is J.K. Rowling a “Christian”?

There are a couple of popular assumptions/assertions going around within certain segments of the Christian community that:

1) J.K. Rowling is a “Christian” in more than just a casual, social context — or in other words, in the way that is beyond how most people in UK/USA say they are “Christian” if they are simply not Buddhist or Muslim, or any other religion; and
2) J.K Rowling has deliberately tried to “baptize” the world into the gospel using the HP tales as a kind of allegory for the resurrection story of Christ (similar to The Chronicles of Narnia by Christian author, C.S. Lewis), with little Harry cast in the role of none other than Jesus.

I have previously dealt with this notion that the HP series is Christian in my book Harry Potter, Narnia, and the Lord of the Rings, and in my blog article, playful titled The Evil Hogwarts Professor. In my opinion, what we are actually seeing in HP is a very cleverly written tale wherein Rowling has simply created another version of the dying-rising-savior myth popular throughout many cultures (or whatever you want to label it per its many permutations).

It has been counter-argued, however, that this is IMPOSSIBLE with regard to Rowling. First, because the similarities between the Christ story and ancient myths have been all but totally debunked (according to some individuals). Second, because Rowling as allegedly made very clear professions of her Christianity and that her faith is closely linked to the ending of Book 7.

But the fact is that we have precious little information about what J.K. Rowling actually does/does not believe regarding faith, the Christian church, God, Jesus, the atonement, etc. etc. etc. There are only a few quotes that have surfaced over the years that, AT BEST, might suggest that she has SOME Christian views on SOME issues. But she has NEVER once defined her:

1. concept of God
2. views on Christ’s nature and mission (his divine/human nature, resurrection)
3. beliefs concerning the atonement
4. perspective on the Bible
5. definition of a “Christian”

The extremely shallow statements that she has made regarding her spirituality and religion in general are as follows:

GOD: “Well, as it happens, I believe in God, but there’s no pleasing some people!”
(JK Rowling Chat, AOL Live, May 4, 2000)
[MY COMMENT: Which "God"? What is her definition of "God"? Is she referring to the orthodox Christian Trinity "God"? Is she talking about some "God" as she defines "God" with a few smatterings of Christian ideas, or perhaps Buddhist ideas, or New Age notions? A personal "God" or an impersonal "God"?]

GOD: “Well, I do believe in God.” (Dateline NBC, June 20, 2003)
[MY COMMENT: This response was given by Rowling in response to the question, "I'm just curious about your belief system--God, heaven?" Clearly, the answer is extremely minimal, ignoring the issue of heaven all together. And once more, the questions are plain: Which "God"? What is her definition of "God"? Is she referring to the orthodox Christian Trinity "God"?]

PROPHECY: When asked if she believed in “prophecies in real life,” rather than saying “yes,” and subsequently pointing to various Bible prohecies relating to Christ’s first and second advent, she merely replied “No, I don’t” (World Book Day Festival Chat, Mar. 4, 2004).
[MY COMMENT: This is a fairly straight forward declaration that negates a significant percentage of the Bible, both Old and New Testament.]

JESUS CHRIST: She has made no public explanations of her views on Jesus Christ as being her personal Lord and Savior. The only remark I could find by her about Jesus was an emotional exclamation she made that most Christians would see as taking the Lord’s name in vain. In reference to seeing her personal story of hardship appearing in newspapers, complete with photos, she declared: “Seeing it all down there in black and white you think, Jesus Christ, I’m so sad, amn’t I? I don’t feel that sad.” (Scotland on Sunday, 17 January 1999).
[MY COMMENT: This is not exactly a comment you might find coming from stalwarts of the faith such as Lewis or Tolkien, whose footsteps Rowling is supposedly walking in.]

Particularly odd is how some Christians have interpreted one of Rowling’s most recent comments (on NBC) as a highly specific reference to her Christianity (see below). It actually a fairly innocuous remark — and yet it is being interpreted as some type of in-depth affirmation of Rowling’s “Christian” faith, putting her on the level of a C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien. During the interview, the following exchange took place:

JKR: Well, there — there clearly is a religious– undertone. And– it’s always been difficult to talk about that because until we reached Book Seven, views of what happens after death and so on, it would give away a lot of what was coming. So … yes, my beliefs and my struggling with religious belief and so on I think is quite apparent in this book.
NBC: And what is the struggle?
JKR: Well my struggle really is to keep believing.
NBC: To keep believing?
JKR: Yeah, I have– I have– Yes.

