Colleen Posted April 24, 2004 Posted April 24, 2004 [url="http://yahoo.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2004-04-21-shadowmancer_x.htm?csp=1"]Christian "Harry Potter" Arrives In U.S. [/url]
crusader1234 Posted April 24, 2004 Posted April 24, 2004 The Narnia chronicles were more than enough Christian Based fantasy for a lifetime... I'll check this out for sure though.
Philippe Posted April 24, 2004 Posted April 24, 2004 im gonna check that out im always looking for more reading novels especially religious ones
Colleen Posted April 24, 2004 Author Posted April 24, 2004 [quote name='crusader1234' date='Apr 23 2004, 11:04 PM'] The Narnia chronicles were more than enough Christian Based fantasy for a lifetime... [/quote] Oh, definitely. I'm interested in what sort of effect that this is going to have. Expecially with a movie already in the works.
Iacobus Posted April 24, 2004 Posted April 24, 2004 Wasn't Harry Potter (as much as I hate it) kind of Christian. I mean it wasn't overt but good trimpuhed over evil, light over dark. I think JP2 siad something about it last summer.
BLAZEr Posted April 24, 2004 Posted April 24, 2004 I don't care if it's not successful, I just hope the books don't stink
Iacobus Posted April 24, 2004 Posted April 24, 2004 [url="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2722077.stm"]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2722077.stm[/url] About the Vatican and Harry Potter, but I thought there was an other one. Maybe not.
Thy Geekdom Come Posted April 24, 2004 Posted April 24, 2004 [quote]Wasn't Harry Potter (as much as I hate it) kind of Christian. I mean it wasn't overt but good trimpuhed over evil, light over dark. I think JP2 siad something about it last summer.[/quote] You don't like Harry Potter? [i]Note to self: put Iacobus on trial for not liking Harry Potter.[/i] Harry Potter is filled with Christian parallels. It teaches about the strength of friendship, the objectivity of truth (Pr. Dumbledore always says to call Voldemort [read: evil allegory] by his true name...thus, recognize evil as evil), the love of parents, the power of love, and the way evil tries to disguise itself as good (see book four, Alastair Moody, the good guy, and his evil look-alike, who tries to take his place). It is filled with what I would call proto-Christian themes. As for the magic, I think it is simply meant as the medium to get this message across. There has to be some medium and magic as a literary device has never been considered evil in the eyes of most religious people, from the case of Merlin to Gandalf and to Aslan ("there is an even more ancient magic..."). With that said, I don't think they should be read by small children and those who cannot separate truth from fiction.
Iacobus Posted April 24, 2004 Posted April 24, 2004 I read Sci-Fi (a bit) and one of my fav books, I got hooked on it by an angostic so say what you will, is the Gopsel told in a violent, immoral, human way. The book is Imajica. I warn if you plan to read it, sins are rampent with sexual acts and killing not to mention langauge. But if you look at these books you see that many have underlying Christian stories or themes.
God Conquers Posted April 24, 2004 Posted April 24, 2004 Has anyone read the [url="http://www.randomhouse.com/features/pullman/"]His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman?[/url] What did you think? Anti-CoN? I heard they are become movies as well.
crusader1234 Posted April 25, 2004 Posted April 25, 2004 (edited) Interestingly, (I'm just making this up as I go along and Havent given it much thought), Voldemort in French translates into Flight of Death. If Voldemort is satan, then theres the interesting parallel that Harry also triumphs over death. Like mentined above, magic is used in books for entertainment purposes. Sure, kids probably tested all their closets and wardrobes after reading the Narnia books, and to a certain degree some people fantasized about actually being a hobbit... but the idea of magic in a book doesnt send forward the message to practice witchcraft. The books' magic deals with Christian symbols (the kids even celebrate christmas although they make no mention of church) and plays on words "Fleur Delacour = Flower of the heart", a lot more than it deals with the actual pagan traditions and ways of practising witchcraft. Note: Hmm... since we are on the topic of witchcraft... maybe we should hvae Iacobus' avatar burnt at the stake for not liking HP. Edited April 25, 2004 by crusader1234
Thy Geekdom Come Posted April 25, 2004 Posted April 25, 2004 [quote]Interestingly, (I'm just making this up as I go along and Havent given it much thought), Voldemort in French translates into Flight of Death.[/quote] I had heard a theory partly using French that Gilderoy Lockhart probably referred to how he was "golden" only in appearance and how he had a locked heart, but I had never heard that about Voldemort... That [i]is[/i] interesting...
