Posted on 12/07/2005 7:37:30 PM PST by xzins
Newly Discovered Letter Reveals Narnia Story is About Christ
Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2005 Posted: 8:51:21PM EST
This Friday, when tens of thousands head to the theaters for the motion picture release of “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe,” church groups will have with them a new piece of evidence that the children's story tells a Christian message.
This Friday, when tens of thousands head to the theaters for the release of ''Narnia,'' churchgoers will have with them a new piece of evidence that the children's story tells a Christian message.
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Recent reports revealed the discovery of a letter written by the famed author in 1961. The letter, addressed to a child fan, reads: "The whole Narnian story is about Christ," according to The Sunday Times of Britain. It was found by Walter Hooper, literary adviser to the Lewis estate.
Christians and secularists have been tugging at their ends in debating Lewis' message in the popular children's series. Churches have cited allusions to the gospel and Jesus while others, including Douglas Gresham, Lewis' stepson, simply regard it as an adventure story.
Professor Andrew Quicke, professor of Cinema Television at Regent University, said Narnia was not written as "an evangelical religious tract" but rather "as a story."
"The nonbelievers and believers are getting much too uptight about this," he said.
Speaking more to the literary art of the allegory, Quicke quoted T.S. Eliot, who he said "summed up the discussion perfectly."
"Literary criticism (for us film criticism) should be completed by criticism from a definite ethical and theological standpoint," he said.
"The subject of literature was too important not to be completed from a theological perspective," he added.
Quicke attributed credibility to the recent letter finding.
"I'm sure the letter is genuine. I don't disagree with it at all," he said.
However, he clearly stated, "C.S. Lewis writes allegory and we should judge his stories in terms of their literary merit when we look at the story and cinematic merit when we look at the film."
While Narnia is not written as a way of promoting the gospel, Quicke says Lewis wrote stories "very much within the Christian tradition with strong Christian undertones and overtones."
Lewis converted to Christianity as an adult after having abandoned it as a child.
A volume of Lewis letters is slated for publishing in 2006.
Lillian Kwon lillian@christianpost.com
I hear there's a lion in it, too. And a witch. And some sort of cupboard.
No, really, wasn't the deeper message pretty well known from the outset?
I thought it was common knowledge that the story was based on Christ.
This is not news(no offense)..Most folks have always known of C.S. Lewis's strong Christian beliefs! Narnia has always been an allegory of Christ's life. I knew this reading the whole Choronicles in the 1970's!!
Well, to anyone who has actually read the book, the fact that it was based on Jesus was pretty much a no brainer.
Satire? In other news, it has a lion in it.
Anyone who ever read the works of C.S. Lewis would have had no doubt.
I heard the Gospels are about Jesus too.
Can you still say "Christ" on the Internet?!?
"Oh, no!", says Hollywood. "Burn the books! Burn the movies!"
And isn't Christmas about Jesus, too? I wonder if they knew that.
And this just in...fire is hot...
Send them an e-mail -- this is a hot story!!!
Yah...
Next thing you know, they'll say Ben-Hur had something to do with the whole Christ message too...
In the Last Battle, at the end of the book, Aslan actually transforms into Christ in front of the now grown up children. I'm with you, I don't think there was ever any doubt that Aslan = Christ.
BTW, my kids Christian middle school has Aslan as its mascot. They're taking the entire school to the movie next week. I was at the Steven Curtis CHapman/Mercy Me Christmas concert earlier this week, and they played a music video with a trailer from the movie. Looks AWESOME!
I was thinking tonight after reading an article that was posted earlier about Muslims teaching babies to hate Jews and Christians. The secularists are fighting the wrong people. The way it's going, conservative Christians may be the only ones who can save America and all it stands for.
I don't think a lot of the secularists want to save America and all it stands for. To them, who feel guilty for being alive, America is evil and the cause of most of the trouble in the world.
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