Why I love The Chronicles of Narnia

 

Every moment the patches of green grew bigger and the patches of snow grew smaller. Every moment more and more of the trees shook off their robes of snow. Soon, wherever you looked, instead of white shapes you saw the dark green firs or the black prickly branches of bare oaks and beeches and elms. Then the mist turned from white to gold and presently cleared away altogether. Shafts of delicious sunlight struck down onto the forest floor and overhead you could see a blue sky between the tree tops. 

-The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

The Narnia books were some of the first novels that I have ever read. I grew up watching the BBC television series based on the books as well as the films from Walden Media. The stories of Narnia, much like those of King Arthur and his knights, had a profound influence on me from an early age. I loved these stories written by C. S. Lewis from as early as they were read to me by my mother. 

The Narnia stories are full of exciting adventures and quests that you expect in a fantasy story but retain the innocence found in an old children's book that makes the story all the more heart warming. C. S. Lewis left beloved works for us after he was long gone. It is no surprise that the Narnia books have never been out of print. With a hundred million copies sold, the Narnia series has retained its popularity as it has been passed down from one generation unto the next. 

It maybe a surprise to us now that The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe met with mixed reception upon release, conidering that it is now one of the most popular books in Britain and the United States of America. Tolkien was originally not a fan of the Narnia books and feared that they would bring a bad name to C. S. Lewis. In years to come, Tolkien came to respect the novels however. 

Whether it be themes of sacrifice and renewal as we find in The Lion, the Witch, and Wardrobe, or themes of friendship found in Voyage if the Dawn Treader, there is something to be learned from all the Narnia books. In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Aslan the lion, is a figure of Christ that pays the penalty that Edmund deserved just as Jesus payed such a fine through His gracious and powerful atonement for us when we deserved eternal damnation. Like Christians finding unity in Christ, Reepicheep and Eustace make each other stronger as they work together in a long sea voyage unto the world's end in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  

The Narnia books are fun and enjoyable reads. Lewis and Tolkien were masterminds of literature that made entirely different works of art. 

I love both The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings. While I believe the latter is a greater work of literature, I will always love Narnia and feel a soft spot for C. S. Lewis. 

So why do I love The Chronicles of Narnia? Well, for many reasons! The biggest however, is simply that I think as long as we enjoy Narnia we know that there is still a young child in all of us-a child that still believes that there can be a passageway through a magical wardrobe into a far away land where birds and beasts talk, a land that is mythical, yet really exists. I believe C. S. Lewis always had such a child in him and that is why he could write such children stories so well as he did.  Walt Disney once said that his films were not for children but for the child in all of us. I doubt not that C. S. Lewis felt the same way. 

There are plenty of morales and implicit Christian theology to be found in the Nania novels. Ahead, I look forward to disscussing the Christian worldview and scholary achievements of C. S. Lewis. More specifically, we will also look deeper into Narnia.  

But when Jesus saw it, be was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. 

-Mark 10:14