Shared Text: US Defense Calls China ‘Voldemort’

February 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment

When Harry Potter shapes the vocabulary of the Pentagon, Generation Hex is carrying the nuclear football. And we definitely have reached Shared Text status —

While Washington’s Asian allies look to it for leadership, the Obama administration has (like its predecessor) taken China’s professed good intentions at face value.  Things have gotten so bad that in the Pentagon some now refer to China as “Voldemort,” the evil wizard from the Harry Potter series who is often referred to as “he who must not be named.”

The “Voldemort Effect” is seen in the Defense Department’s recently published Quadrennial Defense Review, which cites the growing threat posed by anti-access and area-denial capabilities….. (The Wall Street Journal, September 11, 2010, p. A13).

See also the original report at Defense Studies. H/T Nicole!

Filed Under: Shared Text

The House Cup goes to Yale: God and Harry Potter at Yale by The Rev. Danielle Elizabeth Tumminio

January 27, 2011 by 1 Comment

Most college students, most people, in fact, seem to view theology in the same way they view flossing or eating Brussells sprouts: as something that they know is important  but which isn’t fun, engaging, or very easy to understand.  J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, beloved by millions of readers, appear to be at the opposite end of the spectrum, as they are fun, engaging, and easy to read and since they are often (incorrectly) thought to be more entertainment than edification.  Who would have thought that theology and Harry Potter could have been combined to create a class that changed lives at Yale? The answer to that question is Rev. Danielle Elizabeth Tumminio,  who created an incredibly popular seminar at Yale, tackling the sometimes daunting subject of theology by studying it in the context of the Harry Potter universe. The class took on subjects such as sacrifice, Christology, grace, and the  problem of evil, as portrayed in Rowling’s novels. The incredibly popular course garnered international attention, and now, Rev. Tummino takes readers where she has taken students, to a study of theology unlike any other.  Follow me after the jump for the full review.

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Filed Under: Elizabeth Baird Hardy

Shared Text: Harry Potter in ‘Big Bang Theory’

January 24, 2011 by 7 Comments

A better episode from the same series with a Quidditch reference (embed function disabled, alas) can be found here and here’s the actress who plays Penny talking about her love of Harry Potter. H/T to Lynn!

Filed Under: Shared Text

Jane Eyre 6: Faith and Fairies – Conventional Spirituality versus What the Heart Hears

January 23, 2011 by 2 Comments

If you’ve read Bronte’s own preface to the second edition, you’ve noticed that, besides  laying it on a bit thick in praise of Thackeray, she also indicates that the novel has been getting some serious criticism for its religious elements (or lack thereof). Those of us here who are used to being lambasted as the spawn of the devil for reading Harry Potter might find ourselves doing the proverbial head-scratch over folks getting their dander up over the likes of Jane Eyre, which still makes the school reading lists  at religious schools and is hardly the text likely to set parents shouting at PTO meetings. In many ways, of course, this is a Christian novel, so much so that its “preachiness” sometimes turns off modern readers (as we’ve already seen in our conversations here), but its depiction of the spiritual and the supernatural is often unconventional, leading “Currer Bell” to remind readers, in the preface, that “conventionality is not morality.” As we look at the roles of the Christian faith, the spiritual, and the supernatural in Jane Eyre, we may never see what some of those nineteenth-century critics were in such a tizzy over, but we will certainly see some of Bronte’s deft touches with the non-corporeal elements of Jane’s story.

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Filed Under: Elizabeth Baird Hardy, HogPro Book Club

Mailbag: Whence Dumbledore’s ‘I Am With You’?

January 22, 2011 by 1 Comment

A question I’m asked at almost every Potter speaking event I do — after “Have you met J. K. Rowling?” and “Are you related to Hermione Granger?” — is “What it is like to be a Potter Pundit?” I even had a young man write me a longish note about his plans to create eventually a career in which he could spend all day reading Harry Potter and writing about his favorite books, just like I had done.

The best part of being a Potter Pundit, hands down, is conversations in person and through correspondence with serious readers. I’m not sure how anyone can position him or herself to become a Hogwarts Professor professionally; I certainly didn’t, unless Classics major, Marine NCO, miso maker’s apprentice, grocery store cashier, yurt sewer, and Latin teacher constitute a calculated career path. Regardless, I really enjoy the letters I get every day, often several times a day, from readers who accept the invitation that is in all my books to write me with their comments and corrections and from HogPro All-Pros like you who write via this site’s Contact tab.

Today’s question arrived just after midnight. “Is Dumbledore’s great line in Half-Blood Prince as he and Harry escape the Cave of the Inferi an echo of the Psalter or what?” Here is the note with question and my attempt at an answer, with an invitation as well for you to share what you think:

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Filed Under: Mailbag