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Parentless characters (was Harry Potter)
Elizabeth Gardner wrote:
This is where it would help if you'd actually read the books. There's a very clear delineation in HP, as in Narnia, between good magic and bad magic. If you doubt good magic in Narnia, consider the chapter in the first book titled "Deeper Magic from Before the Dawn of Time" and the magical properties of the gifts given to the children by Santa Claus, as well as the apple in "The Magician's Nephew" whose tree confers protective properties against the bad magic of the White Witch, just to name a couple of instances. In the latter case, the magic of the apple was only good if it was used for unselfish purposes; it became perverted into evil if someone tried to use it for himself. I do think a major difference between the books is that most (not all of Narnia) is set in another workd, not our world and many of the charcteres are not human. It may seem minor, but from a theological point of view, I can see where it makes a difference. Harry Potter s set in our world and it' snot really clear whther magicains are human or not. Having said that, as a Christian, I find nothing offensive about them. |
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Parentless characters (was Harry Potter)
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Parentless characters (was Harry Potter)
In article ,
illecebra wrote: I know the Christmas tree was once the Yule log/ Yule tree and easter baskets were once Beltaine baskets... not sure where the bunny came from as my tradition doesn't have a bunny holiday. Susan The goddess Eoster had her feast day in the spring; she was often shown with eggs and rabbits (as signs of fertility). According to the website http://www.fionabroome.com/craft/ostara1.htm: Ostara has become a popular name for the Equinox festival. Some historians believe that the name comes from the Teutonic-Anglo-Saxon goddess of dawn, Eostre. The Equinox itself has sometimes been called Eostar. And although we can find similar names in other traditions, many of them come from cultures far removed from the Celtic tradition. These include "superwomen" such as the Babylonian Astarte, the Assyrian Ishtar, and Queen Esther from the Purim celebration. meh who loves to trace the origins of all kinds of traditions and symbols -- Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care |
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Parentless characters (was Harry Potter)
A lot of books that appeal to kids deal with overcoming scary
challenges - its about trying on ideas in your imagination. Being independent and alone is quite scary for most kids. My kids (12, 9 and 5) have often expressed worry about having to grow up and deal with all the details of adult life and taking care of themselves. Reading stories about kids learning to take charge of their lives, figure out what kind of person they want to be, stand up for what they believe in even if it means taking a risk - I think this is a very safe, healthy way to start a kid thinking about those issues. One of the things I really like about the Harry Potter books is that not all adults are good, not every thing is fair, lots of things about the adult world and the culture of the magic world either make limited moral sense or are outright wrong, there is prejudice (i.e. against mudbloods and house elves). Harry (and its a particular theme of book 5) has to decide what kind of person he wants to be and recognize that even people he looks up to have flaws. I also like the premise that evil can exist in a society with the complicity of people who we might not think of as bad - and that because of cultural blinders we may not immediately see it, or may not want to admit it exists. A lot of what goes on in Harry Potter that is bad occurs with the support of the goverment, legal and social systems of the magic world (i.e.which have corruption in them, leading people to deny the truth, get jailed unfairly, the press to spin doctor to the popular opinion etc.). So, Harry has to be willing to see past authority figures and majority opinions and decide for himself what is really right. I really like that coming of age kind of theme. Mary G. |
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Parentless characters (was Harry Potter)
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#6
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Parentless characters (was Harry Potter)
Elizabeth Gardner wrote in :
In article , Penny Gaines wrote: Elizabeth Gardner wrote in : [snip] The anti-Potter theology seems fairly sketchy no matter how I [look at it, particularly since it seems to be propounded almost exclusively by people who haven't actually read the books. But I read recently that J.K. Rowling belongs to my particular branch of Christianity (or rather, I belong to hers since the Scots had it first), so maybe that's why I see Christian overtones in the story that those of a different tradition may miss. Is she actually a practising Christian? I've seen her referred to in various media accounts as a "member in good standing" of the Church of Scotland; not sure what the terminology means there, but in our church (Presbyterian--the U.S. descendant of the Church of Scotland) it would mean that she had officially joined by making certain affirmations of faith and an oral commitment to be an active part of the church family. As far as I know, you don't have to show up a certain number of times a year, give a certain amount of money, or serve on any committees in order to be a member in good standing. So she may do all those things or none of them. Or C of S may be set up differently. That ties in with what I know about the Church of Scotland. I've seen her quoted as saying that she believes in God, not magic, and that if she goes into any deeper public explication of her Christian beliefs, it will give away too much of the plot of the coming books in the series. Based on that, I would guess that we'll have to wait for Book Seven before we really see the full Christian subtext of the overall plot. Now that sounds like it really is going to be interesting! -- Penny Gaines UK mum to three |
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Parentless characters (was Harry Potter)
In article ,
David desJardins wrote: Personally, I tried reading Harry Potter, but I thought it was just awful. And the whole concept of the books puts me off. How many pages, exactly, should I have to read before forming such an opinion? There's a difference between not liking a book, and being opposed to it. I'm surprised that you found it "just awful" but apparently it isn't your ball of wax. My children's school requests that they give a book 2 chapters before proclaiming they don't like it. I suspect you've met that requirement. So, you don't like it. That's different from being opposed to it, as some people are, feeling that their own kids, or in some cases no one's kids, should be allowed to read it. That goes way beyond not enjoying it. And I don't think I would ever take such a stand over a book without reading enough of it to make a first-hand determination of the objectionable elements myself. How many pages that will be varies depending on the nature of the objections. For some things, I suppose just finding a few objectionable passages would suffice. For things relating to the theme or message of the book, however, I would think I'd need to read the whole thing to get a fair picture. --Robyn (mommy to Ryan 9/93 and Matthew 6/96 and Evan 3/01) |
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