What is friendship?

What is friendship?

True friends remain bound together for eternity. Friendships form an essential element in helping us to grow into authentic human beings. I recently attended my 50th high school reunion. I felt blessed to have had the relationships I have had with many of the people in my class for over 50 years. Some of them started in elementary school with me and have remained close all of these years. We all have as we say “been to hell and back.” We have stuck by each other no matter what, and they definitely have helped me grow. I hope I have done the same for them.

In class we studied three writings about friendship:

1.     from the author of Sirach, (200-175 BC) a  didactic book of the Roman Catholic canon of the Old Testament from the biblical apocryphal literature; 

2.     Cicero, (106 BC-43 BC) Roman philosopher; and

3.     Aelred of Rievaulx, (1109-1167), a monk in Yorkshire, England.

Sirach

Test friendship.

Do not trust hastily.

Some will be such when it suits them.

Some will not stand by you in times of trouble.

Some will change into enemies.

When you are prosperous, some will stand by your side, but when you are low they hide.

Keep away from your enemies and be on guard with your friends.

Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter, a treasure, beyond price, life saving medicine. Those who fear the Lord will find them, direct their friendship aright.

Cicero

Friendship is different from other things in the world. It is not for riches, to be spent;  power, to secure obedience; public office, to win praise; pleasure, to enjoy oneself;  good health, to be free from pain and make full use of one’s bodily endowments.

Friendship is—whatever direction you turn it is yours. No barrier can shut it out. It is untimely, never in the way.

Friendship is authenic, a truly admirable sort of relationship. Friendship adds a brighter glow, relieves adversity by dividing and sharing the burden. It is unique because of the bright rays of hope it projects into the future. It never allows the spirit to falter or fail. A true friend is like looking at yourself in the mirror. Even when a friend is absent, he is present. However poor he is, he is rich; however weak, he is strong. Even when he is dead, he is alive because friends will cherish him and remember him and long for him. There is happiness even in death.

Aelred

Friendship is to be tested with extreme caution. Test friendship to guard your heart. Friendship is the guardian of the soul.  Without friends, you do not fulfill your obligation to your soul. With a friend, two souls become one. Friendship is mutual harmony coupled with benevolence and charity. It is affection of the heart, affection of the rational soul. Friendship is the guardian of love. It preserves secrets in silence bound by love and sweetness. It is eternal, peace, unity, companionship, and bears fruit in this life and the next.

Our friendships have an impact on our actions and behaviors. “Bad company ruins good morals.”

Friendship in Harry Potter

From Dr. Catherine Howard’s book A Theology of Hogwarts: 

The Journey of the Soul in Harry Potter

The Golden Trio of Harry, Ron, and Hermione illustrates true friendship. At their first meeting on the Hogwarts Express, Ron and Harry develop an immediate liking for each other. But there are tests. An example is when Hermione tries to correct Ron, and he says no wonder nobody likes her. This hurts Hermione, but the friendship is saved when Ron and Harry save Hermione from a full-grown troll. Hermione lies to the professors who rush in. She praises the boys’ heroism, and from that moment on, their friendship flourishes.

Ron struggles the most with the friendship because of his jealousy over all the attention Harry gets and his self absortion. For example, Ron accuses Hermione’s cat of devouring his rat and doesn’t let this go and it seemed like this might be the end of their relationship.

The friendship of the trio experiences the biggest test when they are searching for the Horcruxes. Ron cannot take it and leaves Harry and Hermione to continue their quest without him. Hermione remains faithful even under the most difficult circumstances.

According to Aelred, one is called to continue to love despite whatever one encounters. Hermione, Ron, and Harry continue to love each other and support each other, even through the most difficult times. Their friendship passes the test of authentic friendship. Aelred writes, “Scarcely any happiness whatever can exist among mankind without friendship, and man is to be compared to a beast if he has no one to rejoice with him through adversity.”

What is love?

What is love?

This commentary on The Theology of Harry Potter continues.

This is a very simplified discussion of a complex subject, love. In class we studied the first Encyclical letter by Pope Benedict XVI where he spoke of love, the love God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others. I was most impressed with the emphasis Pope Benedict put on receiving love being as important as giving love.

