Hogwarts Professor

Now that the dust has settled, the children have torn and discarded the cover to your copy of Deathly Hallows, and the discussion has moved on to the literary merits and sources of the Harry Potter novels, let’s close the door on the speculative madness of the Interlibrum period with nominations for the Best Prognosticator, pre-Deathly Hallows. Millions of us thought and wrote for two years about what we thought had to happen in the series finale. Who do you think did the best job now that we have the real thing? I offer the following three categories for your nominations. Please write your arguments in support of your candidate(s) or some explanation:

(1) Best Speculator: Who stretched your thinking into areas you never expected to explore? Who consistently drove you back to the books for another look at the text because you couldn’t believe you missed the detail this writer thought was a telling one? So what if their theories proved not just wrong but absurdly wrong or just barely wrong; where did you go when you wanted to read something you knew would be based on clear thinking, an excellent grasp of canon, and a certain wildness?

(2) Biggest Bulls Eye: Who hit the nail on the head with a Deathly Hallows prediction? Extra points for being all alone with the theory, for being there first with a canon-proof argument, and for being considered way-out-in-left-field for the guess.

(3) Weirdest Speculation and Oddest Review: What was the strangest idea you read pre-Deathly Hallows of how the series would end? (No shipping, please; it’s a family site…) What idea before and review after Deathly Hallows made you pinch yourself and ask if you were living on the same planet and reading the same books as the speculator/reviewer?

HyperLinks, of course, are much appreciated so the HogPro All-Pro Panel of Judges can see the context of your nominations and verify the evidence of your arguments.

My nominations for your comments and corrections are: [Read more…]

The National Catholic Register has published an article about Harry Potter by a priest in the Legionary of Christ who teaches philosophy at Regina Apostolorum University in Rome. “Judging Harry Potter” by Fr. Alfonso Aguilar, LC, takes a position much like Michael O’Brien’s with respect to Ms. Rowling’s novels; he believes they are essentially godless, beyond a pale pantheism, and that they foster a gnostic perspective on the world. He applauds certain values that can be found in the books but finds their worldview disturbing enough to say they would be dangerous for those not having a strong spiritual formation.

I do not doubt that Fr. Alfonso is a thoughtful, pious man. His recommendations show a great desire, even a zeal, to recommend the prudential course and to avoid the possibility that any potential harm be overlooked. His training as a scholastic philosopher is evident in the organization and flavor of his arguments.

He gives cause to wonder about the depth or quality of his thinking, even of his ability to discern the values and meaning of arguments, however, when he writes (after noting that the President of the International Association of Exorcists does not like the books): [Read more…]

The last I heard, Michael O’Brien, artist, novelist, and Harry Hater, was not doing interviews about the Harry Potter books. I hoped that this meant he had reflected on his bizarre crusade contra Ms. Rowling’s novels and decided he was in the wrong. A legion of Catholic readers that includes Stratford Caldecott and Fr. Peter Fleetwood recognizes the genius and value of Ms. Rowling’s work (Fr. Peter is the priest Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict asked Ms. Kuby to correspond with about her Potter concerns). Maybe, I thought, Mr. O’Brien had read insightful reviews or someone had contacted him that had been able to help him overcome his “Harry problem.” Mr. O’Brien is, after all, a novelist of some distinction and an artist whose paintings enjoy an excellent reputation.

On 20 August, unfortunately, the self-proclaimed “combat soldier in the culture war” returned to the battle to save Western Civilization from Harry Potter and free the imprisoned slaves of their delusions. The article, Harry Potter and “the Death of God, appeared on the Life Site News website that also posted the infamous Kuby Letters with the Skeeter-esque headline, “Pope Opposes Harry Potter” in July, 2005, days before the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Michael O’Brien and the zealots at Life Site News live in the village of Combermere, Ontario, and their joint efforts to create the illusion of Papal displeasure with Harry was discussed at length in an article here at Hogwarts Professor at that time. Mr. O’Brien and Life Site News teamed up again last week to say what others are afraid to say. To their delight, Harry Potter readers have responded by reviling them, even cursing them, and saying all manner of evil against them, falsely, for Harry’s sake. [Read more…]