Why are so many non-Christians bothered about the (relatively few) borrowings from the Christian myth in the Narnia books?

[BelfastBloke]

Apart from Aslan's resurrection in one book, which is quite heavy-handed, Christian elements don't seem to be that prevalent across the seven books.

Yet many people seem to be deeply suspicious that the Chronicles of Narnia are a form of propaganda which will indoctrinate their kids.



I know that CS Lewis was a part-time Christian evangelist (and full-time Professor of Medieval Lit), but the books themselves don't seem suffused with the doctrines in the way one might expect; and certainly not in the way they're sometimes described.

Very true seeker.

The guy who owns The Entertainer toy shops refuses to stock Harry Potter toys because the stories are apparently "un/anti-Christian".

He's afraid of LEGO-induced-atheism it seems

I'm sure if he owned a book shop he'd ban the books too.

LEGO-induced-atheism brilliant

People only care when these things become popular. There are countless other books with magic that I read long before Harry Potter and books with religion that I read before Narnia. None of them influenced my views on God, magic, religion... they all had fairly positive messages though, like most children's books.

If you read Heidi it openly talks about having faith in God and that God will do the right thing for you, etc etc. The old man finds religion again and all is well. I read it from a very young age and just saw it as a point of view, I knew some people believed that.

I'm a Christian and I've never got the fuss over Harry Potter. To be fair a lot of Christians don't. I've even read articles written from a Christian POV arguing that HP reflects Christian ethics. As for His Dark Materials...the first book is great, the second and third are boring as hell.

Who are these "many people"?
Not the same ones who who think Waybuloo is indoctrinating children?

You are all dead

And effectively in heaven

Except you Susan, because you like invites to parties, boys and lipstick.

I wrote my dissertation on Christianity in Children's fantasy literature

You should all read George MacDonald

I'm another one who has read books 1 and 2 of His Dark Materials but can't finish the last one. Found the same with Lord of the Rings so perhaps I don't have the attention span for trilogies

I've read some George MacDonald kayano :)

(found it somewhat tedious - long time ago tho)

I've never got the Christians-against-HarryPotter thing either. We're as Christian as you get and love it in this family. Sigh. People really do take things to silly extremes to prove points which don't really ummm...prove anything much at all really.

brdgrl I agree with you, that a story should have layers, should be read and re-read and children learn to decode. What I object to is the suggestion that its somehow unacceptable for a child to simply read a story and like it at face value, or to be expected to decode any propaganda. A story should keep revealing, and the skill of decoding is a natural progression for a reader.

I'm also big on seeing past the story to the meaning, why things were written when they were and what the influences might have been... me and my eldest certainly discuss stories in greater detail than face value, but they've still been enjoyed at face value first.

My 4 year old LOVES the Narnia stories, is too young to decode the symbolism, and as we're not Christian probably will be later at understanding the Christian reflections than others who are more family with the big G and his stories. It doesn't mean its damaging him because he's unaware of it.

I am irritated by the treatment of Susan in the later books.

It was written as Christian allegory, so it would be a bit thick to read it without expecting to see some!

I'm an atheist, but I love the books. And LOTR, which also has Christian tones, although less explicit ones.

It's odd because echoing Superjaja I was raised in a completely non religious household and read the looks, loved them but never got the symbolism AT ALL. But then I've never been able to sit down and work out the meanings of books easily, I'm just not that way inclined intellectually/mentally. Maybe that's why? Just dumb when it comes to literature.

Who is so bothered about it? I have never heard people being so very bothered about the narnia books.

And it's interesting to hear bible stories re-hashed in fiction. They do tend to be great stories.

I never had a problem with Harry Potter either but alot of my christian friends did.

i like the Narnia books. They are bound to be a bit dated as they were written in the late 1940's.

I always thought the Voyage of the Dawn Treader represented the Acts of the Apostles when they sailed around the Mediteranean.

i agree the Last Battle would be difficult to read as a child but I loved the Magicians Nephew best with the different lands and the rings.

My dc also read the books.

DCs like them-I haven't found one who hasn't when I have read them. They are good stories.

I read all of the books and loved them. I never noticed any christian imagery. Or if I did I really wasnt bothered by it!
Surely it just like any other story, the battle of good versus evil? surely there are very few stories that arent?

I'm another atheist raised child who loved them - and George McDonald - as a child. I definitely 'got' the symbolism as I went to a CofE primary school, but haven't ever had a problem with them.

but then I also find the Screwtape Letters inspiring and read them frequently, which is probably just plain weird for an atheist

(Re. GM, I have to say that The Princess and Curdie really doesn't stand up to re-reading as an adult, far too much heavy-handed moralising - I did an awful lot of on-the-fly abridging when reading it to dd ! The Princess and the Goblins was just as good as I remembered, though.)

I didn't have a problem with the symbolism until I read CS Lewis' motivation for writing the books was to soften young minds, to make them all the more ready to accept 'the truth'. I felt he was duplicitous. By all means write a story to entertain or to educate, but to subtly try to normalise the rather outlandish stories in the bible so children will believe them more easily? Unpleasant.

Normalise isn't the right word. (I'm knackered.)
YKWIM

it depends on your take on christianity. also remember when it was written Britain was mainly a country with a christian leaning.

He believed as a christian that he was meant to spread the good news of Jesus whatever you may think of that.

I read the books at a young age and loved them but never really 'got' that they were an allegory (and I'm RC) until my mother mentioned the fact. On re-reading them it was very obvious, but not to the detriment of the story.

I did, however, on that first read of the Last Battle think it was jolly unfair that Susan got left out because she liked a bit of lippy (and Pauline Baynes' illustration of Tash drifting through the forest gave me nightmares for years)!

I liked His Dark Materials as well and, like another MNer has already said, I took it to be against organised religion rather than God in general.

He didn't automatically believe that.
He approached it quite carefully and it was a toss-up between Hinduism and Christianity for a while. I forget why exactly those two, something to do with no other religions being rigorous enough or something.

"rigorous" being (ahem) open to interpretation there, of course.

I think that DCs just read and enjoy them as stories-they don't need adults pointing things out.

I honestly don't think the symbolism is easy to spot unless you're looking for it. I'm a medievalist who works on religious texts and a Christian who regularly goes to Lewis's local pub - I know what he was on about, but I still have to think about it quite hard before I think 'ah yes, the Christian symbolism of this bit is such-and-such'.

So I don't think people who don't get/notice the symbolism are missing something obvious really.

A medievalist and a Christian and a regular of Lewis's local? What are the chances of that, eh?

Extraordinary.