In the Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XVI, he describes what love is.
“God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:16). This is the heart of the Christian faith. In the same verse, Saint John offers a summary of the Christian life: “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.”

There are two parts to love, Eros and Agape.

Eros

Eros is the Greek word for love and is that passionate, romantic love people have when they are physically attracted to another. If eros is not disciplined it becomes self absorbing,  self gratification. Agape brings eros to perfection.

Examples from Harry Potter: Ron and Lavender. Ron hardly knows Lavender. He is physically attracted to her. Also, when Ron drinks the love potion, he “loves” everybody. The Dursleys love for their son Dudley is an example of eros. They do not give him what he needs, only what he wants for their own gratification.  This is a selfish love and diminishes the dignity of Dudley. Pope Benedict says, “Ascending, possessive or covetous love would be eros and typical of non Christian culture.”

Agape

Agape, also Greek , has been translated into English as love. It is the love God has for mankind and the love we have for him. It is also the deep love man has for man. But for us to be whole we need both eros and agape.  Pope Benedict says, “It is neither the spirit alone nor the body alone that loves; it is man, the person, a unified creature composed of body and soul who loves. Only when both dimensions are truly united does man attain his full stature.” Agape is self giving. As a student said in class, “Agape love uplifts the dignity of others. When you love something, you place value on it.” Descending or oblative love –agape–would be typically Christian.

“Man cannot live by oblative descending love alone. He cannot always give; he must also receive. Anyone who wishes to give love must also receive love as a gift. Certainly, as the Lord tells us, one can become a source from which rivers of living water flow (cf. Jn7:37-38).  Yet to become such a source, one must constantly  drink anew form the original source, which is Jesus Christ, from whose pierced heart flows the love of God. (cf. Jn 19:34)

Example of Agape in Harry Potter: Dobby was fatally wounded by Bellatrix Lestrange's knife as he successfully apparated Harry and Griphook to safety in the Shell Cottage. He gave his life to save Harry and his friends. Also, Harry dug a grave for Dobby and gave him a “proper” burial without magic. According to Dr. Catherine Howard’s book, A Theology of Hogwarts: The Journey of the Soul in Harry Potter, Harry’s descent into Dobby’s grave and rising from it with his decision to follow through on Dumbledore’s master plan is the “real Easter,” the resurrection at King’s Cross and his sacrifice in the Forbidden Forest. In theological language, digging Dobby’s grave marks Harry illumination and the final transformation of his soul.

What is love?

What is love?

This commentary on The Theology of Harry Potter continues.

This is a very simplified discussion of a complex subject, love. In class we studied the first Encyclical letter by Pope Benedict XVI where he spoke of love, the love God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others. I was most impressed with the emphasis Pope Benedict put on receiving love being as important as giving love.

In the Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XVI, he describes what love is.
“God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1 John 4:16). This is the heart of the Christian faith. In the same verse, Saint John offers a summary of the Christian life: “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.”

There are two parts to love, Eros and Agape.

Eros

Eros is the Greek word for love and is that passionate, romantic love people have when they are physically attracted to another. If eros is not disciplined it becomes self absorbing,  self gratification. Agape brings eros to perfection.

Examples from Harry Potter: Ron and Lavender. Ron hardly knows Lavender. He is physically attracted to her. Also, when Ron drinks the love potion, he “loves” everybody. The Dursleys love for their son Dudley is an example of eros. They do not give him what he needs, only what he wants for their own gratification.  This is a selfish love and diminishes the dignity of Dudley. Pope Benedict says, “Ascending, possessive or covetous love would be eros and typical of non Christian culture.”

Agape

Agape, also Greek , has been translated into English as love. It is the love God has for mankind and the love we have for him. It is also the deep love man has for man. But for us to be whole we need both eros and agape.  Pope Benedict says, “It is neither the spirit alone nor the body alone that loves; it is man, the person, a unified creature composed of body and soul who loves. Only when both dimensions are truly united does man attain his full stature.” Agape is self giving. As a student said in class, “Agape love uplifts the dignity of others. When you love something, you place value on it.” Descending or oblative love –agape–would be typically Christian.

