Christianity and HP

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 112530

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "mizstorge" <lszydlowski at h...> 
wrote:

mizstorge:
> Read LoTR lots of times. Found Beowulf, found the historic 
landscape 
> of Great Britain, found Anglo-Saxon ideas of Kingship, found 
Jacobite 
> Rebellions, but NEVER found Christianity per se there. 
> 

Geoff:
Perhaps you should extend your reading to "The Silmarillion" if you 
haven't already done so. 

For example, Iluvatar (or Eru, the One) created the Ainur (the Valar 
and the Maiar). Of the Valar, Melkor (he who arises in might) fell 
from grace and became Morgoth (the black enemy). This parallels the 
stories of creation and the fall of Lucifer.

You may not find Christianity per se in the books in the same way 
that JKR doesn't overtly refer to it. But the basic foundation of 
Christian faith - loving God and loving your neighbour as you would 
love yourself - is present. It is present when Dumbledore speaks of 
our choices; it is present when Gandalf speaks of Frodo having been 
meant to have the Ring. This is the very bedrock of faith, no more, 
no less. Christian belief is the relationship between God and a 
person and that person and their human contacts. It does not 
ultimately involve rituals or prayers or fasting or whatever. It is 
simply an expression of true love (agape) and this we see in Harry 
Potter in various forms.

Geoff
See my views of Exmoor and the 
heritage West Somerset Railway at:
http://www.aspectsofexmoor.com