http://vox-nova.com/2007/09/30/the-vatican-and-harry-potter/ Catholic perspectives on culture, society, and politics Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:19:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://vox-nova.com/2007/09/30/the-vatican-and-harry-potter/#comment-1855 Sun, 30 Sep 2007 21:25:53 +0000 http://vox-nova.com/2007/09/30/the-vatican-and-harry-potter/#comment-1855 An interesting debate opened up over whether the last book endorsed a consequentialist muder-suicide plot. I think Zippy took that position. Others (and I think Mark Shea was prominant) disagreed. The really interesting thing about Rowling’s last book is that the great Dumbledore is exposed as a man of weakness, who (like so many in real life) let himself be seduced by evil by consequentialist reasoning. And, despite his repentence, he remained partly a consequentialist until the end, which explains his idea that Snape should kill him and gain control of the Eldar Wand, being the best placed after him to defeat Voldemort. Except that Dumbledore’s plan went awry by consequences he could not forsee. Instead, Harry defeats Dumbldore at the end not through consequentialism, but through grace. And that is a powerful Christian message.

]]>