“Man cannot live by oblative descending love alone. He cannot always give; he must also receive. Anyone who wishes to give love must also receive love as a gift. Certainly, as the Lord tells us, one can become a source from which rivers of living water flow (cf. Jn7:37-38).  Yet to become such a source, one must constantly  drink anew form the original source, which is Jesus Christ, from whose pierced heart flows the love of God. (cf. Jn 19:34)

Example of Agape in Harry Potter: Dobby was fatally wounded by Bellatrix Lestrange's knife as he successfully apparated Harry and Griphook to safety in the Shell Cottage. He gave his life to save Harry and his friends. Also, Harry dug a grave for Dobby and gave him a “proper” burial without magic. According to Dr. Catherine Howard’s book, A Theology of Hogwarts: The Journey of the Soul in Harry Potter, Harry’s descent into Dobby’s grave and rising from it with his decision to follow through on Dumbledore’s master plan is the “real Easter,” the resurrection at King’s Cross and his sacrifice in the Forbidden Forest. In theological language, digging Dobby’s grave marks Harry illumination and the final transformation of his soul.

Hufflepuffs present The Fistula Foundation

J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, said, “We can imagine better.”

Service learning project

In Dr. Catherine Howard’s class at Columbia College, “The Theology of Harry Potter,” students are required as part of their student service learning project to research an organization that Dining for Women <www.diningforwomen.org> has funded and present the findings to the class. To do this, the class was divided into Houses of the Harry Potter series: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. After the four presentations, the Houses will select one of the projects and raise donations for that particular organization.

Why Dining for Women?

Marsha Wallace had a vision of an organization that could empower women in developing countries by giving them work, education, and medical care thereby giving them human dignity. Out of this vision came Dining for Women where groups of women meet, see a program of the organization of the month to be funded, and dine together and donate. Chapters are all over the world, and last month Dining for Women raised $42,000 for the Fistula Foundation. Marsha Wallace imagined better and because of her vision hundreds of women are living with dignity, an education, work, and medical care, and are able to raise their children, therefore breaking the chain of poverty and illiteracy.

Dee Rogers and Heather Leeper

A summary of The Hufflepuffs’ presentation of the Fistula Foundation in Ethiopia

Members: Shadé Holmes, Katelyn Kirby, Heather Leeper, Taylen McEntire, and Dee Rodgers

What is obstetric fistula?

Katelyn Kirby 

The obstetric fistula is formed when a mother is trying to give birth unassisted. The continuous pressure of the baby’s head inside the birth canal causes the loss of circulation to part of the bladder tissue and sometimes the rectal wall. The tissue dies and drops out, leaving a hole. As a result, the mother is left incontinent of urine and in 20% of the cases, incontinent of bowel contents as well.

What are the consequences?

The baby is stillborn. Due to the smell of constant leakage, the women are mostly rejected by their husbands and families. They become social outcasts and have a deep sense of rejection and shame. They are subjected to profound trauma because of loss of status and dignity and live with immense pain constantly. They have possible paralysis of the lower body and are not able to have more children.

It is estimated 2 to 3 million women in developing countries are living with fistulas, and there are around 9,000 new cases per year in Ethiopia.

Why do women develop fistulas?

• They usually marry as teenagers and give birth to around six children not counting the ones lost during pregnancy.

Taylen McEntire and Shadé Holmes

• Customarily give birth at home with only a female elder.

• One obstetrician and gynecologist for every 530,000 women

Statistics for the women in Ethiopia

•720 maternal deaths per 100,000

• 500,000 suffer disabilities from complications during pregnancy

• 25,000 die due to pregnancy complications

•100,000 women suffer and 9,000 develop a fistula every year

The Fistula Foundation

Catherine Hamlin, an Australian obstetrician and gynecologist founded the Hamlin Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1974 with her late husband, Dr. Reginal Hamlin. Richard Haas and his daughter founded the American Friends Foundation for Childbirth Injuries which later became the Fistula Foundation. The mission of the foundation is to raise awareness of and funding for fistula treatment, prevention, and educational programs worldwide. They do this by funding programs such as the Hamlin Fistula Hospital.

