By Harry L. Poe
The
gospel story itself involves the journey from heaven to earth, the flight to
Egypt, the itinerant ministry, the journey to Jerusalem, the journey to Golgotha,
and the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the entire
world.
If
human longing found in the world’s stories finds its fulfillment in the
gospel, it is not surprising that The Chronicles of Narnia express these
basic longings again in terms that sound familiar when one knows the gospel.
Likewise, if one has read the Chronicles but never heard the gospel,
the gospel will sound familiar when it finally comes.
The
Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
The
Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe contains the most obvious Christian metaphors
of any of the Narnia books. In this story, the great lion Aslan — whom
no one has seen in perhaps centuries — offers himself as a hostage to substitute
for a boy who is to be killed. Aslan sacrifices himself so that the child can
go free.
The
morning after he is slain on a stone table, strongly suggesting an altar, Aslan
rises from the dead more powerful and dreadful than ever. He has defeated his
enemy through a “deeper” magic.
If
one tries to develop a Christian theology of the atonement from this story,
frustration will ensue. For one thing, Aslan does not die for the sins of the
world. Lewis does not “teach” a doctrine of sin. Rather, he describes
behavior that children understand from their own experience as worthy of punishment.
Lewis
relies upon reminding people of what they already know about right and wrong.
In Mere Christianity, Lewis advocates a theory of natural law by which
everyone knows when someone has treated them wrong. The human dilemma is not
one of insufficient information about right and wrong. The human dilemma concerns
the failure to do right even though we know right.
Less
obvious than the substitutionary, atoning sacrifice of Aslan is the idea of
the incarnation. Aslan is not just another lion, just as Jesus Christ was not
just another man. Lewis does not provide a full-blown Christology or theology
of the incarnation, but he suggests the need for a savior who can save because
of his uniqueness. Aslan is really there and he really dies.
The
story also assumes a theory of divine revelation. The Narnians all seem to know
of a prophecy about sons of Adam and daughters of Eve who will usher in the
defeat of the dreadful witch-queen. The concept of prophecy requires a source
of revelation and narrows the possibilities of what kind of ultimate reality
exists. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism have no prophecies because they have
no personal God.
Prince
Caspian