Christian motifs but not Christian allegory? (Was: JKR a Calvinist? Potterverse

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 121544


Carol earlier:
> > For the record, I didn't mean an objection to the Christmas
celebrations per se. I just thought it was odd that if she were a
Calvinist, as some people have suggested, that she would recognize the
Church seasons--Advent (Dec. 1-Dec. 24), Christmas (Dec. 25-Jan. 
> 26), Epiphany (Jan. 6-?)--that are celebrated in the Anglican,
Episcopal, and (I think) Catholic Churches. I was watching
specifically to see when she would take the decorations down, and she
did it when a traditional Anglican or Episcopalian would, on Epiphany,
the day after the Twelfth Day of Christmas (January 5). <snip>
> 
> Geoff:
> One point, I think in your list of dates above Christmas should be 
> 25th December-5th January.

Carol again:
Oops! Yes, of course. Jan. 26 is a typo. You'll see that elsewhere in
the post I've identified the Twelfth Day of Christmas as January 5 and
Epiphany (season) as starting on January 6. (I don't know when it
ends.) Like JKR, I took my decorations down on Epiphany (January 6).
> 
Geoff:
> In general terms, most people in the UK follow the "Twelve Days of 
> Christmas" tradition in terms of decorations whether they are in the 
> Anglican or Roman churches, free churches or non-believers. We took 
> our decorations down as usual on the 6th.

> Again, most churches mark Advent nowadays with readings and the 
> lighting of an additional candle each week to mark the four Sundays 
> and a final fifth one on Christmas Day itself. This is a tradition 
> which has become much more widespread as is the holding of 
> Christingle services. When I was first a Christian in the early 
> 1960s, most non-conformist churches stuck just to the immediate 
> Christmas season.

Carol again:
That's good to know. In the U.S., a lot of poeple think that the
Twelve Days of Christmas come *before* Christmas! Commercialism, I
guess. But in the Episcopal Church, at least, the tradition is the
same as in the Anglican and RC churches. I just wasn't sure about the
Church of Scotland, which JKR belongs to.

What about godfathers and baptism? Is that the same as in the Anglican
church? 

If I can draw HP-related conclusions here, it seems that JKR is a
traditional (but not Fundamentalist) Christian and that her concept of
the WW has at least limited connections with Christianity. Note that
both Sirius and the suits of armor sing mangled Christmas carols, not
"Jingle Bells" or other Christmas-associated music but *carols* with a
religious significance. (Is it "O Come All Ye Faithful that the suits
of armor sing? I can't remember. But Sirius's "God Rest Ye Merrye,
Hippogriffs" is a mangling of "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen"--and note
that it leaves in God even if it misunderstands the concept of "rest
ye merry.")

I'm guessing that, even though we don't hear about them, there are
religious ceremonies in the WW (e.g., baptism, funerals, and possibly
Holy Matrimony rather than secular weddings), that the concepts of
soul and afterlife have some religious significance (if not to the WW
then to JKR), and that destiny (as ambiguously laid out in the
Prophecies) is not predestination or an inescapable Fate but, as
Vivamus(?) suggested, the choice to follow the path laid out for you
(rather like Frodo in LOTR). It's possible to falter or fail or deny
your destiny, but if you do, no one else can fulfill your destiny for
you. (Not everyone has a clearcut destiny like Harry's, of course. Or
do they?)

I also think, though JKR doesn't use the term, that she believes in
the concept of Sin and that it relates somehow to the Unforgiveable
Curses. I hope she doesn't believe that some people are born evil.
It's important for people like Snape to have a chance for redemption.

Carol, not at all willing to read the book as a religious allegory but
wondering how JKR's version of Christianity can be used to help us
interpret the books