The Fistula Foundation carries out its mission

Obstetric fistula is treatable and preventable. Surgery has a 93% cure rate. The Addis Ababa hospital has treated over 35,000 women who can return to a normal life. Midwifery college, Hamlin College of Midwives has been established.

The Hufflepuffs related the story of Abebush:The Tired Lady by Dr. Andrew Browning which can be found at www.hamlinfistula.org.au.

Reasons the Hufflepuffs think the class should choose the Fistula Foundation

• Helping will increase the way in which others and they perceive their dignity.

• Now they are treated as less than humans, worse than animals, and seen as worthless; shunned from society to live a life of solitude on the outskirts of town.

• All humans should treat one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (The Pastoral Constitution)

• Nature stands completely in need of social life. (The Pastoral Constitution)
• Every type of discrimination…is to be overcome and eradicated as they are contrary to God’s intent. (The Pastoral Constitution)

• We need to raise awareness.

• Procedures only costs $450 and include surgery, post operative care, rehabilitation, transportation, and a new dress.

• It will instantly change the lives of these women.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. (Mahatma Gandhi)

The Hufflepuffs present the Fistula Foundation

J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, said, “We can imagine better.”

Service learning project

In Dr. Catherine Howard’s class at Columbia College, “The Theology of Harry Potter,” students are required as part of their student service learning project to research an organization that Dining for Women <www.diningforwomen.org> has funded and present the findings to the class. The class is divided into Houses of the Harry Potter series: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. After the four presentations, the Houses will select one of the projects and raise money for that particular organization.

Why Dining for Women?

Marsha Wallace had a vision of an organization that could empower women in developing countries by giving them work, education, and medical care thereby giving them human dignity. Out of this vision came Dining for Women where groups of women meet, see a program of the organization of the month to be funded and dine together and donate. Chapters are all over the world, and last month Dining for Women raised $42,000 for the Fistula Foundation. Marsha Wallace imagined better and because of her vision hundreds of women are living with dignity, getting education, work, and medical care, and being able to raise their children, therefore breaking the chain of poverty and illiteracy.

A summary of the The Hufflepuffs presentation of the Fistula Foundation in Ethiopia

Members: Shadé Holmes, Katelyn Kirby, Heather Leeper, Taylen McEntire, and Dee Rodgers

What is obstetric fistula

The obstetric fistula is formed when a mother is trying to give birth unassisted. The continuous pressure of the baby’s head inside the birth canal causes the loss of circulation to part of the bladder tissue and sometimes the rectal wall. The tissue dies and drops out, leaving a hole. As a result the mother is left incontinent of urine and in 20% of the cases, incontinent of bowel contents as well.

What are the consequences?

The baby is stillborn. Due to the smell of constant leakage, the women are mostly rejected by their husbands and families. They become social outcasts and have a deep sense of rejection and shame. They are subjected to profound trauma because of loss of status and dignity and live with immense pain constantly. They have possible paralysis of the lower body and are not able to have more children.

It is estimated 2 to 3 million women in developing countries are living with fistulas, and there are around 9,000 new cases per year in Ethiopia.

Why do women develop fistulas?

• Usually marry as teenagers and give birth to around six children not counting the ones lost during pregnancy.

• Customarily give birth at home with only a female elder.

• One obstetrician and gynecologist for every 530,000 women

Statistics for the women in Ethiopia

•720 maternal deaths per 100,000

• 500,000 suffer disabilities from complications during pregnancy

• 25,000 die due to pregnancy complications

•100,000 women suffer and 9,000 develop a fistula every year

The Fistula Foundation

Catherine Hamlin, an Australian obstetrician and gynecologist founded the Hamlin Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1974 with her late husband, Dr. Reginal Hamlin. Richard Haas and his daughter founded the American Friends Foundation for Childbirth Injuries which later became the Fistula Foundation. The mission of the foundation is to raise awareness of and funding for fistula treatment, prevention, and educational programs worldwide. They do this by funding programs such as the Hamlin Fistula Hospital.

