Is Narnia Christian? And does it really matter?

[Sven]

[Bill]

[JennaDean]

I first read LWW as a child, and only saw it as a fairy tale. As a teen I received the whole set of CoN, starting with LWW, and I still didn't get that Aslan was supposed to be Christ until I got to The Magician's Nephew (which was book 6 at the time). Once I realized that, I realized he'd been Christ all along! Now I see even more symbolism with each reading.

My point is that if you don't see the symbolism, they're still great fairy tales. They don't have to be "Christian" if you don't see them that way (although I don't know how you could miss it by the time you get to The Last Battle.)

As for the symbolism of Aslan being like Christ: I agree it's not a perfect analogy; Christ's death did more for us than just save us from the punishment for our sins; but I think it's stretching things to try to deny that Aslan is meant to be symbolic of Christ. There are many other stories where a hero sacrifices himself for someone, but I haven't found any with so many deliberate similarities to Christ. Like Christ, Aslan goes willingly to his death, when he had the power to kill all those who were torturing and killing him; like Christ's death for us, Aslan's death saves Edmund from the terrible consequences of his betrayal; like Christ, Aslan overcomes death and is resurrected; like Christ, Aslan heals people and even brings creatures back from being as good as dead (stone statues); like Christ, Aslan is the son of an even more powerful being we never see (the Emperor-over-the-Sea); and in a later book we even find out that Aslan created the world to begin with! It's one thing for a child to see it as just a fairy tale, but for an adult who knows both stories (Aslan's and Christianity's), I don't know how one could see Aslan as anything but Christ.

[Marcus_P_Hagen]

I think that part of the difficulty is caused by varying definitions of "Christian".

"He's a Christian and a gentleman", "The believers were first called 'Christians' in Antioch', "Narnia [is / is not] 'Christian'" -- none of these uses of the word "Christian" are identical, or even similar.

In the first instance, "Christian" appears to be mostly a term of approval (perhaps of someone's conduct). In the second, it was a name used to identify those following a crucified Messiah whom they declared had returned to life. But the third..

How can a piece of writing be "Christian"? Certainly not in the sense of #2 above! Then must it have a theme or characters which are explicitly identified as "Christian"? Is it enough to have been _written_ by someone who is identified as a Christian?

Some would say that _being_ a Christian writer doesn't necessarily mean that one produces "Christian" work. Yet if a Russian writes literature in the Russian language, that generally constitutes the work as "Russian". In the same way, Shakespeare's writing is "English".

Others would perhaps deny (as some evangelicals deny of Tolkien) that the writer is Christian, and therefore say that his work can not be Christian either.

Still others say that while Tolkien and Lewis were Christians, Tolkien's stories were NOT "Christian", while Lewis's were.

Yet others might say that Lewis's "Chronicles" are "Christian", while his "Till We Have Faces" is not, because they prefer to be able to point to explicitly Christian equivalences which they can't find in TWHF.

While the temptation is strong to say "a pox on all their houses", and claim that the word "Christian", at least when applied to the arts, has become so vague that it has become meaningless, I'd rather propose the following.

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Anything written, done, said or thought by a Christian is "Christian".
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In defense of this rather cheeky assertion, I submit the following examples.

1) Jesus said that we should act in such a way as to cause people in our vicinity to give glory to God the Father.

2) Jesus himself used parables in which he compared himself to a thief, and God the Father to an unjust judge. Although such stories hardly seem to be "Christian", how could they be otherwise -- since the speaker is the Christ!

3) St. Paul tells us that "whatever you do... do it as unto the Lord, and not unto men". This would seem to indicate, at least as a goal, that everything a Christian does is (or should be) "Christian".

4) Paul also tells us that he doesn't judge the work of others, and (in fact) doesn't even judge his own efforts -- because there is One (namely Jesus) who will eventually judge all things; and that we therefore should await his judgement rather than wasting time in criticizing the efforts of ourselves or others.

Therefore, in answer to the second question [And does it really matter?], I'd say "No". Let those who are enjoying the Con enjoy them. Let those who look for literalism look elsewhere and be content -- without casting aspersions on CSL or those who read his works. If there is any point to asking the question, be assured that Jesus will straighten it out with Mr. Lewis. The answer to us may be, as that of Jesus to Peter at the end of John's Gospel -- "What is that to you? Just follow me."

mph