Finding Unauthorized Faith in Harry Potter

"Devotions from the
Wizarding World"

Bookworm's Ranking - 3.5 Worms

About - There has been much controversy concerning Harry Potter and the Christian faith. Now, Nicole L. Rivera, explores how the series can speak and support Christian truths. Focusing on each book, excerpts and verses are combined to explore Harry and his friends more deeply to understand how these adventures reveal Christianity and faith, one chapter at a time.

Author - Nicole L. Rivera

Publisher - Hickey's Books

Age Group - 15 and up

Personal Opinion - When I first heard of this book, I was interested. I have read devotionals in the past the centered on a popular book but Harry Potter was unique because of the controversy concerning the series. Also, upon seeing the movies and currently reading the series, I can see where more can be taken from the books than just a great story but something deeper. And the author worked really had on it. Unfortunately, I did not find it that engaging. Sometimes the message was really quick or quoted the Bible verse associated with it more than discussing it and connecting it. Early on, some of the chapter seemed like a stretch to connect Christian scripture and the series (but, I do think the early books set up for the deeper stuff so that shouldn't be unexpected). I think this book could've had more editing as well. While I liked the book being broken up into the Harry Potter books and covering the messages in each one, the chapters could have been much more impactful and insightful if condensed together. While covering one of the books, I believe two chapters covered love that were the same kind of love. This made it almost over kill and would have made the message better had those two chapters been combined. Several times, I also became confused on what the author was trying to say. As an example, the message it seemed like she was saying that was should separate ourselves from people who don't believe what we do, yet I couldn't help but think that Jesus said to go and make disciples of all people, which means we would have to be around others who disagree with us. Lastly, but this is personal taste, I wasn't fond of the version of Bible she was using. The language was too modern and I felt lost some of the message. In the end, I could see someone who really likes Harry Potter and is a Christian interested in this book but not someone who has issues with the series.

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Disclaimer - In exchange for an honest review, I received this book for free from the author.

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