Christianity in HP

[jsfigiel at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 151101

Tonks_op:
I have hoped that people of other religions might look closely at  
the books and show us other symbols from their own religions. I am 
sure  that JKR is writing for everyone, young and old, from every 
race and tongue,  etc. And the message is a universal one of God's 
Love. 




Jamie:
I have not responded to the posts on HP being a Christian-based text for a  
few reasons; the first being that I really do not want to say anything that  
would offend anyone. The second being that because I am Jewish and I come  to 
most things in my life, including literature, from a Jewish perspective  and I 
truly do not see the HP books from a Christian standpoint. I do  agree with you 
Tonks (finally) that there is a universal message in the books  and I think 
JKR does present the texts with a variety of different religions and  
"cultures" in mind. Her characters include people whose names are obviously  related to 
specific cultures (Parvati comes to mind as well as the Goldstein  boy). And 
I think everyone regardless of religious background can relate to the  essence 
of each character, just like someone from the USA can relate to a  book that 
is truly rooted in Great Britain. 
Since I do not have a real understanding of the New Testament (never read  
it) and I have very limited Christian background (being married to one  doesn't 
count) I have to say that a lot of the parallels being made here get  lost on 
me (The Lord of the Rings thread got lost on me too since I haven't read  
those books in a LOOOOONG time). I do find the discussion interesting, even  if I 
don't believe much of it. I have a number of Jewish  friends who have also 
read the Harry Potter books, loved them and they do  not make the Christian 
parallels either, so it may not just be me here. 
Anyway, I digressed into this long thread just to make the point that each  
and every religion, culture and group can find parallels in the books that  
"speak" to them. And each of us can take our own meaning/interpretation  from it. 
It is this and the fact that everyone here on this board comes  from a 
different perspective that makes these discussions so great.