Harry Potter and the Creation of Spiritual Technologies

Abstract

In American society, it is assumed that a person who identifies as nonreligious does not participate in activities often associated with religion. In my thesis I will argue that this assumption is false. Over the last 30 years the number of Americans who identify as nonreligious has increased by 200 percent. Yet at the same time, there have appeared numerous new “spiritual technologies” that nonreligious people can participate in, without having to engage in an established religious tradition. The podcast Harry Potter and the Sacred Text exemplifies this phenomenon by asking, “what if we read the books we love as if they were sacred texts?” I will argue that the podcast treats the Harry Potter series as a sacred text primarily by appropriating religious practices from Christianity and Judaism into “spiritual technologies.” An exploration of American Protestantism’s influence on American culture will situation the podcast within its general cultural context. Using comparative analysis, this thesis will explore how the podcast turns traditional religious practices into nonreligious spiritual technologies.