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

[sbursztynski]

No: HPFGUIDX 78087

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "James Redmont" 
<jamesredmont at h...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "urghiggi" <urghiggi at y...> 
> wrote:
> >And yet the LOTR books -- taken strictly on 
> > their own terms, without the whole "first age" theological back 
> story -- are 
> > pretty much universally acknowledged to be profoundly religious 
in 
> terms of 
> > their prescriptions for right actions, and especially in their 
> exploration of the 
> > theme of sacrificial love that benefits others. 
> > urghiggi, Chgo
> 
> 
> Me:
> 
> Harry Potter's actions do seem to be based on a "force", ie, love, 
> and many people relate this to Christ.  LOTR is likened to the 
life 
> of Christ, as well, because it's about making the right decisions, 
> etc.  People (especially westerners, those from the occident) must 
> remember that the life of Christ is not the quintessential deity.  
> Christ did what was right, but he'd surely not the only one.  
> Christianity is a youthful religion.  Many religions have come and 
> gone, and many were/have been around longer than Christianity.  I 
> don't think we should say it's "Christian", we should look 
deeper.  
> The fact is that most religions have the same core beliefs (doing 
> right) and that *this* is something fundamental in the human 
> psyche.  The fact that this says something to us (HP is a huge 
deal, 
> right?) is important...there's something about Harry that appeals 
to 
> us.  And part of this is spiritual, or moral, or however you 
choose 
> to put it into terms.  
> 
> James Redmont

This is an interesting discussion. IMO, however, it is more a case 
of lots of cultural stuff, references to Greek and Celtic myth and 
such, by an educated novelist. And some references to things 
mediaeval - like the Philosopher's stone and all those heraldic 
animals, etc. You can't do mediaeval stuff without religion being in 
there, simple as that. I know - I did mediaeval English literature 
for my Honours thesis. Sue B