Sunday, January 13, 2008

Gospel Magic and Harry Potter

Christianity Today is one of America's most widely read Christian journals. Here is a clip from a review of Gove Books publication. Gospel Magic. Using Magic Tricks as Visual Aids written by Andrew Thompson aka revq8.

Let Harry Potter Conjure Up 'Gospel Magic', Says Christian Magician
Andrew Thompson and others agree that some Christians have a false understanding of what Harry Potter is about.
Cedric Pulford posted 12/01/2001 12:00AM
Related articles and links 1 of 2


Hogwarts and Quidditch and Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross Station—all part of the make-believe world of the Harry Potter books—have the enthusiastic support of Christian magician Andrew Thompson, who thinks that such "fantasy magic" opens children's imagination to the wonders of the world.
It is an approach he follows in his own work combining membership of the Fellowship of Christian Magicians and an Anglican parish ministry in Derby, central England. Conjuring tricks, he says, are "an unbeatable way to teach the Gospel" to adults and children alike.
"Conjuring is on the same level as telling a story or showing a movie. There's nothing a Christian could feel tainted by," he says.
In his performances, he makes clear the difference between Gospel miracles and 21st-century conjuring tricks. He refuses to copy some secular magicians who perform such tricks as walking on water or changing water into wine.
Thompson has no time for fellow evangelicals who worry that the Harry Potter books glamorize the occult. The critics are being "silly," he said. "Children aren't daft. They know what is reality and what is fiction."
He has shared some of his magic secrets in Gospel Magic, published by Grove Books, which has also published Philip Plyming's Harry Potter and the Meaning of Life

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