Week 6: Why Were You Brought to Narnia?

[Tirian]

“The Very Reason You Were Brought Here”: Why Were You Brought to Narnia?

We could say that in Aslan’s statement to Lucy and Edmund, “This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there,” Lewis is speaking to his readers as well.

In an often-quoted passage from “Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What’s to Be Said,” Lewis explains that during his childhood, ideas associated with God and Christ took on negative “stained-glass and Sunday school associations,” causing his own faith to become “paralyzed” for many years. In writing the Chronicles of Narnia, Lewis sought to cast “all these things into an imaginary world” where they could “for the first time appear in their real potency” completely free from any off-putting connections.

As Stephen Smith has proposed, through these stories Lewis intends “to awaken in us a hunger” and “to open our hearts to the reality of God as the one in whom power and goodness, majesty and compassion meet.”

In his essay for Mere Christians, David Downing comments on Lewis’s decision to “recast” essential Christian truths in the stories of Narnia in an attempt to steal past the watchful dragons of “enforced reverence or tedious religious lessons.” Downing concludes, “By enlisting the unfettered powers of imagination, Lewis hoped to recapture the original beauty and poignancy of the Good News. In this strategy, Lewis has been brilliantly successful in the hearts and minds of millions of readers.”

As they look back on the effect Lewis’s writing has had on their own hearts and minds, fans of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader would heartily agree.
Lewis truly has been brilliantly successful.

Questions for Discussion:

In his celebrated essay “On Fairy-Stories,” J. R. R. Tolkien writes of the consolation which fairy-tales hold, the “catch of the breath,” the “lifting of the heart,” and the “fleeting glimpse of Joy” they provide, a joy “beyond the walls of the world.”

1. How would you describe what The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the other Chronicles of Narnia offer readers in general?


“This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”

2. What has been the effect of your being brought to Narnia? How does Aslan’s statement resonate with your own personal experience? Why were you in particular brought to Narnia?


Lewis said that he wrote the Narnia stories to steal past the kind of negative “stained glass associations” he had with the forced reverence and tedious religious lessons he experienced in youth.

3. What has been your experience with religious institutions and how do the Chronicles of Narnia either fit in with or complement it?

[Liberty Hoffman]

1. How would you describe what The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the other Chronicles of Narnia offer readers in general?
well, for me it's always been a book that I can get life applications out of. I would hope that readers would see what Lewis put in for them to find.



2. What has been the effect of your being brought to Narnia? How does Aslan’s statement resonate with your own personal experience? Why were you in particular brought to Narnia?
my mom introduced me to Narnia when I was 5 years old - LWW was the first book I read when I learned to read. I have always found something in all of the books that I can apply to my life.

[trailjava]

1. How would you describe what The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the other Chronicles of Narnia offer readers in general? The Books are a wonderful way in which to discuss the the themes of Jesus & redemption. They also provide a way to talk about what kind of faith it takes to follow God.


“This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”

2. What has been the effect of your being brought to Narnia? How does Aslan’s statement resonate with your own personal experience? Why were you in particular brought to Narnia? To grow, to learn to be inspired by the words of dear man. That the works of Narnia prove you can articulate your faith.


Lewis said that he wrote the Narnia stories to steal past the kind of negative “stained glass associations” he had with the forced reverence and tedious religious lessons he experienced in youth.

3. What has been your experience with religious institutions and how do the Chronicles of Narnia either fit in with or complement it?
I think Narnia greatly fit in my with my religious experience. After all the Lion of the tribe of Judah is not tame.

[Devin Brown]

I almost did not visit Narnia.

I grew up in a rough part of Chicago's southside where let's just say C. S. Lewis was not a household word.

I did not hear of Lewis or Narnia until I was 16. My older brother came home from college and gave me THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE.

I am curious how other Narniaweb fans first learned about the Chronicles.

--Devin Brown

[MinotaurforAslan]

I am curious how other Narniaweb fans first learned about the Chronicles.

I was lucky...my dad read the books to me when I was very young, about 10 years old.

[Ithilwen]

1. How would you describe what The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the other Chronicles of Narnia offer readers in general?
A fantasy-style glimpse into the real "real world", instead of what we always thought was the real world.


2. What has been the effect of your being brought to Narnia? How does Aslan’s statement resonate with your own personal experience? Why were you in particular brought to Narnia?
For me, my true glimpse of God actually hapenned before I read the books, and the reason why I love the books is because they remind me of that moment. Same with LOTR. As for why, only God can say why he chooses to use the methods he does to bring people to Him.


3. What has been your experience with religious institutions and how do the Chronicles of Narnia either fit in with or complement it?
I had terrible experiences with the church as a child -- many of the Sunday school teachers were even abusive and would hurt the children when the parents were gone. I love the Chronicles of Narnia because they are the opposite of what I've experienced at most churches, and show what the Love of God really means.


