Harry Potter - a Christian morality tale? (SPOILERS)

[Elok]

I'm not sure how Baldur was a Christ figure. There was no noble, voluntary self-sacrifice there. He was just a god of light who hung around in Asgard until Loki's jealousy boiled over and he found a convoluted way to kill the poor guy. IIRC the element of deliberate offering is absent from Quetzalcoatl too. Hercules was unwittingly assassinated by his wife using a cursed shirt. Osiris was lured into a trap and killed by his evil brother. Achilles was actually quite selfish and petulant; his death had nothing to do with any sacrifice either.

I don't know enough to say for sure about the unnamed others, but the examples given so far aren't compelling. The force of Jesus's story isn't in just dying and coming back to life; if it comes to that, Lazarus and the daughter of Jairus went through the same thing in Jesus's own story and they don't receive honor like him. What makes it powerful is that, like HP, he chose to do it for others when he could have declined, and walked up to his own death to face it alone. Maybe Jesus's story isn't unique in that regard, but it's more uncommon than you guys are making it out to be.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by molly bloom
Unlikely if the Ancient Egyptians and Ancient Greeks flourished before the Hebrews and the beginning of Christianity.

Unless, of course, you actually read and understood all of Nikolai's post, which was a joke predicated on the idea that God created the universe (and seeded the Jesus story in the minds of men long before he sent his son to Earth).

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


Unless, of course, you actually read and understood all of Nikolai's post, which was a joke predicated on the idea that God created the universe (and seeded the Jesus story in the minds of men long before he sent his son to Earth).

I think that many beleive this. (The God creating humans with the Jesus story inside not a requirement, Christians do mostly beleive in inspiration and not only that Christians are inspired.)

JM

[MOBIUS]

Harry Potter - a Christian morality tale?

Well, it is a work of fiction after all...

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Elok
I'm not sure how Baldur was a Christ figure.

Too bad.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Elok

I don't know enough to say for sure about the unnamed others, but the examples given so far aren't compelling.

They died and came back to life. Their stories circulated before the Jesus myth.

Thus, archetypes of a living god, demigod or hero who is then killed and comes back to life on earth or in the afterlife, existed in and around the Mediterranean before the Jesus mythos was created.

The pagan and Christian myths don't have to parallel each other in each and every obsessive detail.

Unless, of course, you actually read and understood all of Nikolai's post,

I don't usually look for humour or irony in his posts. I took it at face value. It seemed the thing to do.

[OzzyKP]

Re: Harry Potter - a Christian morality tale? (SPOILERS)

Christian morality

Harry Potter

Originally posted by aneeshm
Hopefully, this will lead to more Christians understanding that HP isn't the spawn of the devil.

I hope so too.

[Elok]

Originally posted by molly bloom
They died and came back to life. Their stories circulated before the Jesus myth.

Thus, archetypes of a living god, demigod or hero who is then killed and comes back to life on earth or in the afterlife, existed in and around the Mediterranean before the Jesus mythos was created.

The pagan and Christian myths don't have to parallel each other in each and every obsessive detail.

In each and every obsessive detail? No. But if the general nature of the death and resurrection is completely different, the base similarity of "dead, then alive again" doesn't mean much. Of course human beings have been fascinated with living after death--it's the fate we all face. Your archetype is pointless, at least in this context. The nature of Harry's demise is far more similar to Christ's than to that of Osiris, or Baldur, or Quetzalcoatl, or whoever you care to name. So I'd say the OP stands.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Elok


The nature of Harry's demise is far more similar to Christ's than to that of Osiris, or Baldur, or Quetzalcoatl, or whoever you care to name.

Odin also dies voluntarily.

Pierced with a spear, he alludes to a lack of a reviving drink, and he shrieks before he dies.

Herakles also harrows hell, intriguingly enough....

[Elok]

Originally posted by molly bloom
Odin also dies voluntarily.

Pierced with a spear, he alludes to a lack of a reviving drink, and he shrieks before he dies.

Herakles also harrows hell, intriguingly enough....

Dunno about Herakles, but where'd you get that account of Odin? One of the Eddas? If so, your source postdates Christ considerably, no?

Wait a minute, I thought Odin was eaten by Fenrir or something like that, during Ragnarok (I'm hazy on the details, it's been a while since I read about Norse myth). Can you link me to a source for this?

[Nikolai]

Odin dies during Ragnarok.

[LordShiva]

Odin died?

RIP Odin

Faded Glory

[Imran Siddiqui]

[Dr Strangelove]

Is Rowling a Christian? If not then it's unlikely that Harry Potter is a Christian morality tale.

[Nikolai]

She's said she's a Christian.