Harry Potter: A Christian Allegory
Apr 22, 2012 21:53:10 GMT -8
Post by makoeyes on Apr 22, 2012 21:53:10 GMT -8
I’ve believed this for quite some time, ever since 2007. I actually realized this on my own when I was 16, without need of research or external opinions. Jo even said that she’s a Christian and to her the religious parallels have always been obvious. We all know that it contain strong themes of love, sacrifice, destiny, friendship, etc. But I’ll try stick things that seem strictly Christian.,
BTW this title was supposed to have a question mark at the end.
WARNING: If you HATE Christianity, this post may piss you off.
The Love Sacrifice spell:
Christ allegories:
Dumbledore as God the Father:
Themes of forgiveness:
Voldemort as the Devil:
Literary themes and Medieval symbolism:
The afterlife
Okay that’s what I can think of for now. Links to support my argument:
suesabstractions.blogspot.com/2007/07/harry-potter-as-christian-allegory.html
atheism.about.com/od/harrypotter/i/christianity_2.htm I want to call special attention to this one.
www.mugglenet.com/editorials/editorials/edit-beauseigneura01.shtml Warning: Possible TL;DR. I love this post. It’s even more in-depth than mine.
www.christianpost.com/news/harry-potter-author-reveals-books-christian-allegory-her-struggling-faith-29749/ Jo specifically talks about religious parallels.
Feel free to read only some of the articles or none at all.
I hope this wasn’t too TL;DR and I hope you share your thoughts.
BTW this title was supposed to have a question mark at the end.
WARNING: If you HATE Christianity, this post may piss you off.
The Love Sacrifice spell:
- Lily Potter was given the choice to by Voldemort (Ultimate Evil) but she selflessly gave up her life to try and protect her son. It worked. This cast an impenetrable charm on Harry that caused Voldemort’s curse to rebound on Voldemort, almost killing him. This is similar to Jesus’ sacrifice because he could’ve walked away from his impending execution, but chose to go through with a Crucifixion, the Roman Empire’s cruelest and most humiliating method of execution. When you take into account that Jesus is God, Jesus did it for his children. Furthermore, this was to save people from death and Sin, which is like how Lily saved Harry from literal death.
- In the seventh book, Harry has the chance to flee Hogwarts and save himself, but gives himself up to Voldemort in order to destroy the piece of Voldemort’s soul inside of him. This has the effect of protecting ALL of his loved one’s from Voldemort’s power.
Christ allegories:
- Harry is a very Christlike character. He came from greatness and love but grew up in poverty. Despite this he is kind and caring. He is friends with the House-Elves, goblins, Muggleborns, blood traitors, poor people, convicts, nerds, etc. just as Jesus was friends with the lepers, prostitutes, etc. He was mocked and hated by the Purebloods and prejudiced people for “throwing in with the wrong crowd” just as Jesus was mocked by the religious authorities for sitting down and eating with the dregs of society. In every single, book, he makes some kind altruistic sacrifice, which is epitomized in the seventh book.
- Also I want to mention Harry’s wand. Harry is wand is made of Holly. Jo has stated that the symbolism of Holly is very specific and she definitely picked that particular tree on purpose. Holly is connected with the word “holy,” and as it was connected to Christmas, it was connected to the birth of the Savior.
- Lily could also be considered a Christlike character. She is a Muggleborn, and therefore one of the “weirdos,” was best friends with one of the weirdos (Snape) and defended her weirdo friends from the James and the like (who could possibly be compared to the religious authorities, since they’re bullies, rich and enjoy greater comforts in life). She also forgave her friend’s transgressions except for the last time when he called her a Mudblood. Lastly, the fact that Snape tried to protect Lily from Voldemort can be compared to how Pontius Pilate tried to pardon Jesus from a death sentence.
- However, neither of these characters are perfect retellings of Jesus, as that would probably be blasphemy.
Dumbledore as God the Father:
- Dumbledore is wise and knows almost everything. He is the mostt powerful being in the series and is far more powerful than Voldemort. He acts as a parent to the children of Hogwarts, especially Harry, and dedicates his life to doing good. He holds no prejudices, and is friends to the Muggles, Muggle-borns, goblins and the like. He has the utmost confidence in Harry and throughout the entire series guides and protects him. He tries to see the good in people and even forgave Snape, a Death Eater and utterly trusted this “sinner.” Lastly, he’s pretty much asexual (or at least he is now).
- But, like the above, he’s an even less perfect retelling of the God the Father than Harry is as Jesus. He used to want to control Muggles (but “for their own good”), associated with evil people, and neglected his own family.
Themes of forgiveness:
- The importance of repentance and forgiveness is of the utmost importance in Christianity. James and Sirius used to be the biggest Jerk Jocks in the entire series, but they eventually “deflated their heads,” turned into heroes and Lily forgave them. Also, Snape was in Voldemort’s inner circle and was fascinated by the Dark Arts, but he eventually became one of the most pivotal heroes in the books and was forgiven by Dumbledore. Lastly, even GRINDELWALD gets a possible redeeming moment when he tries to keep Voldemort away from the Elder Wand. This is analogous to how the Bible states that no sin is unforgivable.
