the mother of Aslan
Yesterday someone handed me a program from a local church service. The picture on the front of the program showed a night sky with the profile of what appears to be buildings. On the right there was a prominent star in the sky like what you see on a lot of Christmas literature. On the left and dominating the scene was the face of a lion. The lettering underneath said, "The Chronicles of Bethlehem." Further down on the page was the sermon title for the day, "The Lion's Mother: Mary."
I immediately felt revulsion. The feeling was similar to how I feel when I walk into a restaurant and see a "jackalope" hanging on the wall. You know, a stuffed jackrabbit's head with some deer antlers stuck on top. Ha ha ha that is so NOT funny. Also coming to mind are memories of a stuffed frog standing up on it's back legs holding a banjo. It's disgusting and unnatural.
I really don't like someone tampering with literature that I hold as precious. I know that with the new Chronicles movie coming out there is a great opportunity to get into discussions about Christ so I'm not against an Aslan outreach per se. I'm also not against using illustrations from the Chronicles of Narnia. What I am against is dissecting the family pet to "get to know it better."
I like what Walter Hooper, literary advisor to the Lewis estate, wrote, "Another reason for their success (Chronicles of Narnia) is what is popularly referred to as the books' "many levels of meaning". By placing his adventures in fairyland, beyond contamination by our usual prejudices, Lewis catches us off guard and helps us to attend to things which matter most in this world. By degrees which are often unnoticed by even the most cautious atheist, we progress from a love of Narnia, to a greater love of Aslan himself to a sharp regret that there is no Aslan in this world, to a sudden recognition which makes the heart sing that there is an Aslan in this world-- and then, if my own experience is any guide--Narnia and this world interlock and Aslan and Christ are seen as one.
I think we are ill-advised to short-circuit this process by handing these books to children with a string of explanations about who is what. The books do this so much more effectively on their own."
I may be way off base in my negative reaction. I probably should toughen up since I'll probably see a whole lot more of this kind of stuff in the near future.
I immediately felt revulsion. The feeling was similar to how I feel when I walk into a restaurant and see a "jackalope" hanging on the wall. You know, a stuffed jackrabbit's head with some deer antlers stuck on top. Ha ha ha that is so NOT funny. Also coming to mind are memories of a stuffed frog standing up on it's back legs holding a banjo. It's disgusting and unnatural.
I really don't like someone tampering with literature that I hold as precious. I know that with the new Chronicles movie coming out there is a great opportunity to get into discussions about Christ so I'm not against an Aslan outreach per se. I'm also not against using illustrations from the Chronicles of Narnia. What I am against is dissecting the family pet to "get to know it better."
I like what Walter Hooper, literary advisor to the Lewis estate, wrote, "Another reason for their success (Chronicles of Narnia) is what is popularly referred to as the books' "many levels of meaning". By placing his adventures in fairyland, beyond contamination by our usual prejudices, Lewis catches us off guard and helps us to attend to things which matter most in this world. By degrees which are often unnoticed by even the most cautious atheist, we progress from a love of Narnia, to a greater love of Aslan himself to a sharp regret that there is no Aslan in this world, to a sudden recognition which makes the heart sing that there is an Aslan in this world-- and then, if my own experience is any guide--Narnia and this world interlock and Aslan and Christ are seen as one.
I think we are ill-advised to short-circuit this process by handing these books to children with a string of explanations about who is what. The books do this so much more effectively on their own."
I may be way off base in my negative reaction. I probably should toughen up since I'll probably see a whole lot more of this kind of stuff in the near future.
I'd be interested to hear what some other people have to say.
posted by TWH @ 7:01 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I'm right there with you Tim. I'm never embarassed of Christ, but sometimes I'm ashamed of Christians. We as a mob tend to be grasping for something... anything. It's that same feeling when people explain their jokes. "Aslan is Jesus... get it?" And as soon as something is embraced by "Christianity" we campout on it and lay claim to it. We want a gimmick we can sell. We can't just let it be a story.
Just another example of Christians trying to market anything they can get their hands on
I find it interesting that C.S. Lewis himself said that he did not write the Chronicles of Narnia as an allegory of Christ. His thought was to speculate how another world would be saved, if such a place existed. Funny how Christians take that message and distort it to the point of shoving it down people's throats.
I was recently disgusted at a Wheaton student's review of the movie when the reviewer said that the movie was not theological enough. Why can't we just enjoy art for what it is?
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