Stepping outside the dominant power regime imposed by the traditional apocalyptic myth allows people to look beyond the Book of Revelation’s absolute Truth and moral dualism and seek out other, perhaps less oppressive, certainly less binarily rigid, moral systems. In Apocalyptic Transformation, Elizabeth Rosen writes about the postmodern search for such alternatives, which has led authors to “challenge, explode, or undermine the belief system or assumptions underlying this particular grand narrative [the traditional apocalyptic myth]” (xx). Rosen is particularly interested in authors and filmmakers who undertake this subversive social critique from within the structure of the apocalyptic narrative itself. She calls these stories postmodern apocalyptic fiction, a sub-genre of apocalyptic literature in which authors adopt the five basic plot elements of the Book of Revelation, but challenge traditional apocalyptic dualism (Rosen xx).
Rosen’s definition of postmodern apocalypse stories assumes the traditional apocalyptic myth can be separated from the traditional apocalyptic narrative (xxi). The myth, as discussed above, promotes a dualistic, hierarchical worldview. The narrative, on the other hand, merely refers to the use of five essential plot elements that define the traditional apocalypse of the Book of Revelation. These are: divine authority, receiver of a prophesy, the end of the world, Judgment day, and transcendence (Rosen xxi-xxii). If an apocalypse has been constructed in adherence with the five elements listed above, Rosen claims, authors are free to create their own distinct myth, and use their postmodern apocalypse to teach the moral lessons of their choice.
For readers disinclined to accept the assumption that the myth can, in fact, be separated from the narrative, Rosen merely holds up the stories examined in Apocalyptic Transformation as examples of postmodernists’ success in doing so (xxi). When applied to the Harry Potter series, though, Rosen’s thesis proves fundamentally sound. The series can be read as postmodern apocalyptic fiction that both retains the traditional apocalyptic narrative structure and subverts the dualistic apocalyptic moral paradigm. Even so, including Harry Potter in the postmodern apocalyptic fiction genre requires an extension of the argument beyond the purely secular texts examined in Rosen’s analysis.
John Granger, a self-identified “traditional Christian” who home-schools his seven children “to keep them on course with biblical values and virtue” (Granger, Looking 215), wrote Looking for God in Harry Potter to explore how the story’s formulas, themes, and symbols reveal “a profoundly Christian meaning at the core of the series” (Granger, Looking xix). While Granger’s is only one of many such analyses produced by Christian fans of the series, his work is thorough, meticulously researched, easily understood by readers without a Christian background, and covers each of the first six books extensively. If Granger goes too far in his claim that “The gospel has rarely, if ever, been smuggled into the heart and mind of readers so successfully and profoundly” (Granger, Looking 108), his evidence in Looking for God in Harry Potter and several of his other books is logically organized and persuasive enough to at least make a good case that the series is “undeniably Christian, that is, loaded with specific Christian symbolism and meaning from the author’s faith and literary traditions” (Granger, Lectures 115).
In God, the Devil, and Harry Potter: A Christian Minister’s Defense of the Beloved Novels, John Killinger expresses a similar belief, that Harry Potter “is not only dependent on the Christian understanding of life and the universe, but actually grows out of that understanding and would have been unthinkable without it” [Killinger’s emphasis] (11). As mentioned in the introduction, Killinger’s understanding of the interplay between good and evil in the books is irredeemably simplistic. Although he acknowledges that throughout the story, “good sometimes looks like evil…and evil often masquerades as good” it is clear he believes each character is destined to be either good or evil (Killinger 40). In the last two pages of the book, however, he finally admits the message of the Harry Potter series is to “accept life on its own terms – the evil with the good” but then, of course, must concede, “This is the one point at which the Christian vision sticks and can go no further, but must finally remain dualistic; it recognizes that evil cannot entirely be absorbed by good. The devil and his angels must be cast into the lake of everlasting fire, for they will never repent…” (Killinger 185-186).
Harry Potter, with its heavy Christian symbolism and obvious connections to the New Testament, can hardly be called a secular story; at the same time, without explicitly mentioning God or other theological elements, can it really be considered a religious story? Certainly, it’s far from a literal retelling of Revelation, like that of the Left Behind series, sixteen best-selling novels written by Baptist pastor Tim LaHaye and writer Jerry Jenkins about the Second Coming of Christ. On the other hand, other fantasy series, like the Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings, have long been accepted as Christian literature. Perhaps Harry Potter exists outside the religious/secular binary. Nevertheless, by virtue of the major plot elements it shares with the Book of Revelation and the alternative moral lesson Rowling uses that plot to teach, it fulfills the criteria Rosen sets for the apocalyptic fiction genre.
Rosen’s explanation of postmodern apocalyptic fiction focuses exclusively on the ways in which various secular authors remove the apocalyptic story from its theological setting, yet still incorporate the five essential elements of apocalypse: divine authority, receiver of a prophesy, the end of the world, Judgment day, and transcendence. Or, in her words, “the basic three themes of judgment, catastrophe, and renewal, but also the more specific motifs of deity and New Jerusalem” (Rosen xxi-xxii). In the next sections, my analysis of the Harry Potter series will highlight the similarities between J.K. Rowling’s adaptations and the ones Rosen presents as quintessential postmodern apocalyptic literature. I will also show how humanization of the deity figure and the postmodern dilemma of non-judgmental judgment serve as additional evidence of Harry Potter as postmodern apocalypse fiction.
