Harry Potter appeals for many reasons, chiefly the way J.K. Rowling spins out marvelous tales. Her mind is the magic. But as we watched the new Half-Blood Prince movie, a particular reason crystalized for me. I love the way evil in her universe is real and palpable.

In its fear of fundamentalism, my religion has demythologized and abstracted evil.  Evil now inhabits not persons but systems and structures. In the Bible, though, as in the world of Harry Potter, evil is personal not systemic. Here evil is particular and local, which makes it capable of being defeated. One cannot fight against a system — or rather, one cannot defeat it.

Kathleen Norris notes a desert father who said when we try to do what is right, the demons become our wills and fight against our effort.  At least here evil is personal again, something one can resist – not a protest march against an abstract, nefarious ism.