Baptism/Christianity in HP: was Looking for God in Harry Potter

[leslie41]

No: HPFGUIDX 153654

> Magpie:
> Yes, many of the names have meanings.  Harry, I believe, is simply 
> JKR's favorite and not picked because it means "to make a 
> destructive raid."  

Leslie41:
Most if not all of Rowling's names have a secondary meaning, from 
Remus Lupin to Dolores Umbridge to Lucius Malfoy to Voldemort.

All of them, *all* of them, have secondary meanings.

Arthur means "noble and courageous"
Remus Lupin is a double play on the wolf motif.
Dolores Umbridge means "deceitful shadow" (plus other 
interpretations)
Lucius Malfoy is a play on Lucifer and the French "bad faith".
Voldemort means "flee from death"

I would go on, but it would take too long.

As for whether or not our first association with James would be a 
Christian one, I cannot guarantee that's the case, but I think it 
would be.  Perhaps a King is likely as well. For Lily, I don't see 
any other meaning that would spring to mind sooner.
 
> Magpie:
> I object when I think you make a claim that doesn't work.  You're 
> perfectly welcome to find personal illumination in connecting 
> James and Lily towards certain people in the Bible and to share it 
> with others, but when one claims that the author meant to be 
> referring to a specific Biblical thing or claim that one thing in 
> canon is symbolizing something, something I am familiar with but 
> don't think works as a parallel, I say so.  Even if James was 
> Rowling's favorite apostle and she named him after him it still 
> might not see much in the name besides that if it wasn't there.  I 
> can compare the two books as easily as you can.

Leslie41:
I don't wish to make categorical claims about authorial intent, 
though I think it's relevant at times.  Most often, though, intent 
is irrelevant.  What's *there* is what matters, not what the author 
*intended* to be there.  Authors are notoriously bad readers of 
their own work.  

But as to the naming of her characters, I cannot help but see some 
sort of purpose there.  That's often the easiest place (as it is 
with Tolkien) to see what the author actually intends.  

So, when Voldemort (flee from death) attacks James (apostle 
associated with good deeds) and Lily (the symbol of the risen 
Christ), and is foiled by Harry (power, destruction), right on the 
place on his body where he was baptized (symbol of being welcomed 
into the Kingdom of Christ), yeah, I think there's an underlying 
meaning there.

Just can't help it, considering all the evidence.  Is Harry's 
baptism some sort of protection for him?  Not really.  But I think 
the place of his scar is supposed to remind us of his baptism and 
remind us that it is only through Christ's principles that he will 
vanquish Voldemort.  Not through power or destructive raids.  But 
through love.  

Your milage may vary, of course, but I think I've shown that there 
is AMPLE evidence in canon to at least CONSIDER a deeply Christian 
interpretation.

See it or don't.  It doesn't mean it's not there.