the old magic
well this week i have read 'the lion, the witch and the wardrobe' to dd and re read 'order of the phoenix'. the references to the 'old magic' in both of them (or 'deep magic') have hit home.
my thoughts were running along the lines of a previous discussion with the muggle matters blokes about how god acts always in accordance with *who* he is. it not being a matter of him deciding to do something, more that his actions are always consistent with his nature, his being.
so i am thinking that the 'old' and 'deep' magic are actually references to the very nature of god's person.
i remember hearing someone preach once, that the resurrection was god finding a loophole in his own laws. it always vaguely offended me, but i wasn't sure why.
now i think i have put my finger on it.... the concept of god looking for a 'way out' is so wrong somehow.
i think more that the possibility and opportunity for a sacrificial death in someone else's stead was always inherent in the law, that the greater love is a part of the very fabric of god's character. it wasn't a loophole, but the actual purpose of the law.
or.... i have it all upside down and back to front (for a change -*not*)
jo
my thoughts were running along the lines of a previous discussion with the muggle matters blokes about how god acts always in accordance with *who* he is. it not being a matter of him deciding to do something, more that his actions are always consistent with his nature, his being.
so i am thinking that the 'old' and 'deep' magic are actually references to the very nature of god's person.
i remember hearing someone preach once, that the resurrection was god finding a loophole in his own laws. it always vaguely offended me, but i wasn't sure why.
now i think i have put my finger on it.... the concept of god looking for a 'way out' is so wrong somehow.
i think more that the possibility and opportunity for a sacrificial death in someone else's stead was always inherent in the law, that the greater love is a part of the very fabric of god's character. it wasn't a loophole, but the actual purpose of the law.
or.... i have it all upside down and back to front (for a change -*not*)
jo
posted by jkr2 | 10:35 pm
4 Comments:
but something in HP that i don't get.
the charm dumbldedore placed on the infant harry said that as long as he called his mother's sisters'house "home" then voldemort couldn't touch or hurt him.
but of course, he *has* both touched and hurt him. i know that the potion including harry's blood is significant here.
however, why is it still necessary for harry to return there? what benefit exactly is this charm now offering him?
is it evidenced in the fact that harry has always (for whatever reason) triumphed in the situation and gotten away? is that the benefit of the magic? because voldy has gotten awfully close to killing him considering he is meant to be protected......
jo
I think you may be hitting on a key similarity between Rowling and Tolkien, the kind of subtle presence of a "providence" that actually does the working of the "ancient magic" - in works such as these it would not really work to have a "God" character, but the latent "providence" charatcter alludes to the role of God in our lives.
As far as the "physical familial home" I think this invisible providence works through it, but I admit there can be just criticisms of whether or not Rowling executes all parts of it well. I have always though that the main point of this (Petunia's choice and the phsyical familial home)was that it is protection based in Petunia's choice for charity (not that she likes Harry or always treats him well, but she does allow that fundamental choice of receiving him in Christian Charity as family to stand) and that this choice provides Harry with a blood-based familial home (contra-the "spiritualization" characteristic of Gonsticism)
But, it is admittedly a complex question :)
I agree on the Resurrection as a loophole - the literal raising up is really the fuller revelation of the ture meaning of the being raised up on the cross, like Moses raised the bronze serpent on staff for the Israelites to look up and be healed.
Sermons are powerful things though, aren't they? I was recently talking to a friend about the "perfomative value" in oral traditions because he was explaing how the great perfomance of the HP audio tapes have sort of spoiled him, and we were reminiscing about a New-Zealander pastor here that we both had when younger and he told me of hearing another member of that church say, "whenever I hear I.D. [the pastor] read a pasage of Scripture ... I feel like he's already preached."
"whenever I hear I.D. [the pastor] read a pasage of Scripture ... I feel like he's already preached."
that's gorgeous!
re petunia. i guess she is an example in the books of someone who is defined by their choices .... (though i love the telling off the dursleys get from dumbledore in the beginning of hbp)
i'm really hoping for a big conversation between harry and petunia in bk 7.
jo
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