Calvinism; Afterlife

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 23604

Pippin wrote:

>There's an 
> afterlife,  but we don't know if there's a final judgement awaiting 
> anybody. What would be most satisfying to me is if it were left to 
the 
> reader to decide. Then we could go on debating about Snape's twisted 
> psyche for generations.

I imagine you will get your wish.  I don't think the final book is 
going to be called "Harry Potter and the Sulfurous Pit," nor "Harry 
Potter and the Choirs of Angels," for that matter.  We'll know who 
lives and dies and what side they were on, but whether they're in a 
state of grace is for us to wonder and wrangle about.

The afterlife in HP is an interesting question.  We know that some 
people continue to exist in "post-biological status" (tip o' the 
keyboard to CMC), but they are very, very few.  JKR has said that the 
happiest people don't become ghosts; what then does happen to them?  
Heaven/hell/purgatory, the void, reincarnation . . . ?  I wonder if we 
will find out, since she hinted we'll learn more about why people do 
or don't become ghosts.

Amy Z

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 "I'm =not= going to be murdered," Harry said out loud.
 "That's the spirit, dear," said his mirror sleepily.
                       -HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban
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