Home > Work > Baptizing Harry Potter: A Christian Reading of J.K. Rowling
1 " The fascination Fred and George show at Harry's scar corresponds to the need of that other twin, Thomas, to see 'the mark of the nails. "
― , Baptizing Harry Potter: A Christian Reading of J.K. Rowling
2 " Dumbledore's plan works well in giving Harry protection from the external danger of Voldemort. The plan also gives him an ordinary life. This ordinary life is a protection from the spiritual danger of pride, while being an aid to humility.Voldemort does not escape this danger. He has contempt for anything that makes him ordinary, such as his name Tom. He wants to be "different, separate, notorious." Harry, on the other hand, never tries to avoid his name, although the Dursleys think it a "nasty common name." He interiorises the value of being ordinary. ... singularity [is] the vice that is the opposite of accepting one's ordinariness. "
3 " Calumny... gives [Harry] a spiritual purity in the sense that it scours away any outward show, any wish to live by the impression he makes on others. It gives him a lonely independence, so that he is able to act from his own depth. As he goes on to fulfill "his true destiny", which as far as he knows is his death, he is able to walk, hidden from view, past the woman he loves, without speaking, without looking back. This ability to act alone contrasts him with Voldemort, who needs others. That need is apparent in Voldemort's possession of Quirrell.Voldemort's shallowness is apparent in the way Pettigrew has to do his work for him and then has to carry him to his rebirthing. Above all, it is in his need to be encircled by Death Eaters. Yet Voldemort is not truly in relationship with any of these people. He is connected to them only by magic, manipulation and threats. To be truly in relation with others, he would need, like Harry, to be capable of acting from his own depth. He would need to be able to act WITHOUT them. Voldemort, who wants to be independent, cannot truly act alone. ... Voldemort lives outwardly, in his domination of others; Harry lives inwardly, in the purity of his own being. "
4 " Only love can abjure power. Only love is strong enough to accept the weakness of not having power. Only love can outbid the offer of control made by evil. "
5 " The ability to choose weakness over power is a capacity for sacrifice, and that sacrifice is love in action. To be weak is to be open to another, to enter relationship. Sacrifice is accepting the weakness of loss, even the loss of life, for the good of others. It is the fountain of love. "
