Transfiguring transcendence in Harry Potter, his dark materials and left behind

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Three recent successful series of novels adapt popular fantasy fiction to explore religious identity: J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter, Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials, and Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins’ Left Behind. These narratives create what Mike Gray calls “transfigurations of transcendence,” offering paradoxical representations of ambiguous, non-observable realities centered on the individual. The world-building in these stories reveals inherent religious and paradoxical elements. A detailed analysis shows that each series intentionally re-narrates traditional Christian beliefs. The “atheist” His Dark Materials re-imagines Christian selfhood, while the “traditionalist” Left Behind modifies its declared values rather than merely replicating them. The seemingly secular Harry Potter series creatively engages with Christian patterns and narratives. Despite their differing visions of selfhood, the underlying paradoxes in their attempts to articulate transcendence reveal significant parallels and foster a productive dialogue with the Christian tradition. Popular fantasy fiction proves theologically relevant, just as the Christian Heilsgeschichte resonates within popular culture. However, contemporary models of religious identity necessitate criticism and creativity, exemplified by the Harry Potter stories' engagement with paradox.