The Fistula Foundation carries out its mission

Obstetric fistula is treatable and preventable. It has been eradicated in the United States. Surgery has a 93% cure rate. The Addis Ababa hospital has treated over 35,000 women who can return to a normal life. Midwifery college, Hamlin College of Midwives has been established.

The Hufflepuffs related the story of Abebush:The Tired Lady by Dr. Andrew Browning which can be found at www.hamlinfistula.org.au.

Reasons the Hufflepuffs think the class should choose the Fistula Foundation

• Helping will increase the way in which others and they perceive their dignity.

• Now they are treated as less than humans, worse than animals, and seen as worthless; shunned from society to live a life of solitude on the outskirts of town.

• All humans should treat one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (The Pastoral Constitution)

• Nature stands completely in need of social life. (The Pastoral Constitution)
• Every type of discrimination…is to be overcome and eradicated as they are contrary to God’s intent. (The Pastoral Constitution)

• We need to raise awareness.

• Procedures only costs $450 and include surgery, post operative care, rehabilitation, transportation, and a new dress.

• It will instantly change the lives of these women.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. (Mahatma Gandhi)

Commentary of The Theology of Harry Potter continued

Commentary on The Theology of Harry Potter

What is evil?

I am continuing my commentary on Dr. Catherine Howard’s course at Columbia College, The Theology of Harry Potter.

One of my favorite lines from The Order of the Phoenix is when Harry is talking to Sirius Black. Harry tells Sirius he is afraid he is changing because he has so much anger and the vision he had about Mr. Weasley. Sirius puts his arm around Harry and tells him that he is not bad. He is a good person that bad things have happened to. Sirius says all of us have light and dark in us. It is which path we choose that makes us the person we are.

Albus Dumbledore also tells Harry when Harry finds out he can speak Parseltongue (the language of snakes) like Voldemort, “It is our choices, Harry, that show who we truly are, far more than our abilities.

God gave us free will. Having free will gives us the choice to reflect the image of God or to take the other path. Moral determinism is giving ourselves or those in society an excuse for the path they choose. There is no excuse. Circumstances do not determine the person we become.

Exercising free will

Hermione exercises free will in The Order of the Phoenix when she insists that Harry, Ron, and she must start Dumbledore’s Army. If Professor Umbrage is not going to teach them defense against the Dark Arts than they must do it themselves. This goes against Hermione’s personality of always following the rules. This turning point in the series when Hermione takes responsibility for the wizardry world is an example of doing something for the greater good and the opposite of evil.

Reflecting evil

Tom Marvolo Riddle (if you change the letters around they become “I am Lord Voldemort”) is the antagonist in Harry Potter and the personification of evil. His fear of death makes him irrational changing him from a human to beastlike. His appearance becomes snakelike. He is bald with no ears, his eyes are slits, his hands clawlike. Rowling depicts her characters on the outside as they are inside.

So what is evil?

Evil is the absence of good.

If we are created in the image of God then good is when we reflect that image. Evil is when we turn away from the goodness of God. And according to St. Gregory of Nyssa: “It is not sufficient, however, just to merely resemble the goodness of God; rather God created humanity to participate in such goodness.” And we do this in with our relationship with other human beings.

Good is when we reflect truth. Evil is when we reflect untruth.

Good is when we reflect beauty. Evil is when we reflect ugliness.

Good is when we reflect love. Evil is when we reflect hate.

Good is when we reflect mercy. Evil is when we reflect cruelty.

Good is when we reflect justice. Evil is when we reflect injustice.

During The Pastoral Constitution of the Church of the Modern World during the Second Vatican Council, the bishops issued a number of important statements.

“Furthermore, whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or willful self destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torment inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where men are treated as mere tools for profit, rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed. They poison human society, but they do more harm to those who practice them than those who suffer from the injury. Moreover they are supreme dishonor to the Creator.”