crusader1234 Posted April 25, 2004 Posted April 25, 2004 If you read the books and look at names and spells... I'd say more than half have special meanings. I can't remember off of the top of my head but Joanne Rowling certainly does have a gift for plays on words. Heres a list: Voldemort: Flight of Death Beauxbatons: Beautiful Wands Fleur Delacoeur: Flower of the Heart Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus (The schools motto): Never tickle a sleeping dragon Hedwig: Was a 13th century German Saint... Patron of Oprhans? Malfoy: Mal Foi is French for Bad Faith Mirror of Erised: Desire spelled backwards Diagon Alley: Say it fast... Knockturn Alley: Say it fast... Theres way more I cant name them all those are just my favourites. Note Hedwig... patron saint of orphans - harrys an oprhan. and then voldemort and malfoy and stuff all have religious ties.
Thy Geekdom Come Posted April 25, 2004 Posted April 25, 2004 I can testify to the spells. Many of those who are against the books and burning them say that the spells are real spells and that they shouldn't be read. The problem with this, however, is that the VAST majority of the spells are straight from or closely related to Latin. It would make sense that organizations such as Wicca would use ancient Latin words, words which few tongues have spoken in centuries, but are easy to understand. It is more than likely, therefore, that the spells in the book only look like wiccan spells (if they do...I've never read any wiccan stuff) by coincidence, since J.K. Rowling likely wanted to use Latin for hidden meanings (and there are Latin hidden meanings as well).
voiciblanche Posted April 25, 2004 Posted April 25, 2004 ::wrinkles nose:: Eh. I never saw anything religious about Harry Potter. Rowling had said in the beginning that she hadn't meant for them to be for kids, and that they'd get more and more violent as she wrote more. And the whole story line is witchcraft, which seems like one of the biggest religious oppenents. But you guys are probably right, I guess.
crusader1234 Posted April 25, 2004 Posted April 25, 2004 About the spells... I read books on wicca a few years back and the spells are way different. So complicated! But the meanings of the 'spells' which I can guarantee don't work (if youve ever babysat kids whove read the books you'll notice this) are interesting in a way. They more/less just pay homage to Latin, and arent as inspired as other hidden meanings. Ex... Expecto Patronum Kind of means Expect Protection. I don't think people should read too much into the 'witchcraft'... Rowling isnt a witch and the spells arent real. The books about a boy growing up and ecountering good and evil/
Thy Geekdom Come Posted April 25, 2004 Posted April 25, 2004 Even if the books weren't meant to have Christian parallels, I think they do. Many ancient pagan texts had Christian parallels. Most civilizations had some reason to look for a hero who would liberate a people from an evil tyrant or would save them all from some natural disaster. I tend to think that God had a hand in this to make them proto-Christian...that is, to use those texts and myths to prepare the people to receive Christianity. Then, when the stage was set ("in the fullness of time" you might say), Christ came. You must know that everything, EVERYTHING that had happened in history up to the coming of Christ, God had used to prepare the world for Christ. The interesting thing is that Christ didn't fulfill any of the pagans myths. He did more. They were all about temporal salvation and happiness. Christ brings eternal happiness and overthrows a spiritual tyrant. It's an interesting thought, really... [quote]Ex... Expecto Patronum Kind of means Expect Protection.[/quote] Actually, it means something even more. A patron was a defender, not just in a sense of protecting a person from violence, but in legal matters. A patron would intercede on behalf of a defendant before the authorities. Expecto Patronum literally means "I expect a patron". What did a patronus do in Harry Potter? It fought off the "prosecuting authorities", the dementors, who were supposed to bring about eternal punishment. I'm not completely sure how this fits in with Christianity, but it has some parallel that is obvious.
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