the force in the room, again (WAS checking out the library book)

[Amy Z]

Kneasy wrote:

> That implies that the content is God.
> Not even Jo would be able to get away with that one

I don't follow you.  Why not?

> more so since
> she has been very careful in bringing *no* overt or even oblique
> religious references into the HP books at all, apart from maybe 
> ethical/moral standards 

Still not following why this means she can't bring them into the 
final two books.  It seems like exactly the kind of thing one earns 
over five books' writing.  I don't think she's going to fling back 
the curtain and say "Ta-da!  Christ on the cross, everyone!" at any 
point in the series--that truly would be unearned--but increasing 
hints about the mysterious force in the MoM, the force that 
Voldemort comprehendeth not, being the same one that created and 
rules the universe*, yes:  I could see that being quite in keeping 
with the narrative and thematic arc of the books.

My money's still on love, personally, and of course sacrificial 
love, while not itself God, is an attribute of God in JKR's 
religion.  And besides, while the idea of the un-enterable space has 
a very memorable antecedent in Judaism, it's one of those archetypal 
tropes and its appearance in a work of fiction doesn't mean that 
the "contents" in that work are The Holy Presence. (Cornelius Fudge, 
Levite High Priest?)

Amy Z Curmudgeon

*Not that this is my theology--I never could see how the Creator of 
the universe, much less its Ruler, could be love or loving, 
personally.  But JKR is Christian.

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"We don't send people to Azkaban just for blowing up their 
aunts!"    --Prisoner of Azkaban
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