Comments on: The Author Of a Work Holds the Authority To Interpret It http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/ Catholic perspectives on culture, society, and politics Thu, 24 May 2012 17:54:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: John14v15@gmail.com http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3680 Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:42:36 +0000 http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3680 This may be a little off the point, but Leonard Pitts, secular newspaper columnist, has described Rowling’s delayed revelation of Dumbledore’s sexual orientation “deceptive genius” ie a masterful method of getting young people to re-think any lingering hesitation to confirm and approve of homosexuality, whether celibate or no. Rowling is employing a political technique. I am thinking that this is the crucial issue. Whether or not authorship allows her to add post-publishing revelations, or inherently validates them, is I think left unconsidered by many people in their objection to the content of Rowling’s revelation. I think many readers simply object to the outing of Dumbledore, and it is comforting for them to deny that a statement of Dumbledore’s homosexuality can be true, a denial which allows continued endorsement of the Harry Potter series as purely innocuous fiction. These readers are not considering authors’ rights, only readers’ rights not to be swindled or manipulated. I really believe this is the real issue for us as Christians — how innocuous are the Harry Potter books for our children when Rowling employs such “deceptive genius” to influence them and, in her own words, aims to “get them to question authority?”

The Bible is not a book, only. It is the living Word of God, not limited solely to the written pages in that it is an opening, a door to Christ Himself and thus interpretable by God Himself, ie in the authority He gave to His Church, ie the Magisterium. This is why I think any analogy to human authorship rights and privileges fails, as the source of authorship is not comparable, so we cannot say that if a human author does not have sole post-publishing interpretive rights, God also does not.

]]> By: Blackadder http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3620 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 18:19:28 +0000 http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3620 Henry,

I guess you’re right. I had thought it was absurd to think that if Rowling were to say that Harry Potter was really a purple people eater from the planet Zorax that this would make it so. But your brilliant arguments have convinced me that unless I accept this, I must embrace nihilism, protestantism, and cannibalism. And since I, as author of my comments on this thread, have complete authority over what they mean, I hereby decree that they all retroactively now advocate your position, and affirm everything you’ve said here.

]]> By: Henry Karlson http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3619 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:43:46 +0000 http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3619 Blackadder

Once again, all you have said just affirms my point. Thanks!

]]> By: Blackadder http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3617 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:24:30 +0000 http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3617 Henry,

Who said that a book was a free for all?

]]> By: Henry Karlson http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3615 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:14:00 +0000 http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3615 Tony

That doesn’t answer the question. If a book is a free for all, the Bible would be as well.

]]> By: Tony http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3612 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:08:42 +0000 http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3612 So all those who say the audience is free to interpret — why does this not also includes the Bible? Or does it?

Because J.K. Rowling is not an infallible teaching authority guided by the Holy Spirit.

]]> By: Matthew Kennel http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3604 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:53:23 +0000 http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3604 Blackadder,
I had not interpreted your first comments as a grant of authority. I do now.

Obviously, we are laboring within the criteria of intelligibility, here. If I start to say that all my previous comments are really arguments that purple people eaters exist on the planet Zorax in the 5th dimension, then you can readily conclude that I’m crazy or that I’m messing with you. An author can authoritatively interpret his work, but he can’t do so outside of reason, outside of what I have called the criteria of intelligibility.

]]> By: Stuart Buck http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3603 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:49:21 +0000 http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3603 It’s “nihilism” to say that fictional characters don’t really exist?

]]> By: Henry Karlson http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3602 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:23:37 +0000 http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3602 Blackadder,

Once again you have proven what I have said! Nicely done! Thanks!

]]> By: Blackadder http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3601 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:20:54 +0000 http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3601 Henry,

Assertion isn’t a good substitute for argument either.

]]> By: Blackadder http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3600 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 14:58:03 +0000 http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3600 Matthew,

The question is not whether an author has any authority to interpret his own works (the first sentence of my first post on this thread conceded this). The question is whether this authority is to be absolute. Suppose I were to say that my comments here haven’t been about interpretation at all, but about motherhood and apple pie. Would that mean that my comments really were about motherhood and apple pie?

]]> By: Henry Karlson http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3599 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 14:55:29 +0000 http://vox-nova.com/2007/10/25/the-author-of-a-work-holds-the-authority-to-interpret-it/#comment-3599 Blackadder

You have proven my point. Thanks.

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