At MOST, all we are being told by Rowling is that has been “struggling” with “religious belief” and that these particular beliefs are connected in some way to her views of “what happens after death and so on.” There is NOTHING explicitly in this remark that details, or even indirectly indicates, Rowling is a “Christian” in the sense of actually embracing Christian beliefs. A Buddhist might interpret this as her making references to Buddhist beliefs, or a Muslim might just as easily interpret it as referring to beliefs of Islam. All religious systems have notions about life after death. For all we know, she has embraced a bit of Christian ideas, some new Age concepts, and a little bit of something else. She never elaborates.

Now, it is indeed true that Rowling has attended the Church of Scotland in the past, and does so on occasion in the present. But this means little since many, many people who are nominally “religious” will sporadically attend church. But they are not necessarily “Christian.” As for her own church attendance, Rowling has remained incredibly reserved about it, stating that she certainly goes “more than to weddings and christenings.” These are hardly the words of a devout follower of Christ and/or regular church attender.

Rowling’s casual church attendance is also significant in light of the observation voiced by a British HP fan, who remarked that in England although “many Britons will profess a belief in God, not so many of them would label themselves ‘Christian’ (which implies active and regular attendance at church services).” Coincidentally, a professed belief in “God” is just about all that anyone has ever really gotten from Rowling with regard to her faith.

And what about the dying-rising-savior myth? Is it truly non-existent, and therefore, impossible for her to have concocted yet another similar tale? Hardly.

It has NEVER been disputed that there are indeed SIMILARITIES between the pagan deity myths and the Christ story. What HAS been refuted is that those pagan deity myths EXACTLY mirror the Christ story — i.e., his life, death, and resurrection. The Christ story stands utterly unique in the stream of myths. As stated correctly at theologywebsite.com:

“Parallels to the resurrection have been suggested in the ‘dying and rising savior-gods.’ But the ‘resurrection’ of these gods is very different from what is meant by that word in Christian belief. There is nothing in the myth of Osiris that could be called a resurrection: the god became ruler over the dead, not the living. The myth of Attis contains no specific mention of a resurrection though it has been thought the gladness following mourning in his cult presupposed some such notion. The Adonis myth perhaps most clearly indicates the resuscitation of a god, but even here it is not strictly a resurrection. These beliefs are more closely allied to the cycle of nature, and the mysteries seem to have had their origin in the agricultural cycle. Even this element does not seem prominent in the mysteries of the Roman period where urban life had weakened the connection with the soil. But insofar as paganism offered “dying and rising gods,” these gods are a world apart from Christ’s resurrection, which was presented as a one.time historical event, neither a repeated feature of nature nor a myth of the past.”

I agree 100% with this analysis. I have NEVER said that such pagan myths were completely the same as the Christ story. I’ve used the term “dying-rising, savior-deliverer myth motif” to describe a broad spectrum of related tales and myths that fit into an overall, general storyline/myth category of sacrifice, death, and renewed life (whether by rescusitation, resurrection, re-birth, or reincarnation - whatever). This category includes a vast grouping of diverse protagonists (see the listing online at wiki).

So although these stories are not IDENTICAL, there are enough SIMILARITIES — and again I say SIMILARITIES (rather than direct parallels) — between the pagan deity myths and the Christ story to have caused:

1) many secularists to mention them (to the extreme, of course) as a way of trying to debunking the gospel story; and
2) several brilliant Christian thinkers such as J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis to actually use them as a defense of Christianity and support for the validity of the gospels.

I AM NOT declaring that the “dying-rising, savior-deliverer myth motif” is a single resurrection version that precisely follows the Christ story EXACTLY. There are many different forms of the myth. And ONE form of it, I believe, can clearly be seen in Harry Potter, vol. 7, which I have now looked at in-store (no, I won’t buy it).

Rowling, in other words, has penned an updated, 21st century, resurrection tale that easily REFLECTS not just the Christ story, but also many other renewed life myths, all of which fit into what I call the “dying-rising, savior-deliverer myth motif.” It is up to Harry-worshipers within the Christian community to PROVE that Rowling deliberately intended to specifically mirror Jesus, and only Jesus, in an effort to propogate the gospel, rather than what I find is more likely — i.e., that for an awesome ending, she used the ideas of self-sacrifice, death, and renewed life, which are some of the most powerful devices available to her.

Of course, as someone raised in the western world and who has, by her own testimony, at least attended Christian churches, Rowling would be very familiar with this dying-rising concept primarily through the gospel stories — but she would also be familiar with the concept through her vast study of mythology, which she has often discussed. It may indeed be true, then, that Rowling recieved her primary inspiration from the Christ story. However, an ending of a novel inspired by the Christ story (as well as by similar myths that have been popularized in other cultures) is hardly tantamount to her making some sort of C.S. Lewis-like defense of Christianity via her fictional saga.

Bottom Line: Rowling’s vol. 7 ending is just another life-death-sacrifice-renewed-life version of a popular myth. The only true version, of course, as Lewis pointed out, is the Christ story.

__________________