Rowling shows evil in many of her characters

Draco Malfoy and the Malfoy family

Draco is a bully. He is an economic bigot, selfish, a coward always surrounded by his henchmen Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.. He has no tolerance for Mudbloods, those not born of wizardry parents.

Peter Pettigrew or Wormtail, a member of Gryffindors while at Hogwarts and a friend of Harry’s parents and Sirius Black, betrayed Harrys parents, James and Lily, to Voldemort and framed Sirius Black for their murders. He spent twelve years in the animagus form as a rat and pet of Ron Weasley’s .

Sirius Black’s character shows that we are both light and dark as he said. He disagreed with his parents belief that purebloods were superior, but he treated Kreacher, his house elf as a slave.

Something to ponder: The Prophecy said that Voldemort (evil) and Harry Porter (good) could not both survive. One had to die.

On Monday, October 2, 2011, the students in Dr. Howard’s class will begin their presentations. The four houses of Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw have been researching projects Dining for Women (www.diningfor women.org) has funded in underdeveloped countries. Each house chose one project to present to the class. After the four presentations, the class will vote as to which project the whole class will pursue.

Next will be the presentations.

What is good?

What is “good”?

Literature and enlightenment

Characters in two books I read in the 1960s woke me from unconsiousness: To Kill a Mockingbird and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The characters in these books  exemplify the good that lies within human beings.

In To Kill a Mockingbird which took place in the 1930s, Atticus Finch risks his reputation to defend a black man, Tom Robinson. In doing this, he did not give in to prejudice and bigotry or fear. The townspeople taunted him and his children Scout and Jem, but no matter the consequences, Atticus treated Tom with respect and dignity and sought the truth. Also the character Boo Radley, the Finch’s neighbor and a recluse risks his fear of the outside to step out and rescue Scout.

In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, McMurphy treats patients with dignity who are being treated as subhuman. He refuses to give in to Nurse Ratched and ultimately is given a lobotomy. Because of  McMurphy the Chief has the courage to jump through a window to freedom. 

Recently, I read Cutting for Stone where Shiva gave his brother Marion part of his liver to save his life, an act of unconditional love. Also, in The Help, Skeeter interviews the colored maids in Jackson, Mississippi, at first for a story but friendship, love, and self worth develop as Skeeter and the women develop special relationships.

Sister Joan D. Chittister, O.S.B., (born April 26, 1936) is a Benedictine nun, author and speaker. She writes and speaks on women in the church and society, human rights, and peace and justice in the areas of war and poverty and religious life and spirituality. She is the foundress of “Benetvision.” www.benetvision.org/vitaJoan.html

Sister Chittister: “We live in a world of knowledge and technology aplenty, but one that is clearly lacking in wisdom and spirituality. We are taught to want money, to retire as early as possible, to get ahead whatever the cost to others, to worship at the altar of self, and to be in control of everything and everyone at all times. But those values are a recipe for extinction, a blueprint for human destruction.”

How do we change the blueprint Sister Chittister is talking about?

Back to The Theology of Harry Potter

Dr. Catherine Howard, professor of religion at Columbia College, and teacher of The Theology of Harry, partnered with Dining for Women (DWF), an organization for women to empower and financially help women in underdeveloped countries <www.diningforwomen.org>. To give her students a way to imagine better as Rowliing said in her  2008 Harvard Commencement Speech http://harvardmagazine.com/2008/06/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination,  Dr. Howard requires that during the semester her students do a service learning project choosing one of the twelve projects sponsored by DFW. The class is divided into the four houses of Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff, and after many hours of  research, each house must present its project to the class and try to “sell” it as the project for the whole class. Later in this blog, you will hear from some of these students.

From A Theology of Hogwarts: The Journey of the Soul in Harry Potter by Dr. Catherine Howard: “For it is not our own souls alone that we move toward healing and wholeness, we are to extend that healing and wholeness to others and to our world. And in the words of the Jewish tradition, we come to participate then in the repairing of the world (tikkun olam). There is no more nobler, more fully human vocation in life.”

So we start this part of the journey with what is meant by good.

Question from Dr. Howard: Does Rowling show good in the Harry Potters series?

