Faith Journey Through Fantasy Lands

Faith Journey through Fantasy Lands:
A Christian Dialogue with Harry Potter, Star Wars, and the Lord of the Rings
Russell W. Dalton
2003, Augsburg Fortress
ISBN 0-8066-4571-7

Chances are, you don’t have any problem with Harry Potter, Star Wars, or the Lord of the Rings, or you wouldn’t be browsing through the book reviews on a horror and fantasy webzine. But maybe you know someone who does. Maybe a mother who’s worried whether her son ought to be enjoying books about wizards and witches, or a father concerned about the level of violence in fantasy movies and fiction. Maybe you know of, or belong to, a youth group that wants to provide its members with a little moral guidance when it comes to controversial fantasy and science fiction. If so, Faith Journey through Fantasy Lands may be the guidebook these individuals or groups need to think through the genre and its messages for Christians.

Faith Journey is published by Augsburg Fortress, a Lutheran publishing house, and written by Dr. Russell W. Dalton, who teaches at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. It addresses the concerns many devout Christians have about fantasy, avoiding trivialization or condenscension while at the same time forbearing from overstatement and generalization.

Dalton first discusses the history Christianity and fantasy have had together, from Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress through C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series to contemporary Christian fantasy and science fiction. He then proceeds to discuss the Harry Potter novels and films, the Star Wars films, and the Lord of the Rings novels and films as metaphorical faith journeys, suggesting that the heroes hear and respond to God’s call, rely on God to provide traveling companions and provisions, and need God’s guidance to stay on a difficult path filled with trials and sacrifice. Keeping his arguments nondenominationally Christian, Dalton draws heavily on the Bible and St. Paul’s letters to illustrate points or draw parallels, paying special attention to examples from Christ’s teachings and life.

Each chapter in the book ends with a list of discussion questions especially designed for youth groups but also appropriate for teacher-student or parent-child dialogs. The questions are rooted in the discussion of faith journeys in fantasy but broaden into questions about each reader’s own faith journey. For example, various chapters’ questions include, “What do you feel are some of your primary quests in life?” “What tempts you most to stray off the path?” “How do you resist evil in your life?” “To use the metaphor in this chapter, what are some of the ‘roughest roads’ that you have had to travel?” “What dragons do you feel called to slay?” and “Do you know of anyone who is in danger of getting lost in these fantasy lands? How might you help him or her find the way home?” Readers are invited to put themselves into the heroes’ shoes and discuss their own lives in terms of journeys and adventures, comparing their own triumphs and failures to those of the characters in the movies and books.

While in the end Dalton is inclined to favor fantasy, he does address areas in the novels and films where parents may have concerns — places where the heroes rely on deception or violence to triumph, where marketing tie-ins may pose more dangers to faith than the books themselves, and where frightening or violent passages may be too strong for children. In doing so, he gives concerned parents a place to begin discussions with their children.

I’ve been living and breathing fantasy, horror, and science fiction all my life, but at the same time I’m a churchgoing Roman Catholic and I teach at a private Lutheran university. So while I enjoy speculative fiction, I understand the concerns many Christians have about it and I try to counsel parents and students who ask me for book recommendations as thoughtfully as I can. I think that anyone who is honestly interested in this subject — rather than those who have already made up their minds for or against — will find Faith Journey through Fantasy Lands to be a thoughtful approach to the genre, providing plenty of material for consideration and discussion.

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