God, the Devil, and Harry Potter: A Christian Minister's Defense of the Beloved Novels [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

As a fellow pastor AND fan of the Harry Potter novels, I picked up this book with much interest. The introduction was intriguing enough, so I proceeded with the book. There is no doubt in my mind that evangelicals will dismiss this book as blasphemous. Harry Potter as Jesus? Dumbledore as God the Father? Fawkes as the Holy Spirit?? While I recognize the merit of Killinger's basic argument--that many of the themes in the Potter books are themes that have a Christian basis (if not an outright Christian character--I felt that his comparisons are exaggerated or altogether too weak to stand.
Of course, like others, I am totally embarrassed by the Christians who have dismissed the Potter books as "evil." I was hoping this book might be a reasonable, substantive argument against those accusations. Alas, it is not. In fact, it reads more like a synopsis of each of the Potter books in print with some theology thrown in to boot. Killinger's admiration for the Potter books stands out more strongly than any argument he makes for the books not being anti-Christian.

(First of all, this is coming from a huge [Christian] fan of the HP books.) While some of his points do make since, most are not sufficiently explained, and are therefore unbelieveable. Killinger makes a lot of glaring mistakes; for example, he doesn't seem to understand the concept of a dementor other than the fact that it can (can being the main word) suck out one's soul. He also gives quite a few incorrect discriptions of exact events in the books. (An example: He said that Hagrid had turned Vernon Dursley to a pig in Sorcerer's Stone, but he actually gave DUDLEY Dursley a pig's TAIL.) The one crucial point that I think he has actually brought across is the role of good vs. evil in the series.
Overall, if you are a person who is looking to see if the series is appropriote for you or your children, buy this book. Otherwise, if you are a fan looking for a good defence of the books, don't waste your time.

While reading this book I got the impression that Killinger wrote this book to refute Abanes's book on Harry Potter. He was irate over what Abanes wrote (which I completely understand) and so he posted his defense. However, he slips into many of the same mistakes as Abanes, although going the opposite direction.
1. He lambasts anti-Potterists as narrow-minded and numbskulls...it isn't going to win any friends.
2. His mainline Christian tendencies come out in force when he's quoting the Bible, referencing the JEDP hypothesis, an eschatological redaction of the Gospels, and Tillich's views on the mythological meaning of the resurrection. Along with referring to the Nativity as a "legend" he is hardly making any friends or credibility with the fundalementalists who have probably already have passed him off as a "so-called Christian" who is a part of Satan's deception.
3. If you did not understand the vocabulary of my last point, you will not understand the vocabulary of Killinger. I got a Religion degree from an Evangelical school, but even I had a hard time keeping up with his over-use of theologically-laden terms. Fortunately, he has enough sense to explain kerygma in an subordinate clause, but why even use it in a popular book anyway? Unless you have taken a few Theology or Bible classes, you're going to need a Theological Reference book by you at all times.
4. I consider myself well-read in the area of great Christian thinkers, but even I had to pause frequently before Killingers large block quotes to place the authors, ranging from Chesterson, Buechner, Nouwen, to Merton. Great people, but not read much outside the small Christian academic circle. A little help would be nice to understand who these people and why we should listen to them.
5. Killinger never actually refutes the main arguments of Abanes. I'm guessing that as a mainline Protestant they didn't make any sense to him, so he came up with his own arguments. So he never answers the question of what to do with the verses in Leviticus or Revelation that command captial punishment for witches. Along with his quotations of popular mediums and spiritists to prove that the world beyond is not so far away, fundalmentalists are sure to write him off as an occult sympathiser, or worse, a one-world-religionist.
6. While Abanes often makes the mistake of leaps of logic (like the idea that Harry can do divination because he can talk to snakes) Killinger also falls prey to this. He attempts to make connections where Rowling has explicitly said in interviews that no connection can be made (like a meaning to the word "Quidditch"). However other ideas, like making Harry into a Christ figure and Dumbledore into God, is tenuous and almost as funny as some of Abanes ideas.
The book does make some good points, but it hardly is going to convince an anti-Potterist to change their view. Instead this book would be wonderful for any well-educated evangelical or mainline Christian.