IF THESE books are anything to go by, the Harry Potter novels have an enthusiastic Christian readership. The authors in different ways try to show how “the world of Potter” illuminates “the world of faith”.

Greg Garrett’s meticulous book One Fine Potion will be a reward­ing read if you want to think about the various ways in which the Potter stories can be applied to the Christian narrative (DLT, £14.99 (£13.50); 978-0-232-52839-8).

In Baptizing Harry Potter, Luke Bell, a Benedictine Monk, focuses upon the ways in which the Potter series illustrates the “spiritual values” of Christianity — the importance of purity of heart, the search for truth, virtue, humility, human freedom, love and sacrifice, mortality, courage and fortitude (Hidden Spring, £12.99 (£11.70); 978-1-58768-058-8).

J’Annine Jobling attempts some­thing more ambitious (and aca­demic) in Fantastic Spiritualities, exploring the overlap between the human imagination and the spiritual life. Jobling considers four fantasy texts — J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea Cycle, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, and Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer (T & T Clark, £14.99 (£13.50); 978-0-567-03047-4).

The Revd Dr Hugh Rayment-Pickard is a co-author of The Inclusive God (Canterbury Press, 2008).

Figures in brackets are Church Times Bookshop prices.