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

[Wanda Sherratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 78092

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "James Redmont" 
<jamesredmont at h...> wrote:
> 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.  
> 
Well, part of it is that we KNOW that those authors are or were 
Christian, so there's a natural tendency to locate the spiritual 
themes in that context.  If Rowling were Hindu, or an outspoken 
atheist, I'd be more hesitant about tracing these themes in HP to a 
Christian source.  As it is, though, I'm pretty sure that she's 
tapping into that vein for inspiration.  It isn't exclusive, though, 
and I don't believe she's writing an allegory.  She's drawing from a 
lot of sources, but I think they harmonize with a Christian outlook.

Wanda