Narnia Chat

Pettytyrant101 wrote:

GB that is awful and so biased towards a single viewpoint there is nothing there i would risk taking at face value. Whilst I do not doubt Lewis' pagan affections most of what is here is reads like hysterical nonsense to me. Even the representation of the Golden Dawn is flawed.

As for the end of the film and my perceived christianity in it, as I cannot recall how the book ends I have no way of knowing how it plays on the page by comparison, but maybe it was the way it was done on film but I don't know anyone who has seen it who did not think it was a 'Christian ending.' (except for a friends young child who said "does he mean Santa?"

Pettytyrant101 wrote:I read all the Narnia books as a child blissfully ignorant of all the underlying meanings, being about 7 or 8 when I read them so for me they were just fantastic stories. I probably got more 'english christianity' from the views expressed in the Famous Five, Enid Blyton books I read at the same time than from Lewis. However I've never really considered whether those books influenced my later leanings towards all things mystical. Possibly.

ARE THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA CHRISTIAN BOOKS?


Clearly, C. S. Lewis was a Christian. Also, it is obvious that he intended The Chronicles of Narnia to reflect Christian themes and ideas. Despite this, he himself did not consider the books to be Christian per se. As some scholars have already pointed out, the Chronicles are not technically allegorical. In fact, Lewis himself, like his friend Tolkien, did not necessarily approve of allegories in some fiction. [Having met at Oxford, Tolkien was perhaps his closest friend and colleague, although their relationship cooled later in their lives. They were both members of the informal literary discussion group known as the Inklings.] It is apparent; however, that some allegory did indeed slip into his books. The most obvious example is Aslan who represents a Christ-like figure. As noted by others, this is not a strictly one to one relationship.

I should note at this point that Lewis was an Anglican in mid 20th century Britain. He was not, by modern American standards, a fundamentalist in any way. His views were nuanced and scholarly, and today in America they might be seen as liberal (though in his time and place they were considered conservative). He did not believe in bullying people into Christianity but gently leading them to Christ through example. His intent then was to use the fairy tale as a didactic device to teach young people in particular the values he believed were Christian.

Lewis had, in fact, been an atheist since his mother’s death and was brought back to Christianity by Tolkien, who was a Catholic and had for a long time been extremely bothered by what he perceived as Lewis's Anti-Catholicism. It is somewhat ironic then that he became a much more fervent promoter of Christianity than Tolkien and odder still that they would both write literature that greatly inspired a neo-pagan revival during the 1960s cultural-revolution that would last until today.

I return now to the question of whether The Chronicles of Narnia are, in fact, “Christian” books. In a word—no—neither by intent or allegory. But this is not the end of the story, for lurking in Lewis’s subconscious we find a passionate pagan that is revealed through a closer reading of the books. First, there is the obvious: he stuffed his fairy tale with characters from Greco-Roman mythology, and also from Celtic and Norse pre-Christian traditions.

Deeper still, an animistic spirit thrives in the Chronicles as the trees, stars and rivers are revealed to be sentient beings. Other deities are referred to, from the river god who destroys a bridge that binds his waters, to the slumbering god of time as he lies in the underworld waiting to be released at the end of Narnia.

Nor should we forget the strong feminine presence that shines through the patriarchal shackles of C. S. Lewis’s intellect, as represented by Lucy, Jill, Polly and Aravis. They are in most respects the moral center of the books and closest to Aslan. Furthermore, they easily overshadow the negative representations of women such as the White Witch, the Green Witch, and poor Susan, who seems to get a bum rap.

When we get to The Magician’s Nephew and, especially, The Last Battle, we find the traces of Eastern religious doctrines, notably Hinduism and Buddhism. For example, the wood between the worlds has a remarkably Buddhist flavor. And in the world of Charn we get a sense of deep time that is strikingly Hindu.

But it is in The Last Battle that the Hindu/Buddhist strain of thought leaps off the page in the form of the god Tash, who strongly resembles Shiva the Destroyer. Aslan himself points out to a prince of Calormen that though he worshipped Tash he was in fact a follower of Aslan all along. Perhaps in the same way as the god Krishna is an “avatar” of the supreme god Vishnu in the Hindu pantheon. In fact, it is interesting to note, given Aslan is the central character in the stories, that one of the early incarnations of Vishnu (“The Great Protector”) was the lion-headed god Narasimha (a solar deity like the many other lion associated resurrected sun gods such as Mithra[s]). This is more than suggestive of the Hindu notion that the Creator and the Destroyer are ultimately different aspects of the same being, which is a function of Hindu monism, the highest level of polytheism.

And, finally, in the New Narnia after the destruction of Old Narnia, reality is revealed as multi-dimensional. As Lewis himself describes it “…like layers of an onion” or like a many faceted jewel that infinitely reflects itself. As the Narnians race “further up and further in,” they reach the Garden which contains yet another Narnia even further up and further in. This continues until they see laid out not just another Narnia but also beyond to our own world and another England further up and further in … whew … exhausting and exhilarating—and existentially Buddhist.

In closing, yes there are Christian themes in the Chronicles of Narnia, but they are a pagan-influenced Christianity that reveals not just the hidden yearning of C. S. Lewis but, as the continuing popularity of the books attest to, a hidden longing in all of us for magic—the magical world-view of animism—and enlightenment; a chance to reach Nirvana and pull back the veil of the world for all of us to see the utmost realm, or, if you will, the Void which contains all realities within, i. e., not “Christian” in a sense that many Christians today would recognize or acknowledge.

odo banks wrote:It's my good fortune to see Christianity as a pagan religion. (I even see Judaism that way). Everything else is hair-splitting. I never thought the Narnia books Christian even when I was a teenager when I read most of them. (I read the Magicians Nephew when younger - and liked it. I still think it the best book beside the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The Last Battle was weakest).

As to earlier comments about the movie maybe improving the book, I think this was definitely done with the Prince Caspian movie. The book was a bit lightweight in my opinion. Voyage was probably my second least favorite book, though I enjoyed it more when rereading it fairly recently. The Christianity did not faze me even then. It seems very pagan to me still ---- just like Christianity does, actually. Is that a conundrum?

C.S. Lewis wasn't really your American Right kind of Christianity. In fact, in my opionion, he was hardly a Christian at all, not in the American Evangelical sense anyhow. I can see why some of those American Christian Cultists would hate him. Me, I simply love him - but not homosexually though. (I only say this just in case Mr Tyrant wants to jump to that silly conclusion. He has priors for such "jumping", as we know ).

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Someone has been spending to much time in a darkened room havung urges and self loathing!

Eldorion wrote:

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Someone has been spending to much time in a darkened room havung urges and self loathing!

Hello, welcome to Jesusland.

Eldorion wrote:

Gandalf's Beard wrote:After all, CS Lewis and Tolkien were pals.

On the other hand, Tolkien did say in Letter 265 that "It is sad that 'Nania' and all that part of C.S.L's work should remain outside the range of my sympathy, as much of my work was outside his."

Though I don't entirely agree with that sentiment.