**Comparing Narnia and LotR**

[davem]

Originally Posted by Valesse

I know that C. S. Lewis did base the story line on the Bible, but I was rather hoping that the magical wonderland appeal wouldn't be so easily shot down. Lord of the Rings really gave us these... allusions, and by gosh I have been spoiled! Tolkien didn't do any of that. He wrote in a letter, even, that there is no allegory in his series... Middle-Earth was entirely his own creation which made the story seem so purely whole. I didn't find myself searching for anything (other than those pesky deleted scenes, thankyouverymuch PJ).
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Lewis wrote the story (as I mentioned in an earlier post) to 'pre-baptise' children's imagination. The world of Narnia is intentionally a 'fairytale' world, with creatures from the various myths Lewis loved, as well as talking animals - stories of which he loved as a child.

Lewis & Tolkien both believed that Man was created by God with an 'innate' knowledge of what was to come (ie the Incarnation) - this is how they accounted for the presence in so many mythologies of dying & reusurrected gods, etc. Lewis was aware how the knowledge of such 'salvific' stories had been lost, so he wanted to invent a new 'mythology' which would put children in the same position/state as the pagans who were first confronted with Christianity - they would be 'reminded' of their own stories & so would be ready to accept the story of Jesus.

This is why LWW (both book & film) are not going to work very well (imo) as Christian allegories - I can't see anyone coming out of seeng LWW & wanting to run straight into their nearest Church. Lewis wanted children to be caught up in the wonder of Narnia, come to love Aslan, & then when they encountered Christianity later they would experience again that sense of wonder - Christianity wouldn't be about 'going to Church & hearing a sermon' but more to do with 'fighting alongside Aslan' to free Narnia.

What I dislike about the hyping of the movie by Evangelicals is that rather than making Christianity seem like that, they're trying to make Narnia like going to Church.

One of my favourite quotes about Narnia comes from The Western Way by John & Caitlin Matthews. They cite a comment by an unnamed reader: 'Jesus to me was just a man in a book, but I could have died for Aslan'. Lewis wanted to get his child readers to feel the same way about Jesus as that reader did about Aslan, but in order to achieve that he felt that encountering Aslan first as in the book would be most effective. That scene in the movie sums it up - Mr Tumnus says: 'He's not a tame Lion' & Lucy replies: ''No, but he is Good.'' Aslan is not a safe Lion - & that was Lewis's point, what he wanted to communicate - before children got all caught up in the 'theology', hymns & sermons.

That's how you have to approach the Narnia books, I think: like the Pevensey children, with innocent wonder, in a new, unexpected setting. Telling children 'Aslan is Jesus' will actually destroy that wonder, telling them 'Aslan is not a tame Lion, but he is good' will strengthen it.