Christianity *in* HP, revisited was Re: Baptism/Christianity in HP

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 153657

> Ceridwen:
> I think there's a noticeable and purposeful lack of obvious 
> Christianity in the books.  As you said, there is no visual of 
Harry 
> going to church, not at Hogwarts and not with the Dursleys.  The 
> Weasleys don't seem to go, but that could just be the Harry 
filter.  
> But, either the WW doesn't recognize Christianity, or Harry has 
never 
> been to church.  In HBP, The White Tomb, US pg 643, the person I 
> would think would be the minister gets up to officiate at 
> Dumbledore's funeral.  The only description we get is: "A little 
> tufty-haired man in plain black robes had got to his feet and 
stood 
> now in front of Dumbledore's body."  Later, this person is 
referred 
> to  as 'the little man in black' at least twice more.

a_svirn:
I agree. In fact it's really bizarre the way attributes of 
Christianity in the books are conspicuous for their absence.  There 
is no chapel in the millennium old Hogwarts Castle. Hogsmead, the 
only wizarding village in England, doesn't boast of any church, even 
an abandoned one. No reference to any services of any description 
has been made. And last but by no means the least, Dumbledore's 
funeral is a thoroughly secular affair. The figure of "tufty-haired 
man in plain black robes" is deliberately ambiguous. We don't know 
for sure whether he's a priest or not. Certainly such scrapes of his 
speech as "nobility of spirit" and "intellectual contribution" do 
not elucidate us on the point. And in any event, it's not what 
really matters for Harry.

On a more profound level, there is nothing Christian about 
Horcruxes. It seems that Rowling's special brand of spiritualism 
draws on syncretic folklore rather than on Christian beliefs. Also 
there is a little matter of ghosts. What is the significance of the 
VIP purgatory for wizards? Does it mean that they are spiritually 
superior to muggles?