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Chronicles of Narnia and Christianity
Narnia and the Bible
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Religion influences every aspect of a true devotee’s life. After the year 1931, C.S. Lewis was a devoted Christian and member of the Church of England. This means his faith when he wrote The Chronicles of Narnia was influential in what went into the writing of these stories. This influence was noticeable throughout all of the books in this series however it does not make the story automatically anything more then a great story. There are several basics of the Christian faith that C.S. Lewis believed and that are demonstrated in his writing. A few of the beliefs visible in these books are as follows: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the creation of the world and evil entering the world after creation had occurred not at the same moment it was created, and that there will be an Antichrist who will war with the spiritual forces of good. When writing is influenced by a strong held belief it will show portions of this belief stronger where the author feels it stronger but this does not make mean the story is exactly like the belief held. It is assumed at times that because of the similarities between The Chronicles of Narnia and the Christian faith that it is an allegory similar to Paul Bunyan’s allegory Pilgrim’s Progress.
The question then becomes did C.S. Lewis write an allegory or was it just his beliefs influencing his books? According to the Oxford English Dictionary an allegory is defined as, “Description of a subject under the guise of some other subject of aptly suggestive resemblance.” Under this definition at first glance it is believable that The Chronicles of Narnia really was written as an allegory. In the book the Voyage of the Dawn Treader Aslan is talking to Edmund about the world that Edmund is from a...
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...aren’t all the ways to define a fairy-story but these two point out that one thing for sure the Chronicles of Narnia are not fair-stories. However these stories are parallels to the Christian faith that appear allegorical at times. Though Lewis may not have intended it to appear so allegorical there are places where it seems that way. In the end though, it is a story that was created by an author who held strong Christian beliefs and allowed his faith to be an influencing factor in his writing. Lewis never said it was suppose to be an allegory and line up perfectly. He just wanted to suppose for a little while about another world named Narnia.
Works Cited
C.S. Lewis, Voyage of the Dawn Treader p.270
C.S. Lewis Collection of Letters Volume III p. 1004
J.R.R. Tolkien Tree and Leaf p. 14
http://www.oed.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/5230
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The symbolism between C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the fourth book in The Chronicles of Narnia, and the New Testament in the Bible, particularly the account of Jesus’ death is not merely coincidental because The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is, in fact, an allegory. An allegory is a story with morals in which characters, plots and settings are used as symbols. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis is rich with Christian symbolism even though the allegorical nature of it is the subject of much controversy. Nonetheless, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is an allegory. In this tale, four ordinary children find a wardrobe that leads them into Narnia, an extraordinary land parallel to our universe with talking animal and fantasy creatures. An evil witch has cast a spell of eternal winter over the land and has lured one of the children into betraying the others for enchanted Turkish Delights. Meanwhile, a magical lion, the nemesis of the witch, has arrived after a 100-year absence because of the betrayal of Edmund and ancient prophecies. Soon the children find themselves as involved in the battle as the other creatures and the lion must free Narnia from the clutches of the evil witch and atones for Edmund’s betrayal. The symbolism in the characters, plots, setting, miscellaneous things and themes prove Narnia is, indeed, allegorical
C.S. Lewis created a story of a fictional world called Narnia that was inside of a wardrobe. There were four siblings who found this world, once inside they saw numerous creatures like witches and centaurs that were symbols for something bigger. C. S. Lewis uses Christian symbolism in The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe through the characters of Aslan, Edmund, and the White Witch.
Through the use of Christian symbolism, conflicts, and imagery, C. S. Lewis implements his religious background into his literary works.
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Aslan is the King of Narnia. Lewis tries to resist any recognition that Aslan is Jesus Christ. When readi...
Have you ever wanted to free yourself from the terrors and troublesome times of modern society and escape to a magical place? Clive Staples Lewis, or C.S. Lewis as he is better known, created such a place, in his extremely popular children’s series The Chronicles of Narnia. In these books, Lewis has an underlying message about Christianity. He represents four key aspects of Christianity in this series: Christ and God, evil in the world, and faith.