Voldemort as the Devil:
- Voldemort is an absolute monster and is responsible for almost all of the bedlam in the entire series. People were so afraid of him that they were even afraid to speak his name, just as people used to be afraid to say Satan’s name (people used to call him things like Old Scratch, the Old One, the Prince of Darkness, etc.). He is the second most powerful being in the series (next to Dumbeldore, who remember is possibly analogous to God the Father). He is brilliant and cunning, yet at the same time very foolish in some matters, just as Satan is actually a fool and will be destroyed someday. Satan used to be an Angel of light (the highest of all, according to tradition). In the same way people used to be extremely taken in by Tom Riddle and think he was brilliant and awesome and wonderful, etc. etc. Voldemort is an extremely skilled manipulator, just as Satan is a master of temptation. Lastly, Voldemort is able to take possession of people’s bodies, just as demons are able to possess people.
Literary themes and Medieval symbolism:
- The Chamber of Secrets has been compared to the Divine Comedy. Like Dante, Harry descends to the deepest level of the entire school, just as Dante descends to the lowest level of Hell. In D’sI, the lowest level of Hell is a lake of ice. Likewise, the Chamber of Secrets is a wet and watery place. There, Harry meets Voldemort (the Devil). He is then carried up by Fawkes (who could possibly be compared to an Angel) to the highest level of school to talk with Dumbledore. This is comparable to how Dante is carried by an Angel to the highest level of Heaven to meet God. When Dante meets God, God reveals the meaning of life, just as Dumbledore teaches Harry about life.
- There’s a very good amount of animal symbolism in this series.
- Serpents in HP are mostly used to represent evil and Voldemort himself. In Christian circles, serpents often get a bad rep.
- Dragons, in Middle Eastern and Christian societies, were thought to be creatures of evil and possibly allied with the Devil. Satan is even described as a dragon in Revelations. Likewise, in HP, dragons are untamable, dangerous monsters.
- In Christianity, Phoenixes are sometimes likened to Christ, as they are good and pure creatures who feed off of herbs, die and are resurrected, and kill snakes. In HP, Phoenixes are one of the unambiguously “good” creatures, and one is even a friend of Dumbeldore (who is possibly analogous to God the Father).
- Unicorns were also venerated by the Medieval Christians. They were seen as symbols of purity and goodness. Unicorns are likewise portrayed similarly in HP. Also, slaying a unicorn and drinking its blood will cause a terrible curse, because you have slain something so innocent and pure. This can comparable to how the Bible states that God despises those who shed innocent blood.
The afterlife
- Souls are scientifically proven fact in the magical world. Also, seeing as how the Resurrection Stone works (to an extent), there is definitely an afterlife in HP.
- Jo has stated that Voldemort is unable to move on to the afterlife; he will forever be stuck in Limbo. This is because he used Horcruxes. Allow me to go off topic for a moment here, but this is related to my point. I don’t believe in Hell. I believe that the “non-Saved” go a temporary holding place where they are cleansed of their sins before they can move on to Heaven. The only people who will never move on to Heaven are the people who refuse to get better. The Mormons believe this. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say Jo probably believes something similar. So, Voldemort being able to move on to the afterlife is pretty much the closest thing the series has to eternal damnation, just as some Christians don’t believe in eternal damnation.
- “The last enemy to be conquered is death.” Hermione even says that this refers to life after death. This kind of “immortality” is the entire point of Christianity. Also, this is actually an exact verse taken from the Bible.
Okay that’s what I can think of for now. Links to support my argument:
suesabstractions.blogspot.com/2007/07/harry-potter-as-christian-allegory.html
atheism.about.com/od/harrypotter/i/christianity_2.htm I want to call special attention to this one.
If it were J.K. Rowling’s intention all along to create a Christian allegory, which is certainly plausible given her statements, then she will have to do something in order to match Harry Potter more closely with Christianity and Christian messages. If she doesn’t, then it will amount to a failed allegory. Even if she does, though, it will be an arguably weak allegory because so much has happened thus far without the connections to Christianity being very clear.
A good allegory doesn’t beat you over the head with its message, but after a while the connections should start piling up and the purpose of the story should become evident, at least to those who are paying attention. That hasn’t been the case with Harry Potter, though.
For the time being, then, it would make the most sense to conclude that the Harry Potter stories are not a Christian allegory. All of this could change in the future, however. Something might happen in the final books which is much more explicitly Christian in nature — the death and resurrection of Harry Potter himself, for example. If that happens, then it would be hard not to treat the stories as a Christian allegory, even if they don’t start off doing it very well.
A good allegory doesn’t beat you over the head with its message, but after a while the connections should start piling up and the purpose of the story should become evident, at least to those who are paying attention. That hasn’t been the case with Harry Potter, though.
For the time being, then, it would make the most sense to conclude that the Harry Potter stories are not a Christian allegory. All of this could change in the future, however. Something might happen in the final books which is much more explicitly Christian in nature — the death and resurrection of Harry Potter himself, for example. If that happens, then it would be hard not to treat the stories as a Christian allegory, even if they don’t start off doing it very well.
Harry dies and is resurrected in the final book!
www.mugglenet.com/editorials/editorials/edit-beauseigneura01.shtml Warning: Possible TL;DR. I love this post. It’s even more in-depth than mine.
www.christianpost.com/news/harry-potter-author-reveals-books-christian-allegory-her-struggling-faith-29749/ Jo specifically talks about religious parallels.
Feel free to read only some of the articles or none at all.
I hope this wasn’t too TL;DR and I hope you share your thoughts.