Come Study With Me 📚
Join me this semester as I explore Harry Potter, medieval allegory, and children's fantasy literature.
This post was originally published at The Fireside Library.
After nearly a decade of taking graduate courses at a leisurely, "when-I-can-fit-it-in" pace, I've decided to enroll full-time this year so I can finish my Master's degree in the Humanities by next summer. Taking a full course load also allows me to access more of the GI Bill's generous education benefits for military veterans.
Since I've completed the core requirements of Faulkner University's Great Books program, my remaining courses consist of independent tutorials. I personally design these tutorials to align with my research interests and prepare me for writing my thesis. For each tutorial, I develop the course objectives, reading list, and assignments. I then engage a professor from the Literature department to meet with me throughout the semester to discuss the readings. This professor will also grade my writing assignments and final research paper.
I don't know if this is a common arrangement in graduate programs like mine, but I consider it an exceptional feature. Where else would I get to read books that I'm passionate about and discuss them with a PhD professor who is personally invested in my intellectual formation?
And since I'm blessed and grateful to have the time and means to pursue this kind of education--what is called "leisure" in the classical sense--I'm making my entire experience available free to anyone who wants "audit" my courses or peruse my notes in my digital knowledge vault at The Fireside Library.
A quick word on my personal knowledge management (PKM) system: I use the free and powerful app Obsidianfor note-taking and as a writing editor. I find that its structural flexibility, linking features, and interactive visual graph really optimize my thinking for deep work. Although I still find value in having an analog Zettelkasten system--which I've written about hereand here--the speed and agility of well-organized digital notes for academic work is unbeatable.
Harry Potter and the Re-enchantment of the Western Mind
In one form or another, I've been grappling with the problem of the desacralization of modern culture since discovering Charles Taylor's A Secular Age more than a decade ago. In this book—Taylor's magnum opus—he inquires into the causes of progressive secularization and loss of faith in the modern world, a process he calls "disenchantment".
Not surprisingly then, the popular movement to reverse this trend is called "re-enchantment" and it's getting a lot of attention presently. I've decided to focus my thesis on the work of J.K. Rowling in her massively successful Harry Potter series because I believe Rowling's work achieves two essential things that are necessary for re-enchantment:
Harry Potter acts as a "gateway to the literary tradition" of the West, connecting readers to the rich treasury of myths, stories, and literary allusions from our past.
Harry Potter challenges and subverts the assumptions of the modern materialist worldview with what is essentially a sacramental Christian vision: a morally ordered cosmos in which “good magic” represents divine grace and “dark magic” reflects demonic disorder.
This reading situates Rowling within the broader Christian literary tradition alongside medieval writers such as Chaucer, the Gawain-poet, and William Langland, and modern authors like George MacDonald and C.S. Lewis. In the spirit of these authors, I submit that Rowling's work weaves a rich tapestry of mythical, alchemical, and sacramental symbolism to render a riveting retelling of the perennial battle between good and evil, order and disorder.
I acknowledge that there are many readers out there who will disagree with my thesis—including a dear friend with whom I share much of my literary life and faith. I welcome their friendly and challenging questions and critiques. However, I am passionate about defending Rowling as a Christian author. I truly believe that myths, fairy tales, and good fantasy literature engage our moral imagination and imaginative vision better and more enduringly than almost anything else. Rightly understood, Harry Potter demonstrates the charity, justice, sacrifice, and redemption that are at the core of the Christian faith.
Course 1: Harry Potter and the Journey of the Soul
My first class explores the connection between medieval allegory and Harry Potter, with an emphasis on the journey of the soul and moral transformation. This will give me an opportunity to dive back into Dante as I read through the entire Commedia later this semester. Here are the planned readings:
Primary Readings: Classical and Medieval Texts
Plato: The Republic (Book VII - Allegory of the Cave), Phaedrus (Charioteer Allegory)
Augustine: Confessions (Book VII); On Christian Doctrine (Books II, III)
Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy
Hildegard von Bingen, Ordo Virtutem (morality play)
“Everyman” (morality play)
Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
Geoffrey Chaucer, selections from The Canterbury Tales (“The Pardoner’s Tale” and “The Knight’s Tale”)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Primary Readings: Modern Texts
William Lynch, Christ and Apollo
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter series (focus on Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix)
Secondary Readings
Beatrice Groves, Literary Allusion in Harry Potter
C.S. Lewis, The Allegory of Love
Course 2: Harry Potter and the Moral Imagination
My second class is titled, "Baptizing the Imagination: Fantasy and Fairy Tales in the Christian Literary Tradition". It explores how works of imaginative literature by Christian authors George MacDonald, C.S. Lewis, and J.K. Rowling (among others) engage and shape the moral imagination of both children and adults. This course is inspired by Vigen Guroian's Tending the Heart of Virtue and will examine foundational essays on the moral imagination and fantasy literature alongside key imaginative works that portray the dramatic struggle between good and evil. Planned readings include:
Primary Readings
Vigen Guroian, Tending the Heart of Virtue, (2nd Edition)
Steven Alan Samson, “Edmund Burke on the Moral Imagination Study Guide” (pdf)
Russell Kirk, "The Moral Imagination"
G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, "The Ethics of Elfland" chapter
J.R.R. Tolkien, "On Fairy Stories" (pdf)
George MacDonald, The Golden Key (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1967)
George MacDonald, The Princess and the Goblin
George MacDonald, The Wise Woman
C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian
Madeline L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
John Granger, Looking for God in Harry Potter
Secondary Readings
John Granger, Harry Potter's Bookshelf
John Granger, The Hidden Key to Harry Potter
Plan for the Semester
I will meet with my professors on alternate weeks for our discussions throughout the semester and will update my reading and discussion notes weekly, posting the announcements in Substack for those readers who want to follow along. Additionally, I will post monthly topical essays of interest in Substack. Please let me know what you think of my research proposal and any other ideas I should consider. Thanks!
Like many websites, The Occidental Tourist uses affiliate links, which allows us to earn a small commission on any qualified purchases, at no additional cost to the buyer.