Ours is not an age of reason. We tend less towards debating today, than to attacking those that disagree with us. Debate is a power game, not a common search for the truth. The true spirit of debate lived in the medieval universities, where students and teachers alike would gather together to examine a disputed question from all sides, confident in the human mind’s capacity to reach the truth.
Thomas Aquinas exemplified the spirit of the “disputed question”. Aquinas had so much charity, so much respect for argument, and so much confidence in truth’s ability to be found, that he often presented his opponents' arguments better and stronger than they ever did themselves. And only then did he present his own position. You won’t find any ad hominems in Aquinas’ arguments.
Harry Potter is certainly a disputed question today. If only it could be disputed in a more scholastic spirit. The critics and defenders of Harry Potter alike tend to assume an evil motive on anyone outside of their camps. Both sides wonder if the “other side” is living on the same planet, and if they have eyes to see. The implicit assumption is that one side or the other is right, it must be”either/or”. But another possibility is “both-and”. Perhaps different people are seeing different things in the books. Perhaps Harry Potter is just ambiguous or contradictory and is just a confusing mix of good and bad elements. Some people pick this up and others pick that up and maybe they are all onto something?
It’s not likely that any one interpretation of Harry Potter can be held perfectly consistent when applied to all the books. Maybe there is no key to Harry Potter. Or maybe there are ten keys to unlocking Harry Potter. There is no need to throw stones at each other.
As Catholic Christians, we should try to approach this disputed question with a spirit of collegiality. No one person can “see” everything. We need each other to see the whole picture. We rely on one another to see different perspectives and insights that we would never of had on our own. This is how Pope Benedict operates, he listens, and then he decides. We would all do well to imitate this.
From Noetic Muse
