Truly fascinating in a very melancholy sort of way.
A bittersweet observation of literature and religion.

"guidinglightworld" yahoo.com> wrote in message
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The Harry Potter books deal with the great themes of life, the
philosophical questions wuch as 'What does it mean to be good?' What happens
when I die? All religions do the same so there will inevitably be some
crossovers. Lord of the Rings to which others have referred in posts is
another book which deals with the same issues. It has been described as a
deeply religious book and yet there is no mention of God nor do the
character have any formal religious practice. The same
is true of Harry Potter. God is absent and yet spiritual themes abound.
Love, friendship, sacrifice. Harry is the willing victim who embraces his
fate. His Gethemane moment is on the floor of Dumbledores study when
returned from Snapes memories he finally knows that he has to face death at
Voldemorts hand with no hope of escape.Yes he is like Jesus and I guess we
are lucky that Christians are on the whole sensible tolerant people in the
practise of their faith as adherents of some religions much consider suich
likening blasphemous.I used to be a practising Christian but with sadness I
am less so now and yet I sense the 'Hound of Heaven' sometimes in some books
and DH is one of them.The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. The
Church of Scotland and, whenever she's asked, says,
"I believe in God, not magic." In fact, Rowling initially was afraid that
if people were aware of her Christian faith, she would give away too much of
what's coming in the series. "If I talk too freely about that," she told a
Canadian reporter, "I think the intelligent reader -- whether ten [years
old] or sixty -- will be able to guess what is coming in the books. And
Lewis is definitely the "most Christian" of the three because while the
other two can be interpreted as Christian allegories if you
feel like it, the Narnia Chronicles aren't even a Christian allegory,
they're a series of books that star Jesus as a character except he's called
Aslan in Narnia. As for why Lewis is eclipsed by Tolkien and Rowling...
Tolkien is obvious : the Lord of the Rings isn't as obviously oriented for
children, and the whole story and worldbuilding has more magnitude than for
Narnia. As for Rowling the simple fact that she is a much more modern writer
in style and everything explains her present popularity well enough for me.
We can come back in 50 years and see who eclipses the other, and have a real
argument. Finally, there is the fact that Harry Potter and the Lord of the
Rings are so much better than the Narnia Chronicles. The Christ is
supposedly the son of GOD - Harry isn'tThe Christ was supposedly born
through Immaculate conception - Not Harry The Christ was supposedly a GOD -
who are eternal - no beginning and no end - Not Harry. No three kings, no
bethlehem, no star, (ETC) at Harry's birth Harry destroyed a major evil -
the Christ did not. Harry was a Horcrux - and also apparently had one too -
A god doesn't need those things. The Christ had more "Sidekicks" than Harry.
The Christ KNEW he could not die(Gods cannot do that) - Harry did not find
that out until after he "ALMOST" did. The Christ's body was hung on a
cross - not Harry. Train stations (Kings Cross) did not exist in the time
that Christ was placed in his book. Harry didn't Resurrect in Heaven and
take his body with him. Harry didn't start a church. Harry was both Married
and had children in the end - the Christ was apparently only married. The
Christ did miracles - Harry was not more magical than any other wizard in
the books. In fact - his name would not have been jesus either. Theory of
Harry representing Jesus allegorically WILL be discussed. And the thought
that Harry, a wizard who practices magic, not alwaysresponsibly, is a
Christlike figure, will give certain members of the Christian lunatic fringe
absolute hives. JKR has certainly come in for her share of finger waving
disapproval and hysteria from Uber Christians over the past ten years. I
personally think a person can be a sincere Christian without losing
their sense of humor or their common sense. I think that's why I
particularly enjoyed the name pun of Pius Thicknesse, the puppet Minister
of Magic who succeeds Scrimgeour. I think it was a wee pin in the balloons
of religious hysteria.