The Chronicles Of Narnia - A Parallel To Christianity?
The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven books written by C.S. Lewis. Clive Staples Lewis was a specialist in English, medieval and renascent literature and he also spoke with freshness and intensity about religion and moral matters. There are many people who read these stories and who could not find a trail of Christian influences in them, but could the reason be that they weren't aware of what Christianity really is? If every book is taken, one by one, in each of them there are presented subtle and even clear comparisons matching the real basis of the Christian doctrine.
The first book which was written, "The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe" contains many parallels of this kind. One of the most striking is the one in which Edmund, one of the Pevensies, betrays his brothers and the whole land of Narnia and because of this, according to Aslan's covenant, he deserves death. The White Witch accuses Edmund of treachery in front of everybody and claims his blood. What Aslan does goes beyond imagination: He allows the Witch to kill him instead of Edmund, only to eventually rise again and cast away the enemy. It is obvious that this is what Jesus did when humanity did treachery against God and when it was condemned to death and total separation from Him. He willingly died in the place of humanity, only to resurrect in 3 days and by this to deliver the world from Satan's power.
In his second book, "Prince Caspian" the author reveals other comparisons between Christian life and the life of those in Narnia. One of the examples describes the meeting between Lucy and the Lion. She observed that Aslan grew very big, but the Lion corrected her and let Lucy see that it was she who had grown and this is the reason why she perceived Aslan bigger. This is a truth in Christian life and can be summed by the words that the more people grow in their walk with God the bigger and clearer they perceive Him.
Another astounding truth is hidden in "The Silver Chair". There lies a famous passage in which Aslan gives some instructions to Jill. He gives her some signs to follow in order to succeed in her journey and then he carefully tells her that she is to remember the signs and to repeat them in her head over and over, in the morning, before going to bed and when she wakes in the middle of the night. The strong reason is that up in the mountain, where Aslan and Jill met, Aslan spoke clearly to her, but down in the valley this would rarely happen and also down there the air is different and also things in their essence are not what they appear to be. This is exactly what happens in a Christian's life. Sometimes, during the devotional time, God speaks clear and His will is obvious to the mind and to the heart, but then, when people have their journeys during the day, then everything they've learned "up there" becomes unclear and tending to wash out of the memory. Furthermore, the circumstances make the things promised by God seem impossible and unreal. This is why is so important to meditate during the day to God's truth and to pray without ceasing.
"The last battle" is the last book and it is considered to be the crown of these fantasy novels. What is so overwhelming about the parallel presented in this book is the fact that the author puts here his thoughts and perspective about how it would be when "the new earth and the new sky" will be created. In this book is described how the last period on this world would look like and how it would end. And then, full of creativity, the author presents the wonders of the new world and the great love of Aslan which brought together in joy and feast people from different places, cultures and generations.
Concluding, the Chronicles of Narnia are rich in truths about Christianity and they also manage to combine fantasy with reality in order to give birth in the reader's soul to the one thing every one dreams of: wonder.
