Christianity and HP

[mizstorge]

No: HPFGUIDX 112576

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff Bannister" 
<gbannister10 at a...> wrote:

> 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.

Miz Storge' comments:

I'm tackling the Christianity issue by looking for the 'basic bedrock 
of the Christian faith' described in the Apostle's Creed - belief in 
one God, the Father and creator, Jesus Christ the Son, born of the 
Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, risen on the third day, 
coming to judge the living and the dead, the Holy Spirit who spoke 
through the prophets, etc. If I am correct, these are the minimum 
things one MUST believe to be a Christian, and these specifics are 
what I haven't found in HP or LoTR. There may be symbols or allusions 
in each work which may reflect or refer back to these tenents that 
I'm missing, and if there are, please email me privately to discuss 
them as I hate to incite the wrath of the House Elves with off-topic 
chatter.     

Agape, loving one's deity and duty to one's neighbor are concepts not 
limited to Christianity or new teachings originated by Jesus or Paul, 
but are facets of many religions from the Greek and Roman Mysteries 
to Buddhism, Confucianism, Wicca and beyond. I agree, agape can be 
found in HP and LoTR but IMO aren't enough to label the 
works 'Christian'.