'Harry Potter' and the Gospel of J.K. Rowling

Harry has followers who are devoted to him even if they don't always understand him, and other fair-weather fans who probably don't know what to make of him half the time. And, of course, enemies.

Sound familiar?

Dumbledore, for his part, is a benevolent, godlike presence at the school. He doesn't seem to want to show all his powers, perhaps to avoid exerting pressure that would impede others' freedom of choice. This often means allowing satanic, Voldemort-inspired forces to maneuver at will. Ultimately, though, Dumbledore believes in the eventual triumph of Harry.

The most poignant part of the series, in this regard, is a chapter toward the end of Book Five in which Dumbledore divulges to Harry vital information about Harry's background and about the battle ahead with Voldemort. Ultimately, Dumbledore discloses, either Harry or Voldemort will die at the other's hands. (The Bible, incidentally, includes no similar conversation between Jesus and God the Father about Jesus's mission for the world.)

My analogy is imperfect, I admit. Harry sometimes seems un-Jesuslike. He is not immune from selfish thoughts, gets some bad grades in class, and, despite his great skills, suffers through occasional ungodly performances at sport. Sometimes, the series' dominant paradigm is not Harry's Jesus to Dumbledore's God the Father, but Harry's Alvin to his friends' "the Chipmunks."

Dumbledore, for his part, seems to invest wrong-headed faith in evil wizard Severus Snape, and actually dies in Book Six when Snape casts a dreaded killing curse his way. Could he be on the losing side of such things if he were such a heavenly presence?

Actually, maybe he could. After all, Dumbledore had said death is not the worst fate that can befall someone. And perhaps his influence can transcend his death: "I will only have truly left this school when none here are loyal to me," Dumbledore says in Book Two, when his job as headmaster is threatened by a cadre of Voldemort's followers.

But what about Dumbledore's trusting Snape, and his allowing Snape crucial access to Harry? Well, in the Gospels, Judas is allowed access to Jesus and is allowed to alert the authorities to his whereabouts. God the Father didn't prevent this. Christianity teaches that the crucifixion after Jesus's capture was necessary to redeem the world. Dumbledore repeatedly says he trusts Snape, but what does he mean by this? Might Snape's apparent evil success in Book Six somehow prove necessary to save the world from Voldemort in Book Seven?

Could be. In any case, here's why legions of Harry Potter fans are betting Harry will die, according to Agence France-Presse. They believe Book Seven will reveal that Harry's body is a "Horcrux," an object that mystically helps Voldemort survive. Harry's letting himself die or be killed, the theory goes, would thus help defeat Voldemort. In death, then, he would save the world.

Jeff Diamant writes for the Star-Ledger in Newark.