[HPforGrownups] Re: Baptism/Christianity in HP: was Looking for God in Harry Potter

[Kemper]

No: HPFGUIDX 153479

> Ken wrote:
> >>>Tolkien is reported to have told a Bishop once that Lord of the Rings
> is a "very Catholic" story<<<
>
> Marion responded:
> Yes. But Tolkien also wrote (I paraphrase loosely) "everything I create
sprouts from the mulch of everything I've experienced"
> A very true thought. And Tolkien *was* a very convinced Catholic. But he
was also deeply in love with AngloSaxon culture language (as well as Greek
and Latin myths and language, Gothic, Icelandic etc etc)
> And Tolkien also *detested* the Narnia stories. C.S. Lewis was one of his
dearest friends, but Tolkien scoffed about the mishmash of magical beings
and the anachronisms (fauns with umbrellas and beavers making tea etc) and
he absolutely *abhorred* allergory, christian or otherwise. Stories,
according to Tolkien (and I heartily agree with him), have merit only as
*stories*. Of course, the cultural values of an author will be reflected in
his/her writings, but is it really necessary of proclaiming everything a
christian author writes as 'inherently christian'?
> Why?
> What would be the point?
> Can a story only be relevant if it carries some christian 'message' in the
christian mind?

Kemper now:
Of course it's not necessary to proclaim a book as 'inherently Christian'
from an author who's a Christian (CSL is a Christian author; JRRT is an
author who is Christian and as well as the least boring writer of the
two).

And of course a story can be relevant without carrying some Christian
message.

But what fun would it be for any of us to edit out or censor our real life
interests when we write or respond to posts about a boy and his wand... and
his potions professor, and his half-giant pseudo-big brother, and his
headmaster, and his DADA professors, and his friends, and his friend's
sister, and his Godfather, and his Godfather's brother, and his nemesis, and
his elf, and his everything else?


Kemper, a mostly non-christian and extremely progressive poster who's
somewhat interested in the symbolic baptisms that may be in the books and
who's very uninterested in Harry's probable Christian baptism but who
believes in the American first amendment and would rather die for that than
for oil


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]