Alchemy revisited: OOP prediction confirmed

[urghiggi]

No: HPFGUIDX 80187

Blyx wrote (discussing JKR quote re God):
> "God" can mean several different religions, and even different 
> Christian faiths sometimes interpet the Bible in different ways, so 
> if this is the best she has given, then it is still possible to say 
> that we don't know from where her themes are sprouting. 
> 
> If she is a regular church goer, and did make a clear choice to 
> follow the Bible in her books, then I can't presume to know which 
> story she is modeling Harry's plight after until we see if he is 
> shouting, "Dumbledore, why have you forsaken me?" at the end of the 
> books. And even if this has been the path thus far-- what if she 
> thows cattion to the wind at the end... I don't need to read every 
> J.K.R interview to know she doesn't like doing what is expected of 
> her in her writing.


Urghiggi responds:

JKR is a Protestant Christian, a member of the Church of Scotland, which is 
analagous to being a Presbyterian in the U.S. This has been documented in 
many interviews, including this one in the Washingon Post:
http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/quickquotes/articles/1999/1099-post-
weeks.htm

Here is a link to a quite lengthy and revealing interview about a lot of the 
current relevant topics on HPfGU, including JKR's religious ideas:

http://www.cbc.ca/programs/sites/hottype_rowlingcomplete.html

This was with the CBC, sometime between the release of GoF and OoP (not 
dated on the website). The religion talk is in the 3rd section of the interview. If 
you don't want to plow through it-- it is quite long--basically she says that 
churchgoing is a "more than weddings and christenings" thing for her, but that 
she has some problems with organized religion as well. She also says that 
her religion was not too comforting for her at the point of her mother's death, 
but that she has come back to it. Also that she expects religion to provide 
some answers, and that she expects to find some answers within herself.

>From all this, and from the fact that Presbyterianism are a somewhat liberal 
branch of Christianity, one can probably surmise that she has a grounding in 
the Christian faith tradition but puts her personal spin on that. (Certainly 
Christian symbolism is pervasive in the books, though whether this is going in 
a "harry as christ" or "harry as job" direction or even someplace totally 
different from either one is unclear as yet. I'm betting on Harry as everyman 
rather than Christ.) Blyx is right -- exactly where she's going with all this 
remains to be seen. I don't think she's interested in pure allegory (though you 
CAN make a case for the end of CoS as allegory; at least John Granger does 
so fairly convincingly in "Hidden Key to Harry Potter"). In general, though, I 
believe JRK's working with spiritual themes that are informed by the religious 
beliefs of her faith tradition (but not boxed in by orthodoxy, and always 
influenced by her very strong beliefs in the importance of tolerance in all 
aspects of life).

BTW, JKR also makes a blunt statement in that CBC interview that 
"Dumbledore is the epitome of goodness" -- which sort of undermines the 
theory posted here previously that he is (deep down) wicked. But her 
interviews tend to frustrate me as she is (naturally) far from completely 
revealing about many, many subjects, as is her right....

urghiggi, Chgo