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SpM posted:I don't disagree, but the same should apply to LotR.
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Absolutely!, but as I pointed out, JRRT in a masterful way consciously revised LotR towards Catholic origins. If you dig deep that is what you get, his cosmology is pointing to God. It is not in your face in LotR as in the Silm, but I doubt if many reading Silm are suprised or shocked by the opening chapters, even if they do not resonate with them initially.
Indeed I would not be suprised if at some point down the road, JKR does some sort of Silm like prequel[s] to HP, to put it in a religious context that it is so obviouly missing. Perhaps a revealing of why there is no religion in HP at all, what led to a silent 'seperation of magic and religion' and ultimately complete silence....
So I maintain, that as brilliant, captivating and downright instructive as HP is, it has built in 'flaws' that JRRT not only avoided, but encoded the essence of his religion in a seemingly a-religious work [LotR], and he began it with only purity of purpose, and a willingness to 'find the story', and what 'felt' right - well that and a near complete assimilation of the entirety of extant European [and beyond] Mythologies, and a serious and deep catholic religious life.
From a slightly different tack, i would say that JRRT wrote w/ a masterful blend of skill and inspired creativity in 3 worlds. The Physical, the moral/ethical and the spiritual.
JKR has done a brilliant job w/ the physical and moral/ethical [magic is clearly no shortcut to anything essential in these kids lives, is does not help him w/ Cho, or his relationship w/ the Durselys or even his God-father [ah, I'm suprised no one caught the one other reference to religion!].
It is truly a literary device, but as JRRT realised in his works [see the Letters] magic is a two-edged sword, giving the dunedain some abilities in this area was he realized a real problem.
In LotR human 'magic' is very much placed in a cosmological context. The 'why's' and 'who's' are rather clearly spelled out and their relationships clear, all the way up to the Valar [in LotR] and Eru in Silm.
In HP we have a who, w/ muggles/wizards, but absolutely no background as to how/why the division is there, where magical powers come from and what the realtionship is to God. IF harry has a Godfather, was he baptised?
I am not saying JKR was 'wrong' to not include all this, perhaps she will one day. But it leaves a big void in the 'spiritual' that JRRT did not leave. And that void is something that 'nature' [and many fundamentalists] abhor.
Persoanlly I thin kthe HP benefits in worlds 1 and 2 if you will, far outweigh the vaugeness of the spiritual. Indeed it gives me the opportunity to talk w/ my girls about the rampant de-personalization of God as 3 Persons--> God as Spirit [a very common way in Northern Cal. at least to refer to God in a totally non-'religious' way]. This trend is ubiquitous and I think ultimately insidious, but it is a fact, and one can reply in a variety of ways.
Now if HP had sly references to say, the Necronomicon or some other blatantly demonic system, well alot more of us would be singing a different tune, no matter how good the writing is. The Deryni books are a good example [again]. I would not let my kids read those, till I think they are really ready to have serious talks about the occult.
HP does 'trivialize' the occult in some ways. I find it a rather funny caricature of real magic and witchcraft [which I know exist].
Latin words + wizard blood + proper wand technique = HP 'magic'
Only in the spell used to repulse dementors, do we see anything approaching the real deal. And frankly I am very glad she was not more explicit.
[sorry for the several additions...]