this really knocked me for a loop

[fpb]

And it throws an interesting light on JK Rowling's own understanding of Christianity. In this article, she claims that the HP series is basically Christian. But she also claims - read the last three paragraphs - that the current Pope belongs to "the lunatic fringe" of Christianity. I'm afraid that what we have here, however incredible it may seem, is a survival, in the twenty-first century, of that English pathology that led nineteenth-century religious writers to call Catholicism "sectarian"; the ecclesiastical version of the "Fog in the Channel, Continent cut off" mentality.

Comments

[helixaspersa.livejournal.com]

I agree. I think it's very likely that JK Rowling is anti-Catholic in that standard lazy British fashion; but I don't think she meant the Pope here. Much more likely that 'lunatic fringe' = American fundamentalists. I suspect the interviewer is revealing his/her own prejudices by inserting the bit about the Pope at that point.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

What I meant by the elephant in the room is that it is at best an assumption that the interviewer did not mention Cardinal Ratzinger as was; and it is an assumption that clashes with the fact that of all the Christian figures who expressed disapproval of the novels, he is by a million miles the most prominent. The only reason to assume that the interviewer lied is to take the benevolent view that JKR cannot possibly have said anything so stupid and provincial. Ah, but she can. She is the one who claimed that CS Lewis had condemned Susan to Hell "because she had discovered sex". I think JKR is a genius - the excellence of the Beadle the Bard tales confirms it - but I also think that she can be sensationally stupid.

[helixaspersa.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you're right that he's the most prominent single figure to condemn them; but to be honest if I think of "Christian condemnation of Harry Potter" I think of American Protestantism, not the Pope, and my *guess* (though it is just a guess) is that the average religiously-fairly-uninformed British quasi-Anglican would have the same response. The American perspective may well be different of course, in which case you may well be right that the interviewer is likely to have mentioned it in the interview him/herself. You could try writing to her and asking whom she had in mind? She's probably much too grand to reply to that kind of thing these days but it would be interesting if she did.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Both you and shezan stand a better chance of getting a response, being, in your own charming way, rather grand yourselves. However, I did write a long and very contentious essay in which I argued that the HP world is not basically Christian, whether or not JKR herself is. Unfortunately, with Fictionalley pretty much in its death throes, it is not currently accessible.

P.S.: welcome back, long time no see, and thanks for dropping in!