Yes, in Harry Potter, some characters show  determination, selflessness, courage, transformation, love of friends and family, truth to self, loyalty, and open-mindedness.

A class assignment was to read St. John of Damascus, Exposition on the Orthodox Faith: “He [God] creates with His own hands man of a visible nature and an invisible, after His own image and likeness: on the one hand man’s body He formed of earth, and on the other his reasoning and thinking soul He bestowed upon him by His own inbreathing, and this is what we mean by ‘after His image.’ For the phrase ‘after His image’ clearly refers to the side of nature which consists of mind and free will, whereas ‘after His likeness’ means likeness in virtue so far as that is possible.”

Humans are created in the image of God. Therefore, we are created with all the attributes that God represents: truth, beauty, goodness, love, mercy, justice. It is not sufficient just to resemble God, but humanity must participate in such goodness.

Free will

But God gave us free will. The seventh century Syriac monk Isaac of Nineveh says: “In his great love, God was unwilling to restrict our freedom, even though he had the power to do so. He has left us to come to him by the love of our heart alone. God never compels nor he never forces. By creating human persons with the liberty to exercise free will, God so honors the dignity of humanity.”

Harry exercises free will early on in the series when he refuses to shake hands with Draco Malfoy when Draco says about Ron to Harry, “You don’t want to go making friends with the wrong sort.” Harry consciously chose not to be sorted into Slytherin and this resulted in his being placed in Gryffindor.

There is no power over us making us choose. We have the right to move toward God or move away from God. An example of free will in Harry Potter is when Dobby, a house elf, risked his life to warn Harry that he must not return to Hogwarts. If Dobby’s master finds out, Dobby will have to punish himself  by shutting his ears in the oven door. Dobby did this of his own free will.

St. Gregory of Nyssa. (d.385/386). The Making of Man: “We are not in bondage to any natural power but have decision in our own power as we please; for virtue is a voluntary thing, subject to no dominion: that which is the result of compulsion and force cannot be virtue.”

Nyssa says God created us last because he was preparing creation as a “royal lodging for a future king. We were created to be royalty from the very beginning. The human person reflects the beauty of God and since God is love, the image within a person is to reflect love.

Moral determinism

Some in our society use moral determinism which simply means for everything that happens there are conditions such that, given them, nothing else could happen. For example, we may say, the reason he steals is because he was abused as a child. There are no excuses. Circumstances do not determine the person we become. We are responsible for the person we become. Rowling does not believe in moral determinism. 

From The Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes): “There must be available to all men everything necessary for leading a life truly human, such as food, clothing, and shelter; the right to choose a state of life freely and to found a family, the right to education, to employment, to a good reputation, to respect, to appropriate information, to activity in accord with the upright norm of one’s own conscience, to protection of privacy and rightful freedom, even in matters religious.”

Coming soon…What is evil? 

Commentary on The Theology of Harry Potter

J.K. Rowling

Why have people eight to 80 read Harry Potter?

Why have 450 million copies of Harry Potter been sold?

Why has Harry Potter been translated into 67 languages?

Why is the Harry Potter Brand worth $15 billion?

Why is J.K. (Joanne “Jo”) Rowling worth $1 billion?

Why are all of the Harry Potter movies on the list of the best selling movies of all times?

Perhaps there are reasons...

I decided to take Dr. Catherine Howard’s course “The Theology of Harry Potter” to find out what the fuss about Harry Potter was all about. Dr. Howard teaches religion at Columbia College in Columbia, South Carolina. The course started August 24 and meets fifty minutes three times a week. I am beginning to understand the addiction to Harry Potter.

To know more about J.K. Rowling, watch the 2008 Harvard Commencement Speech at http://harvardmagazine.com/2008/06/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination.

Alchemy and Harry Potter

Many great British authors and J.K. Rowling have used the alchemic process in their stories. I will start this commentary with a very simple explanation of how I understand alchemy, and then I will move into my most favorite part of the course: Dr. Howard’s discussions of good and evil.

