[HPforGrownups] Harry and Christ (Was Re: veil/Ddore's cowardice? (longish)

[Laura Ingalls Huntley]

No: HPFGUIDX 78024

GOLLY said:
>If you're writing a Christ allegory, shouldn't you inform your 
>readers at the outset with something more obvious than a wand wood?  

Well, there is a comment made by Jo to THE OTTAWA CITIZEN that is often quoted when this topic comes up.

ahem.
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Last year, she told a reporter the fact she is a Christian "seems to
offend the religious right far worse than if I said I thought there was no
God. Every time I've been asked if I believe in God, I've said 'yes',
because I do.

"But no one ever really has gone any more deeply into it than that and I
have to say that does suit me. If I talk too freely about that, I think
the intelligent reader -- whether 10 or 60 -- will be able to guess what
is coming in the books," she said
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Personally, I *don't* think Rowling is writing a strict Christian allegory (in the sense that C.S. Lewis did).  But I *do* think she is drawing symbolism, themes, and possibly plot points from the Bible, esp. given this quote.

As for using this information to "guess what is coming in the books," many listees have come up with 1 Corinthians 13:8.  "Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away."

See how *perfectly* that fits in to Dumbledore's "Power of Love" speech to Harry at the end of OotP?  The prophecy *will* fail.  And then all Harry or all the rest of them will have left is Love.  That power which Harry possesses "in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all."

Really, I think all of 1 Corinthians 13 is useful in predicting Harry's future and understanding the theme of Love in the Potterverse.  Go ahead and read it.  ^_~ If nothing else, it's really pretty.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1) If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 
2) If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 
3) If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 
4) Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 
5) It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 
6) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 
7) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 
8) Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 
9) For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 
10) but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 
11) When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 
12) Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 
13) And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. 
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Laura (who isn't really one for quoting scripture all over the place, but felt it was applicable to this thread)




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