Fiction has always been used as a way to relay different types of messages throughout time. In many cases authors use fiction to make political commentary, use stories to bring out the major flaws that society has, as well as a way to spread different types of beliefs or ideals. C.S. Lewis’s used his work, “The Chronicles of Narnia”, to reiterate the messages of the Bible to those who might have gotten lost during their lifetime. Though his whole series was full of connections the book that have the most prevalent connections are The Magician’s Nephew and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In both there are places that are very similar to and very different books in the Bible. Taking into context when Lewis wrote this series is extremely important to see what some of his motivations might have been. These stories were started soon after World War II had ended. These stories were a way to teach the next generation some of the morals that the Bible was teaching. By creating these fantastical stories Lewis was able to make connections to help bridge the learning gap between the two generations. Also by using children as a target audience Lewis was able to remind adults as well, instead of being ignored because of the recent war. Lewis was able to address these lessons and morals in a way that both taught the children the way of the Bible, as well as to put a new spin on old tales so that adults were able to come back to religion, after losing some faith during the brutal war.
The Chronicles of Narnia are wonderful to read whether one be six or thirty-six; they relate to childhood as well as life in a general sense. While the Chronicles tell the story of an imaginary land full of talking animals and heroic princes/princesses, I tend to look further into it in order to grasp the symbolism and relation to life. Symbolism plays an important role in the chronicles by being the background and foundation of a character. I get the impression that in some ways the characters were constructed around their symbolic purpose, and not the opposite way.
J.R.R Tolkien’s work of fiction The Lord of the Rings, have with the advent of Peter Jackson’s film adaptation brought the series to newfound heights of fame. As with many works of it’s kind, The Lord of the Rings depicts a battle between good and evil, with the main characters in the books striving to thwart evil’s plan. In many other works, the author’s personal belief system or worldview drives the narrative, with the message being paramount and the characters the vehicles of conveyance for the point of the story. C.S Lewis, a friend and contemporary of Tolkien’s, is a prime example of this. Lewis’ popular series The Chronicles of Narnia is an allegorical work, teaching Christian principles through the use of fiction. While raised as a Catholic himself, Tolkien does not explicitly promote his religious background, nor does he engage in allegory. However, Tolkien’s views of morality can be found throughout the work, specifically in the way in which evil is portrayed, the use of power and moral freedom of choice. Randel Helms writes in his book, Tolkien’s World, “Tolkien’s particular myth parallels his Christianity, … positioning a malevolent and corrupting outside influence, spiritual and probably eternal, against which man is doomed to fight, but which he has no hope of conquering” (67).
C.S. Lewis-- for decades, authors have been writing about the development of the psychological mind
The Chronicles of Narnia are veritably the most popular writings of C.S. Lewis. They are known as children’s fantasy literature, and have found favor in older students and adults alike, even many Christian theologians enjoy these stories from Lewis; for there are many spiritual truths that one can gleam from them, if familiar with the Bible. However, having said this, it is noteworthy to say that Lewis did not scribe these Chronicles for allegorical didactics of the Christian faith, but wrote them in such a well-knit fashion that young readers might understand Christian doctrine through captivating fantasy and thus gain an appreciation for it. With this in mind, and in the interest of this assignment, the purpose of this paper is an attempt to analyze one of the many doctrines of the Christian faith from The Lion, The Witch, And, The Wardrobe (LWW), namely, temptation and how Lewis illustrates it through an individual character, Edmund.
C.S. Lewis uses a secondary world, Narnia, to convey complex, thought-provoking messages to readers of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. This paper examines the way a selection of Narnia's key characteristics prompt debates over logic and faith, comment on the nature of spiritual and metaphysical journeys, allow readers to broaden their conception of their own capabilities, encourage new reflection on the story of Christ and help to clarify conceptions of good and evil.