A Study of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Christianity

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone marks the first book in the ever-so-popular Harry Potter series. In this book we watch as Harry begins his journey at Hogwarts, he learns who he truly is, and meets amazing people that will turn into lifelong friends during his journey. This book holds many deeper meanings than being just another book about magic, we see many ties to religious thoughts. .I.K. Rowling references religious ideas, death and immorality, Good vs Evil all throughout this book and the series as a whole, which many people don‘t always pick up on.

Harry Potter was seen as a book about evil and which craft to some religious groups. but as we begin reading, we quickly see subtle references to Christianity, One of those references being the celebration of Christmas. Christmas in the muggle world is celebration of the birth of Christ and we see this same celebration in the wizarding world.

Christmas is mentioned many times in chapter twelve with the chapter starting with the words, “Christmas was coming‘h The chapter later tells of Harrys surprise as he wakes up to unexpected presents on the frigid morning of December twenty fifth.

So just like in the muggle world, Christmas is celebrated the same around Hogwarts proving Christianity is a common religion among students. Religious wording is used in the text many of times, One example of this is the word “re- joice”. Rejoice is used in the Bible as a word meaning to give joy or feel great delight, “May you always be joyful in your union with the Lord, I say it again: rejoice! Show a gentle attitude toward everyone The Lord is coming soon.

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-Phi|ippians 4:4- 9″.

This verse reminds me of the beginning of the novel when witches and wizards were celebrating the death of Voldemort as Mr. Dursley ran into a wizard partaking in the celebration he exclaimed “Don’t be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You»KnowA Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy happy day!” (Rowling 5). The word rejoice was used in this statement just as it is used in the bible, to describe a time of great delight and celebration. Death is an ongoing topic in this series We begin the novel with the deaths that set the stage for the entire novel and will shape Harry’s life for- ever, the death of his parents, Lily and James Potter. “The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are- are- that they’re- dead.” (Rowling 12). Harry doesn’t learn the true fate of his parent’s death until the age of eleven (the age he discovers he’s a wizard), when he learns it wasn’t a car accident that killed his parents, it was Voldemort, he murdered his parents.

Although Harrys par- ents are no longer with him. they still live on in spirit and we see this idea many times throughout the series. Immortality is the concept of living in a physical form for an infinite or vast length of time, This eternal life is one of the known limits of magic, the sorcerer’s stone is one of the mystical objects that holds the power to sustain life or create eternal life. The stone is able to produce the Elixir of Life, one of the known means of immortality. The power of this stone is the reason Volde- mort tries to obtain it throughout this novel. There are less apparent signs of the Christianity faith in this book, one being the similarities between Jesus Christ and Harry himself. There are many parallels between the two, one being they were both targeted even be- fore their births, because they are both prophecies named chosen ones to bring peace to their worlds. Both Jesus and Harry are targeted to death, but both ultimately live due to their parent’s protection. Lily and James protected Harry from Voldemort just as Mary and Joseph protected Jesus from King Herod in similar manners.