[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Link to short story that JKR wrote for charity is now on Leaky

[Lee Kaiwen]

CJ:
As others have pointed out, we keep waiting for James to display
*some* redeeming quality, but here again, we don't get it.

Pippin:
Is there some confusion about what redemption is? It doesn't mean
to achieve or be worthy of blessedness. Its literal meaning is to
be bought out of slavery.

CJ (Now):
But I wasn't intending to re-open the whole discussion of redemption in 
the Potterverse. I didn't say "redemption", but "redeeming quality", and 
I intended it in the modern colloquial sense -- a quality that makes one 
of worth.

Pippin:
Generally one doesn't earn redemption, one accepts it.

True. But we also have a tendency to expect a resulting change in the 
redeemed individual. I can't speak to Protestant thought on this point, 
but Catholic (my background) theology clearly distinguishes between 
redemption and salvation. Redemption is the initial step, but there is 
no salvation without conversion.

There is no evidence of conversion in James's story. He has lost none of 
the traits which had earned him Lily's scorn years earlier, leaving me 
still puzzled as to why she fell in love with him. Or how he managed to 
become Head Boy. Or, for that matter, why he was tolerated in the Order. 
The kind of arrogance and conceit that were James's trademarks generally 
make one a danger not only to oneself but to those around him, and 
indeed, as you pointed out, James's arrogance ultimately does get not 
only him but also Lily killed. Would have killed Harry, too, except for 
lucky chance.

The more we learn about James, the more I'm of the opinion the only 
things distinguishing him from teenage Snape were better social skills 
and a hot bath. James may have eschewed Dark Magic, but as he seems to 
have found plenty of questionable uses for the good stuff I'm not sure 
that's more than a technicality.

CJ