Have you ever had your life pulled apart, fractured into pieces? My life as I knew it totally fell apart when I got divorced in 1981. I was a teacher, a mother, and all-of-a-sudden single. Everything changed—my family, my location, my friends, my teaching position. For several years I moved through life like a zombie. And then light began to shine for me in 1984 when Dr. Miles Friedman, a University of South Carolina professor, asked me to take his theory of problem solving and turn it into a textbook for middle school children and teachers. The way he treated me—with such dignity and respect—and the confidence he had in me that I could actually do this project made me begin to feel like a worthwhile human being again. I came back to life. These life struggles happen over and over to all of us. This to me is the alchemic process.

Authors who know the human condition and can reveal it to you through literature are the ones we read and discuss with our friends and recommend to others. The characters they write about go through struggles, polarities, and in the end perhaps are transformed to a place of ultimate human dignity. These books inspire and give us hope.

A friend asked me if I knew for sure that Rowling used the alchemic process in the series or were the examples just coincidences. According to Dr. Howard, Rowling did and in her course, “The Theology of Harry Potter,” Dr. Howard sites hundreds of examples.  John Granger, the author of several books analyzing J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels, says there is much proof that she used the alchemic process in the books.

What then is alchemy? Simply put, Alchemy is the medieval practice of creating gold from lead. Alchemy is quite different from magic. It was the alchemist’s metaphorical process of transformation: the process of the body and spirit being broken down, purified, and then reformed.

Examples of alchemy in Harry Potter

I will cite a few of the many examples of alchemy in the Harry Potter series. The philosopher’s stone (the elixir of life or immortality) is the traditional description of the end product of the alchemic process. The British edition of the Harry Potter series was first named The Philosopher’s Stone, rather than the American version: The Sorcerer’s Stone.

In The Sorcerer’s Stone Harry, discovers that the three-headed dog Fluffy is guarding the sorcerer’s stone. At this point Harry thinks Professor Snape is guarding the stone of immortality for Voldemort, the dark lord who killed Harry’s parents.

Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, the school of wizardry, is famous for his work with Nicholas Flamel, a man who actually lived from September 28,1330–1418 and was a successful French scrivener and manuscript-seller who developed a posthumous reputation as an alchemist due to his reputed work on the philosopher's stone. Harry saw this information about Dumbledore on the chocolate frog card he got on the train ride to Hogwarts.

Harry’s father is James, also the patron saint of alchemy; his mother Lily is the symbol of the white or second stage of alchemy.

Harry’s two best friends Ron and Hermione represent the quarreling couple, sulfur and mercury. Sulfur is the male polarity and its color is red (Ron’s hair is red). Mercury represents the cool or white one. Hermione’s name comes from the Greek Hermes, the messenger god (the Roman god, Mercury). Also, her initials are HG, the chemical symbol for mercury.

The alchemic process is three distinct stages: nigredo or black, albedo or white, and the rubedo or red.  The black stage or dissolution stage is the breaking down stage (my divorce). An example in the books of this is every time Harry is with the Dursley’s, they treat him as subhuman. Sirius Black, Harry’s godfather, is named for this stage.

The white stage is purification stage (my relationship with Dr. Friedman). Albus Dumbledore is named for this stage. Albus is Latin for white. The red stage and last stage is the recongealing or the perfection (my return to life).  Rubeus Hagrid is named for this stage. Rubeus is Latin for red.

Dr. Howard: “Rowling uses literary alchemy as one of the structural, literary devices to explore the transformation of the soul. The structure of the first six books reflects the threefold alchemical process. The black or dissolution stage begins on Privet Drive and continues in Snape’s classroom or under the watchful, punitive eye of Umbridge in book five. The white work or purification while at Hogwarts is done under the masterful guidance of the master alchemist himself, Albus Dumbledore, often in combination with a painful separation from Hermione and Ron. Finally, the red work is the ‘climacztic crucible sense,’ which normally occurs underground in a graveyard or at the end of the series in the Forbidden Forest, where Harry dies a figurative death in order to be reborn.”

If you are interested in more information about alchemy, google Dr. Carl Jung and alchemy.

Next: What is meant by GOOD?