Children of... (Fwd: Re: The Role of Religion in the Potterverse)

[Annemehr]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "potioncat" <willsonkmom at ...> wrote:
 
> Potioncat:
 
> OK good, we had the same reaction. Actually, had the play been performed on a secular stage I might have enjoyed it better. It was performed by adults at a church that has a drama group. They perform mainly secular plays, but this one was identified as a sacred play....I don't think that's exactly what I mean to say...but you get the idea. Everyone raved about it and its message, but I didn't find the underlying message to be very sacred.
> 
> The play follows the Old Testament story line. But some of the "stories" were very different from my experience. When I googled for some background, the author describes it as a play about a disfunctional family. I thought that was a pretty good description.
>

Annemehr:

Yes, I'd say "dysfunctional" is a good description.

Actually, on the human side, I think it was all right.  I particularly liked Yonah, and the way Noah came to his decision, but I could heartily empathize with them all.  It was the figure of "Father," and any similarity he does and doesn't bear to the OT God I used to believe in, and the God I think I know, that made it emotionally wrenching for me.  But I won't get into that here.

My daughter is one Catholic who liked the play, but she didn't find it any more sacred than you did.  Rather, for her, "Father" is just a made-up character in a story.  So, no hints there on why Christians would find it uplifting.

Maybe this is another example of the modern phenomenon of attempting to "humanize" God by giving him weaknesses, perhaps to make the dogmatic judge version less scary?  "Just a slob like one of us..."

Annemehr