Christianity in HP

[Marc Harry]

No: HPFGUIDX 128437

Tonks in post 128407:
> I have never said that Harry or any of the WW or MW folks are 
> Christian.  What I have said it that JKR is using Christian 
> symbolism in the books to teach what is basically a Christian 
> story.  

Geoff in post 128392:
<snip>
> So, Hogwarts joins the rest of society in having Christmas trees,
> presents, carols, Christmas dinner etc. Agreed, some of these 
> have come from non-Christian roots but are still there to jog the
> collective memories of participants to remind them of what 
> Christians consider are the basic foundations of what life is all 
> about, to what we see as the real meaning of worship, love and 
> service to others.

AyanEva: 
> Tonks' statement first. But see, that's the point. It's not 
> strictly a Christian story. That would assume that the basic 
> tenants of the Christian faith are peculiar to Christianity; 
> they're not. So, the HP stories can be read in a distinctly non-
> Christian fashion. <snip> And now Geoff's. But the point that I 
> think some of us are trying to make (correct me if I'm wrong 
> "some of us") is that we exclude the worship bit and concentrate
> on love, service to others, hope for a  new beginning and rebirth, 
> and hope for humanity. That's necessarily pagan in origin since 
> the first religions had pantheons of gods, but it's not exclusive 
> to paganism. Nor is it exclusive to Christianity. There's nothing 
> requiring us to read it that way in HP, although we're free to do 
> so.



Wow!  Deep intake of breath...  My 1st post!  I've been here for a 
few months - totally swamped by the amount of emails (and I'm on digest!).  I'm amazed people find so much to write about the HP universe - and I thought I was pretty obsessed by it!

I take great interest in the 'is HP Christian literature/ is it 
not' debate because- as a very committed and (pretty) fundamentalist Christian I have faced quite a lot of opposition over the last few years for even allowing the books into my house!!!  There are many, many Christians who think anything at all to do with witches and wizards is FUNDAMENTALLY Satanic. Therefore HP is evil.  QED (in their opinion)

Yes...that opinion, in many people, is undebatable.  I have a man 
who has quite a grip on the Youth area of my church who is 
absolutely unshakeable on this matter.  (OK - he's a loony and his mum runs the Sunday School - she's NOT a loony - but he still holds that opinion unshakeably).  

Now, I have to say that I agree 100% with his opinion (dichotomy alert!!!)

I happen to believe that the HP universe has NOTHING whatsoever to 
do with witches and wizards (as we know them) in the human sphere...except as a way of attracting readers - very, VERY clever JKR!!!

So, having absorbed more HP trivia in the last few months than I 
ever realised was there, I say ALL POWER TO JKR!!!

It seems that a true, genuine and realistic view of the 'end times' 
as prophesied in the Holy Bible is definitely at the heart of the entire series.  The HP series IS Christian at heart in the same way (if not even more closely) than CS Lewis and JRR Tolkein.

Not sure about all the Rosicrucean (sp?) stuff but it made 
interesting reading as well.  You guys and gals - please keep it 
up.  I can't possibly read all of it (I often end up deleting 4 or 
5 days worth at a time) but what I read is always interesting.

Marc
www.marcharry.com
My recording of the PS fan-fic series:
http://www.aaronmelzak.com/psychic_serpent/