Harry Potter

“To me, the religious parallels have always been obvious. But I never wanted to talk too openly about it because I thought it might show people who just wanted the story where we were going.” – J.K. Rowling, 2007

I was pretty late to the Harry Potter party. My wife had told me for years to give the books a try, but stuck in my own world of reading non-fiction (usually books on Catholic theology) I just never gave it much thought. Upon being given Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: Illustrated Editionas as a Christmas gift in 2015, I finally decided to give the books a shot. Long story short, I flew through the first book and immediately began reading the rest of the series…

As a middle school theology teacher, I often tell my students to put on their “Jesus Goggles” and search for “Catholic Treasure” in the movies, music, and novels they are consuming. As I continued to read through the Harry Potter series I couldn’t help but notice all kinds of Catholic themes and biblical connections within them. Thinking there might be something to this, I searched online to see if anyone else had taken note of this. I didn’t have to search far: John Granger of HogwartsProfessor.com had already written extensively about the Christian content and value of Harry Potter, as had many others.

Feeling validated, I began sharing some of these connections with students of mine who had also grown to love the Harry Potter series. Time and again, I was given the gift of seeing looks of joy and amazement on my students’ faces as they began to see these connections for the first time themselves.

Bishop Robert Barron speaks of “uncovering inklings of the Gospel, which can then lead people to God” by finding “Seeds of the Word” in the world all around us. I believe the immensely famous Harry Potter series provides us with a vast amount of “seeds of the Word” that have largely been untouched. I believe it’s time to discover the rich Catholic treasure within Harry Potter and begin evangelizing the countless number of young and old alike who have fallen (and continue to fall!) in love with this remarkable story.

As educators, we sometimes have to dig deep to find fun and relevant ways to bring the Gospel to our students, but in this case the treasure within Harry Potter has already been dug up and organized for you. Now all you have to do is share it and watch your students’ interest and faith come alive!

CLICK HERE (or on the image above) for this years in the making resource which contains over 200(!) specifically highlighted Christian themes and connections from the Harry Potter series in 22 pages of an editable Word document for you to comb through and use however you see fit:

If you’re a Religion teacher, you now have an abundance of examples and jumping off points to help you shed light on important truths of the Catholic faith. Use passages from the books or video clips from the movies to springboard your classes into highly engaging discussions on a multitude of topics or simply sprinkle these connections into your everyday lessons.
If you’re an English teacher, you now have a plethora of talking points and hidden gems to amaze your students with and draw them closer to Christ.
If you’re a fan of Harry Potter, you now have secret access to Gospel treasures that will make you want to read, watch, and discuss this great story again and again.