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Religionless universe of Harry Potter
#####################################
:date: 2019-03-30T20:33:21
:category: faith
:tags: review, HarryPotter, blogComment
(my comments on the thread “`Probably gonna catch some hate for
this. Religion and Mythology and its place in fiction.`_” on
Reddit by RhysThornbery; edited for this blog)
.. _`Probably gonna catch some hate for this. Religion and Mythology and its place in fiction.`:
https://www.reddit.com/r/HPfanfiction/comments/b2b2qj/probably_gonna_catch_some_hate_for_this_religion/
The question is about the role of religion [#]_ in the HP
universe, and it is very interesting one. I am a Christian and
I was looking for some good religious fanfiction stories for
myself.
It is kind of weird that in the country where majority of Muggles
at least nominally belong to the Church of England (for you,
Americans, not every state in the world has separation of the
state and church) there is no mention of anything religious
anywhere. Of course, the true reason is probably that Ms. Rowling
wanted to have her book approachable and commercially acceptable
all over the world (or she probably didn’t think about that at
all), but sometimes it is really a bit ridiculous. All those
Christmas, Easters, and no mentioning of school chapel (every
large British educational institution has one, of course)? All
those godfathers and godmothers and no baptisms (try to imagine
Sirius Black present to the baptism of Harry in the church of
St. Jerome in the Godric’s Hollow)? Nothing.
This religion-lessness mostly continues in the fanfiction
universe. There are really few stories which take religion
seriously and even less which make a good job of it.
In completely random order (just as I found it in various
bookmark lists):
1. Prayers_ by Master Spy advenger. This is sweet, not super
deep, but lovely retelling of missing parts of DH from the
Hermione’s point of view, who is practising Anglican and
carries with her “Prayers for Young Girls” as surprisingly
relevant guide through her struggles. Prayer in face of
Voldemort (or Bellatrix Lestrange) is here surprisingly
convincing (I was always afraid that such stories end up like
the Hogwarts, School of Worship, which is IMHO abomination).
2. `Trading My Sorrows`_ by ShadowBallad. Severus Snape’s cover
is blown and he is saved on the run from Death Eaters by
a wizarding priest who teaches him a lot about faith and
himself. Not bad, the heart of the author is certainly in the
right place, but it seems to me that he never figured out how
to finish the story and it somehow hangs in the middle. Also,
this story suffers horribly from lack of editing (and here
mainly cutting it down) and couple of occassions of rhetorical
diarrhea, which makes reading it rather difficult. Show, don’t
tell!
3. Solo_ by Crookshanks22. For change, Severus here is not Roman
Catholic but Jewish, but the main hero are OC person (Jake)
and Anthony Goldstein and their trials and tribulations with
trying to be faithful Jew in quite secular environment of
Hogwarts. Except, it is apparently not as secular as
Ms. Rowling talking from the Harry’s point of view lead us to
believe. There are Christians (Terry Boot, Cedric etc.), of
course Patils are Hindus, there are some Muslims IIRC, and all
of them are trying to navigate waters of Hogwarts as much as
they can. Sympathetic, but the author is apparently Jewish and
he is struggling with understanding of Christianity (that’s
the one I can judge) rather desperately.
4. Sanctuary_ by sheankelor. Severus Snape, brought up as a Roman
Catholic, when dying in the Shrieking Shack manages to pull
out antidote and transfer with his emergency Portkey to the
friendly Irish Roman-Catholic friar who cures him. Apparently,
he secretly practised his faith all those years including
confessions, and he is now trying to reconcile with his past.
Not bad, sometimes a bit too preachy and too much teaching the
Catholic liturgy for every occasion, but story makes sense.
One of the few fanfiction stories which noticed that the Good
Friday Agreement happened 22 days before the Battle of
Hogwarts.
5. `All Are His Children`_ by sheankelor. Foundation of Hogwarts
as viewed by Brother Brendan (from the film “Secret of Kells”)
who turns out to be Fat Friar eventually. Actually, not much
religious, but sweet nevertheless.
6. `The Friar's Calling`_ by Chthonia. A rare example of
a medieval story from the HP universe, and it is very good.
Brother Thomas turns out to be a wizard and he is sent by his
prior, Robert Grosseteste (true historical figure, famous
medieval philosopher) to Hogwarts. Although he is always
suspicious whether his powers are not a bit demoniacal, he is
forced by God (and the Sorting Hat) to live in the wizarding
world as a humble friar. Lovely description of medieval
wizarding world, which is precisely not developed enough to be
persuasive (he participates in developing the Floo powder).
Brother Thomas is of course later the Fat Friar (who cannot
leave his students for whom he cares pastorally). Sir Cadogan
is present as well as his friend and not completely crazy
knight.
7. `Hermione Before the Beit Din`_ by facingthenorthwind
(spacegandalf). We all suspected it, but now it is clear,
Hermione is Jewish (actually, it seems to me as the only
explanation why super-bookish girl from country with mandatory
religious education has no idea where “Where your treasure is,
there will your heart be also.” or “The last enemy that shall
be destroyed is death.” come from) and she is dealing with the
punishment for Obliviating her parents. Jewish wizarding
tribunal and all that jazz. Not bad but unfinished and sorely
missing the conclusion.
The crazy thing is that it seems to me this is really it. If
anybody knows about any other good religious wizarding story (no
mocking, no anti-religious) let me know.
.. [#] I am a Protestant, so for me “religion” means more “humans
activity towards deity” (sacrifices, liturgy, this sort of
thing) rather than just “existence of God” (and yes this
understanding of the word is paradoxically non-Biblical, James
1:27).
This is not exclusive to the Harry Potter universe. It is even
more weird with J.R.R.Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings universe.
Historically it is more certain than anything that Aragorn
would quite certainly sacrifice to some deity before the
Battle of the Pelennor Fields, etc., but Tolkien was rather
traditional Catholic so he probably didn't like the idea of
inventing a pagan religion. Here the definition of religion is
even more important. There is God in the Tolkien’s Arda
universe (BTW, beginning of Silmarilion is one of the most
beautiful description of rise of Evil I know about), but
nobody does anything about it. There are no prayers (almost,
at least no explicit ones), no sacrifices, no priests, etc.
.. _Prayers:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6494461/1/
.. _`Trading My Sorrows`:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3077936
.. _`The Friar's Calling`:
https://www.archiveofourown.org/works/7460772
.. _`All Are His Children`:
https://www.archiveofourown.org/works/4426211
.. _`Hermione Before the Beit Din`:
https://archiveofourown.org/series/636071
.. _Solo:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3388041
.. _Sanctuary:
https://www.archiveofourown.org/works/7292632
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