[the_old_crowd] Re: John the Baptist?

[Aberforth's Goat]

Jim Ferrer (huh! - Jim Ferrer?! - wow!) wrote,

> I wonder if JKR is talking about the sacrifice Harry is 
> likely to make to defeat Voldemort - to give up his magic or 
> even his life to make LV mortal and save everyone in the 
> wizard world.  Harry already has apostles (might we even end 
> up with twelve?), but I can't see a John the Baptist parallel.

You know, if we go back to the statement itself, we don't really have
much to work with. Here's the quote again:

> Every time I've been asked if I believe 
> in God, I've said yes, because I do, but 
> no one ever really has gone any more deeply 
> into it than that, and I have to say that 
> does suit me, because if I talk too freely 
> about that I think the intelligent reader, 
> whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess 
> what's coming in the books.''

I would add a second, very similar quote (out of an interview with Evan
Solomon - another Canadian - shortly previous to this one):

> E: You do believe in God. 
>
> JK: Yeah. Yeah. 
>
> E: In magic and... 
>
> JK: Magic in the sense in which it happens 
> in my books, no, I don't believe. I don't 
> believe in that. No. No. This is so frustrating. 
> Again, there is so much I would like to say, 
> and come back when I've written book seven. 
> But then maybe you won't need to even say it 
> 'cause you'll have found it out anyway. You'll 
> have read it. 

Both quotes indicate that her beliefs about God - and, specifically, the
Christian character of said beliefs - have a pivotal role in the way she
has plotted out the series' conclusion.

However: she doesn't actually mention the Bible in either of these
quotes. If she did, it would make sense to look ways of fitting the HP
stories into the narrative grid of one of the biblical stories. (Of
course, there are several thousand stories in the Bible - right the way
from J. the B., back to Adam and Eve, up to Noah's Ark, out to The Book
of Revelations - or even the Story of Balaam's talking donkey, for good
measure.)

Anyway, she doesn't even give us that much. She just tells us that
there's an essential link to some aspect of Christian theology,
tradition or narrative. Which makes looking for a needle in a haystack
sound easy - at least you know what you're looking for ...

But not all is lost. We do have two clues: 

(1) It must be some aspect of Christianity that she *finds important.*
(Hence, St. Paul's prohibition of women in church leadership probably
isn't quite what we're looking for ... ) This suggests an investigative
question: what are the essential aspects of Rowling's reception of
Christian belief?

(2) This aspect of Christianity must be applicable to metaphysics - i.e.
the ultimate source, rationale, essence or fate - of magic in the
Potterverse. Hence, Investigative Question #2: What aspects of Rowling's
reception of Christian belief are particularly applicable to the
metaphysics of magic in the Potterverse?

Of course, since she's extremly coy about said mataphysics, we haven't
really made much progress here. Oh well.

Still, you need *something* to think about on rainy afternoons when
you've having trouble writing your sermon ...

Baaaaaa!

Aberforth's Goat (a.k.a. Mike Gray) 
_______________________

"Of course, I'm not entirely sure he can read, 
so that may not have been bravery...."