Commandments; Christianity of HP

[Elizabeth Dalton]

No: HPFGUIDX 31009

Dave did me the honor of a thorough analysis of my post, just when I 
thought interest had peaked quite low. Thanks, Dave. 

Overall, I note that Dave interprets the commandments more broadly than I 
do, e.g. counting the mirror as a graven image. I have no problem with 
this, it's just a general comment.

Here are a few followup remarks:

> 
> > 4 - Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
> > 
> > Again, perhaps they do, and Rowling simply doesn't mention it. 
> 
> True - but the themes of slavery and freedom, intimately related to 
> the concept of Sabbath rest are there in force.  Does Dobby get days 
> off from Malfoy?  Dumbledore explicitly recognises the importance of 
> holiday for him.  Dumbledore's own desire for socks suggests that he 
> is not driven by his life's work - he drives it.

Good point! I had forgotten about Dobby's holidays (probably because I 
don't own a copy of GoF yet, so I've read it the fewest times of all the 
books. This is a much stronger inclusion than I had thought.

> > 
> > 5 - Honor your father and your mother...
> > 
> > I think it's clear that Harry honors the memory of his parents. 
> 
> Yes, and the rightness of this in the Potterverse is reinforced by 
> the whole Patronus sequence.  Also, Voldemort and Crouch Jr. despise 
> their parents. 

This despising by the villains is a good point, as well.

> > 
> > 6 - You shall not kill.
> > 
> > Not only doesn't Harry kill anyone, but he stops Black and Lupin 
> from killing
> > someone whom he has every reason to despise.
> 
> and Dumbledore endorses the value of Pettigrew's life.  

Also very worth including in any future drafts.

> 
> > 7 - You shall not commit adultery.
> > 
> > Well, all the kids are a bit young for this, I guess (and we don't 
> know if any
> > of the staff are married). Certainly nothing is mentioned in the 
> texts.
> 
> True - but the whole Yule Ball sequence does hint at the pain and 
> disorder caused by being careless of the affections of others - think 
> how Parvati and Padma react, for example.  Parvati's later boasting 
> in a CoMC class suggests she is upset for more than one evening.
> > 

You're right. This is more of an example than I had realized.


> > 9 - You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
> > 
> Uncovering the truth about slandered characters (Hagrid, Sirius) is a 
> major theme for two of the books.  It applies to a lesser extent to 
> Bertha Jorkins, Snape, Lupin, Harry's parents (remember that car 
> crash?) and, I'm sure, others.

Good catch! This is very relevant to the literal meaning of this 
commandment.

> > 
> > 10 - You shall not covet [other people's stuff]
> > 
> > I think the only thing Harry has seriously coveted was the 
> Firebolt, and he
> > seemed to get over it (even before Sirius sent him one).  Arguably, 
> he covets Ron's family-- but he doesn't want
> > to take anything away from Ron, either, so I'm not sure that counts.
> > 
> It does count if it destroys Harry - as the mirror would have done, 
> or if Harry tries to take more affection from the Weasleys than they 
> are prepared to give.  Dudley is an example of covetousness run 
> riot.  So, too, really, is Voldemort in his all-consuming quest for 
> immortality.  Amos Diggory is an intriguing lesser example.  
> Trelawney, Lockhart, Skeeter, and Snape all covet recognition - only 
> Snape resists the temptation, just.  Notice that although they don't 
> want to take anything material from others, their covetousness has 
> stolen a sense of reality from Parvati and Lavender, memories from 
> innocent Armenian warlocks, DADA knowledge from 2nd year Gryffindors, 
> Harry's, Hermione's, and Hagrid's reputation, and a whole load of 
> peace of mind from all sorts of people.
> 

These are great examples. Overall, I'd say my first pass at this didn't 
cover the "bad examples" nearly as well as you've done here. I focused 
more on the "good" behavior of the protagonists, though I did mention the 
antagonists a time or two. But it makes much more sense to go both ways on 
this.

> I would say that HP is suffused with Judeo-Christian morality - as is 
> much British culture.  However, distinctively Christian messages are 
> not there, in my opinion.  In particular, the ultimate good is 
> not 'love God' but 'to thine own self be true', and no outside source 
> ('salvation') is required to live up to that good - I call that 
> humanism, FWIW.
> 

As I pointed out in my original post, the Ten Commandments are Old 
Testament, and as such, wouldn't convey this message in any case. I think 
it would be worthwhile to do an analysis from the perspective of the 
Sermon on the Mount (e.g. "Blessed are the Peacemakers," etc.), but I 
don't have the spare cycles right now. Heck, I'd like to do an analysis 
from the Eightfold Path (a Buddhist text), but I don't have time for that, 
either.

You are probably right in characterizing the books as humanist, and I 
would certainly never claim they are particularly Christian (or Buddhist, 
or any other religion). I do think the message is stronger than 'to thine 
own self be true', though. That rule would be good enough for Voldemort. 
HP goes past the Wiccan Rede ("Harm None"), at least as far as the Golden 
Rule (do unto others as you would have them do unto you), and probably 
even to "love thy neighbor as thyself." Which, if I recall, has some 
significance in Christianity.

Elizabeth