Well, HP fandom is a particularly fun place to be right now. OR NOT.
This has been a wild week for Harry Potter fans, especially Christian ones.
Last week, J.K. Rowling spoke with MTV about the Christian imagery in the books, calling it "obvious," and Christian intellectuals and fans rejoiced at this confirmation of what we had long suspected and discussed.
Only a couple of days later, during a Q & A session with fans, Rowling said, "I always saw Dumbledore as gay."
Mostly, I've been impressed (as usual) with responses from Travis Prinz (at Sword of Gryffindor): Dumbledore is Gay: Welcome to the Culture War; the initial response and comment responses from John Granger over at HogPro.
There's also an eyewitness report on the Q & A from Amy Sturgis, a Christian and scholar, which has a slightly different feel than the "breaking news" reports. This seemingly wasn't a planned announcement on JKR's part, but a spur-of-the-moment revelation to a fan question.
Then there are the typical over-reactions from the far right, which has made homosexuality into a worse sin than pride (no matter that it was through pride Satan fell, and humanity as well); and over-adulations from those on the opposite side.
All this, despite the fact that what JKR said really doesn't change anything about the books at all.
If any of this troubles you, I'd recommend taking Neil Gaiman's advice: "Trust the tale, not the teller." The books are no different now than they were when you read Deathly Hallows in a night back in July.
Last week, J.K. Rowling spoke with MTV about the Christian imagery in the books, calling it "obvious," and Christian intellectuals and fans rejoiced at this confirmation of what we had long suspected and discussed.
Only a couple of days later, during a Q & A session with fans, Rowling said, "I always saw Dumbledore as gay."
Mostly, I've been impressed (as usual) with responses from Travis Prinz (at Sword of Gryffindor): Dumbledore is Gay: Welcome to the Culture War; the initial response and comment responses from John Granger over at HogPro.
There's also an eyewitness report on the Q & A from Amy Sturgis, a Christian and scholar, which has a slightly different feel than the "breaking news" reports. This seemingly wasn't a planned announcement on JKR's part, but a spur-of-the-moment revelation to a fan question.
Then there are the typical over-reactions from the far right, which has made homosexuality into a worse sin than pride (no matter that it was through pride Satan fell, and humanity as well); and over-adulations from those on the opposite side.
All this, despite the fact that what JKR said really doesn't change anything about the books at all.
If any of this troubles you, I'd recommend taking Neil Gaiman's advice: "Trust the tale, not the teller." The books are no different now than they were when you read Deathly Hallows in a night back in July.