(Not that I think there’s much to be gained by ‘matching’ every character!)

I found this blog searching Google on “deathly hallows religious references” and I’m glad I did too!

I’ve enjoyed reading the great comments on this page on the Christian allegory and the comparisons with the Narnia series.

No analogy can perfectly depict the original. In Narnia, Aslan was the creator (a divine character) who gives up his power but doesn’t truly enter into his creation in the same way as Christ. In HP, Harry Potter is very much a human with no “above creation” divine nature whatsoever.

Both are beautiful depictions but of course both have to fall short of the Christ story because neither can get to the heart of the true God/true man paradox of Christ. I love both stories, but I think Harry’s very human struggle with his impending sacrifice moves me the most.

I found your blog through Big Yellow House! I’m glad I did! Blessings.

How hard we fought for the predominant Christian elements of the series to be acknowledged and accepted, only to be continually scorned. Lev Grossman, Richard Abanes and co., apologies are in order, but we don’t expect them.

Even kitties can have the grace to look ashamed–sometimes….

Christmas Eve, carols being sung in Church, and the war memorial in the public square (:-) is also seen to be a “James, Lily, and baby Harry” scene.

The Potter Family is depicted on Christmas Eve as a “miniature” of an obviously greater Holy Family: “Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus”. This can’t be accidental.

Note some symbolic connections:
1. St. Joseph, foster-father of Jesus in the Bible, was the father of JAMES;
2. Virgin Mary is a LILY [White Flower symbol of unsullied purity; Western Christian Art and some Eastern Orthodox Icons depict the white lily in the Archangel Gabriel's hand when announcing that Mary would conceive a child, Jesus; cf. corresponding Lotus-Lily virginal symbolism in Far Eastern "Om Mani Padme Om"]; and,
3. Jesus is the “THE BOY WHO LIVED” — sound anything like the BABY that Herod/Voldemort was trying to kill, but “who lived”?

Uncanny similarity that must be purposeful on J.K. Rowling’s part.

For your consideration,
Taphos

But back to the Christian ending. I was especially caught by Trudy K’s comments of seeing the Kin’gs Cross scene as a form of baptism. What struck me was how the King’s Cross scene culminates Harry’s search for an adult faith. Harry has had a childlike faith to the end of HBP, as many have pointed out. And as we all know, much of DH discusses how he puts off childish things, as it were, and embraces his faith fully, as an adult. He searches, wanders, feels abandoned, gives up for a time, then is re-energized and re-committed. It is AFTER re-embracing his faith and committing to it that he goes through was Trudy K sees as a sort of “adult baptism” and new birth. Harry emerges from the forest as a new creation..the old (doubts, fears and questions) had passed away, the new (peace and understanding and acceptance) had come.

This echos the stories of many believers through the ages, but I was especially struck by the parallels to CS Lewis. As I recall his story, Lewis was raised in the faith, faltered mightily after his mother’s death and under the guidance of a cold and distant father, abandoned Christianity altogether in favor of atheism, then through many situations, began the journey back to faith in Christ, first mellowing to agnosticism and then embracing Christianity so fully that he became one the best ever apologists of the faith.

I’m no where near the analyst many of you are, and I may have Lewis’ story a bit mixed up, so feel free to inform me of my errors! Thanks, John, for starting this whole website as well as your other writings. I, for one, am having a blast!

One of my favorite sections in DH was in Chapter 36 when the battle is won and Harry retreats under his cloak for some “peace and quiet”. This reminds me of what we see Jesus doing so often in the New Testament: retreating from the crowd for some rest and relaxation, for prayer, for meditation. Sometimes with his closest friends/disciples (remember when Harry secretly took Ron and Hermione with him to Dumbledore’s office?), but often alone. I loved this beautiful image.

However, what truly stood out to me – jumped out at me really – from the part of the story just before Harry dons the cloak, were these words on pg 745 (Scholastic):

“McGonagall had replaced the House tables, but nobody was sitting according to House anymore: All were jumbled together, teachers and pupils, ghosts and parents, centaurs and house-elves…”

This so vividly brought to mind for me the following passage from Galatians (Chapter 3, verses 26-28):

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (New American Standard Bible – yeah sorry I didn’t quote the KJV)

I haven’t heard anyone else mention this in anything I’ve read so far, but it sure hit me like a ton of bricks when I read (and re-read) DH. I’m not trying to say this series is pure Christian allegory. I know better than that, but as Tina said above “God’s truth cannot help but shine, intended or not, often in unlikely places. It matters less what a writer’s intention was than how God chooses to reveal Himself.” I treasure the truths that Rowling has, knowingly or not, allowed to shine throughout her magical tale.

I have been amazed at all the nuances of Christian imagery I have read here–I only saw a fraction of them in my own reading of the text. A couple that perhaps haven’t been mentioned? –Harry coming back to Hogwarts and meeting his friends who are ready to fight. They are thrilled to see him, thinking he will lead them against Voldemort in battle, and Harry must inform them his is on a different type of mission. They don’t understand and are crestfallen, much like the disciples who expect a battle against Rome, yet Jesus tells them He didn’t come to set up an earthly kingdom. –I kept hearing these words in my head after finishing the book: yet these three remain, faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love. The closer Harry got to the end, the more important these became.

When I first read this I thought, wow, that is a problem in the Harry-as-Christ image:
“Harry “dies” to protect the students, professors, and order members from the wrath of Voldemort (the evil one). Christ did not die to save us from the wrath of Satan. He died to save us from the wrath of God.”
But then I thought, what is the wrath of God? God’s wrath or judgement is against sin, and the payment for sin is death. And Harry’s sacrifice is to take death so others won’t have to, which is what Christ does for us. Also, as esoterica described and Paul clearly teaches, Christ’s death sets us free from the *power* that sin has over us, much like Harry defeats the power V. wants to wield.

Lastly, I wince whenever I read a description of Harry Potter as a Christian story, as if now Christians (and I am one) are going to rush to force it into their mold as dogmatically as they once rejected it, or else push even harder at arguing it cannot possibly have anything to do with Christianity because it is not an exact retelling of the gospels. I have loved these books from the start because of Biblical themes like sacrificial love, but I would call them stories that ooze truth, in big and small ways. God’s truth cannot help but shine, intended or not, often in unlikely places. It matters less what a writer’s intention was than how God chooses to reveal Himself. I seem to remember hearing/reading that even C.S. Lewis didn’t regard his stories as allegories, but that doesn’t stop them from teaching. I have read those books too many times to count, and since the second reading, never–not once–have I failed to find a new spiritual truth in them. “And for us this is the end of all the stories…But for them it was only the beginning of the real story…” (The Last Battle)

Pat

Beth–thanks for putting all of that together in such a wonderful and meaningful way.

Pat