Harry, Frodo, and the Religion at the Time of Changes

Abstrakt

Conflicts between religion and literature are not rare; history can produce many interesting examples of more or less important discussions leading towards prohibitions, burning /of books or authors/, excommunications or imprisonments. Although, in Christian religions and societies consequences of these polemics ceased to be so violent, the vehemence of arguments of the parties concerned is still great. With the publication of J. K. Rowlings' Harry Potter and the revival of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings following Peter Jackson's films, literary critics, religious authorities, psychologists, and many others /re/started the polemics about fantasy literature, and its alleged danger for the souls of believers. On one hand, there is the freedom of the art and artist, on the other, gloomy views of destroyed children, rise of occultism, and threat of paganism. In this paper the author takes a closer look at the arguments of both sides, and considers possible ways of approaching this kind of literature by a religious person of the 21st century.