Christians and Children’s Books
December 9th, 2006 by Stephen
Harry Potter has been around for many years now, and we probably have all come to some conclusions about its merits, both in terms of quality of fiction, and on how Christians should respond to it.
“The moral stance is reassuringly strong” purred the _Daily Telegraph_ review on the back of one of the books. And in some sense, that is right. These are not merely pattern-based morally-neutral books.
Indeed I am in possession of a Bible Study that uses the issues
raised in “Harry Potter”, and then explores them further (including the
issue of rule breaking – and whether the book seems to encourage this). The intent of the study is to take unchurched
young people where they are at, and then to explore these
issues from a starting point with which they are familiar.
That does not condone the books – although I did enjoy them very much
(despite their flaws). It does show that one can use such material to
benefit a group.
A trilogy I read a few years ago that I find much more troubling was Phillip
Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy. Those books were overtly anti
Christian and had a questionable moral message. I also disagreed with
reviewers who felt the writing was particularly good – I found the
characterisation was weak, and the style occasionally rather stilted,
although they were rather imaginative works.
Where I found the books particularly troubling was in the occasional
repetition of old fallacies that are occasionally thrown at the church
(such as the idea that the church has throughout its history been
responsible only for repression of progress and acts of great evil). It
was the way these ideas were *assumed* to be true that troubled me most
- because in Children’s literature, the readers might unconciously add
those assumptions to their belief system, without any critical
appraisal.
But what would be my response to the “His Dark Materials” trilogy?
I think it might be much the same as Harry Potter. Where I know young
people have read the work, I would want them to discuss the ideas
therein, and think through *why* the author believes the Church is so
authoritarian, and *where* have there been problems in the Curch? and
*whether* the author is correct in his own assumptions.
We cannot stop young people from being exposed to these ideas, but we
*can* sit down with them and guide them as they think through important
issues. As such, Harry Potter is an excellent starting point, because it does at least start with a very clear moral message.
Another response, of course, is to write, or encourage other Christians
to write fiction that is as good as that under discussion – and never to
forget that a good book should tell the reader something beyond the
story.
