointed. I wasn’t. I’m actually amazed at how well all the loose ends were gathered up. And it was in the gathering of these loose threads that I discovered something quite remarkable…

You probably know that the era we live in is often referred to as post-modern. That categorisation denotes a number of things(3), but one of the key characteristics of a post-modern world is its lack of confidence in truth, and the emergence of relativism. Ever heard expressions like: “there’s no such thing as absolute truth”, “if that’s true for you”, and ideas like “it doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you’re sincere”, and “there are many different paths to God”? These are some pretty typical ideas these days, and they have infiltrated a great deal of society, and have spread to some Christian thinking and theology.

It’s the school of thought I expect in contemporary literature. And so, one of the things I was completely surprised by in The Deathly Hallows was the reoccurring theme of truth, and Harry’s need to seek it out:

“ … ‘Rita Skeeter hinted that Professor Dumbledore was involved in the Dark Arts when he was young.’
‘Don’t believe a word of it!’ said Doge at once. ‘Not a word Harry! Let nothing tarnish your memories of Albus Dumbledore!’
Harry looked into Doge’s earnest, pained face and felt not reassured, but frustrated. Did Doge really think it was that easy, that Harry could simply choose not to believe? Didn’t Doge understand Harry’s need to be sure, to know everything?”(4)

“He told Hermione everything that Muriel had told him. When he had finished, Hermione said, ‘Of course, I can see why that’s upset you Harry -’
‘-I’m not upset,’ he lied, ‘I’d just like to know whether it’s true or -’
‘Harry do you really think you’ll get the truth from a malicious old woman like Muriel or from Rita Skeeter? How can you believe them?’ … ‘How can you let these people tarnish your memories of Dumbledore?’
He looked away, trying not to betray the resentment he felt. There it was again: choose what to believe. He wanted the truth.”(5)

I find these passages quite intriguing, given the fact that our society has so little regard for absolute truth. These days, people who claim they have truth are labelled ‘arrogant’, ‘intolerant’, ‘bigoted’, and ‘narrow-minded’. Yet here, in one of the most widely read books for generations, we have our protagonist desperately seeking after that which society is so quick to tell us doesn’t exist. And we empathise with him. We follow Harry’s journey and we want that truth too. We need it as much as he does. (And when we read TDH, and especially Chapter 33: ‘The Prince’s Tale’ and everything falls into place, we let out a collective “ohhhh …. ahhhh”, and are very satisfied).

Unfortunately, our world does not share Harry’s insatiable desire for truth. In fact, we have a despicable tendency to hide from truth, instead devising clever philosophies that argue that there is no truth. Consider Romans 1:18-23: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles”. (6)

The sinful human mind has tried throughout history to suppress the truth about God. Post-modern relativism is perhaps one of the cleverest suppressions yet devised; claim that there is no truth, and then label anyone who tries to put forth truth an arrogant bigot; yet it is just a new disguise for a very old problem: human sinfulness. Modernists tried to disprove the truth of God through science and reason; post-modernists belittle those foolish enough to believe in the existence of truth.

The claim that there is no truth is absurd. Sire says “the idea that we have no access to reality … is self-referentially incoherent”(7): put simply, to say “there is no truth”, is to make a claim about truth, which cannot be true, because there is (apparently) no truth (these arguments always do my head in). The statement “there is no truth” can not be true, because if it was, it just disproved itself.

Fortunately, knowing the Lord Jesus frees us from these nonsensical arguments. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”(8): The Lord Jesus is truth: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth”(9). Listen to the words Jesus speaks to some Jews who followed him: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”(10).

Knowing the truth that is found in the Lord Jesus, the truth of salvation for sinners through his death and resurrection is infinitely more satisfying than knowing that Severus Snape really was good. Knowing that Harry dies a sacrificial death, and is raised to life again (Hmm, I think JKR stole her ideas from somewhere…), pales into insignificance when we know the true Saviour. The Lord Jesus laid down his life for wretched, truth-denying sinners, and was raised to life again that we might also live. Even my delight at knowing Harry and Ginny got married and had three very predictably named children will be nothing, nothing, compared to the eternal joy that awaits us, purchased for us by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus.

ENDNOTES

(1) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, p. 243.
(2)  Incidentally, my opinion was justified in the case of The Da Vinci Code. What a lot of rubbish! I found it predictable, lame and really poorly researched. The problem is, I know far too many people who have been taken in by the claims Dan Brown makes. This is exactly why I read it- people believe it’s true, and I couldn’t engage with them until I understood what the books claims were.
(3) My explanations are somewhat generalised and simplified, I know, but I this was necessitated by the fact that I’m writing an article, not a book! For a really good primer on post-modernism, and a bunch of other ways of understanding the world, check out James Sire’s The Universe Next Door. It’s probably on the bookstall at church.
(4) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, p. 127.
(5) HPDH, p. 153.
(6) ESV, my italics
(7) The Universe Next Door, p. 188.
(8) John 14:6 ESV, my italics
(9) John 1:14 ESV , my italics
(10) John 8:31-32 ESV, my italics