~Riella

[Gladius]

I am curious how other Narniaweb fans first learned about the Chronicles.

I remember after I had learned to read (I was probably about six) my Mom told me about some books she had read when she was my age, and said that if she could find them she would give them to me. She did find them, and actually read LWW aloud to us. I was hooked.

What has been the effect of your being brought to Narnia? How does Aslan’s statement resonate with your own personal experience? Why were you in particular brought to Narnia?

The works of Lewis in general, and the Chronicles in particular, have had more influence on the development of my mind than any other writings besides the Bible. I've discovered a lot of my favorite authors through Lewis (Tolkien, Chesterton, MacDonald, etc.), and gotten a taste for the classics, but probably the most important thing I've learned from Lewis is that it's good to think hard about spiritual things. In American Evangelicalism (where I've spent most of my time) there seems to be a deep-rooted suspicion of too much thought when it comes to religion. Lewis helped me see that I am to glorify God with my mind as well as my heart.

What has been your experience with religious institutions and how do the Chronicles of Narnia either fit in with or complement it?

Actually, the first words I ever spoke to our current pastor were about the Chronicles. I guess the way Narnia has most complemented my religious experience is in the way I stated above; that is, encouraging me to search out difficult doctrines and not shy away from hard questions.

[Ithilwen]

I first learned about Narnia when I was 8. I was really into Fantasia, because of the Centaurs. I went to the Disney store and told the clerk there how much I loved Centaurs, and asked what other stories centaurs were in. She said Narnia.
My mom didn't approve of the books at that time, but I begged her to let me watch the BBC show. And she did, and I loved it.
Later, I read the books at last when I heard the movie LWW was coming out.


~Riella

[Movie Aristotle]

My stained-glass associations as a child were with the Chronicles, not the church. I liked church as a boy, but in the church library there was a horrible looking book with children on the cover with strange hairstyles that looked like they were straight out of the 70's. (I still don't care for that cover art.) The book was The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe. Around the same time I saw a kiddie-looking video in the library with puppets and stuff. I don't think I put it together that this was also LWW at the time, but I knew I didn't really want anything to do with it.

Then one day my sister grabbed the book, (and my brother and I) and made us sit down while she read it. I was already getting too old for childrens' stories, but this one grabbed my attention right away, although I tried not to show it. It wasn't too long before she finished reading that book to me and I was reading the other 6 for myself.

I think these books have re-awakened in me a sense of wonder at the beauty and variety in God's creation, and have illustrated the ways in which Our Lord shows His love to us.

[Eustace]

1. How would you describe what The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the other Chronicles of Narnia offer readers in general?
They offer lessons and good exciting adventures all wrapped in one. As well as, characters you can relate with.

“This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”

2. What has been the effect of your being brought to Narnia? How does Aslan’s statement resonate with your own personal experience? Why were you in particular brought to Narnia?

I learned what I could have still been like if it wasn't for my siblings. I grew to feel sorry for those who are only children. (Those like Eustace.) We know very little about the World of Narnia or even Aslan. I was brought to Narnia because my family had all the books. I didn't read a whole lot while I was younger so I never read the books till I was ten. But they bought me abridged versions of the books on tapes and I loved those before I was ten. I also watched the BBC versions of the movies while growing up.

Lewis said that he wrote the Narnia stories to steal past the kind of negative “stained glass associations” he had with the forced reverence and tedious religious lessons he experienced in youth.

3. What has been your experience with religious institutions and how do the Chronicles of Narnia either fit in with or complement it?
Narnia does give you a completely different aspect of the stories you have heard again and again. My church goes through books of the Bible one at a time and it definitely is the best way to do it. Narnia kinda fit in with this but I totally understand what C. S. Lewis is saying.

[angpow_58]

I discovered the books in college, as all my friends had read them - I was addicted from the beginning. My conversion experience was through influence of family and church, but my "discovery" of the deeper magic, as I call a deeper walk with Christ, was much later in life. Each time I read the books, I see a deeper truth, mostly through Lucy's childlike faith and encounter with Aslan. As a teacher, I cannot talk about my faith with students, however, I can promote the literary aspects of the books, and often decorate my room with accents of Narnia. VDT, to me, will be a conversation piece for a long time, and I will use the wonderful adventures to discuss aspects of my faith.

[Galadrielle]

Questions for Discussion:

In his celebrated essay “On Fairy-Stories,” J. R. R. Tolkien writes of the consolation which fairy-tales hold, the “catch of the breath,” the “lifting of the heart,” and the “fleeting glimpse of Joy” they provide, a joy “beyond the walls of the world.”

1. How would you describe what The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the other Chronicles of Narnia offer readers in general?

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader – and the entire Narnian series – is a timeless classic. I find The Voyage of the Dawn Treader comparable, and in many ways, superior, to Homer’s Odessey, as it is more than a tale of an adventure – it is the tale of a pilgrimage to all, including the reader, and with the exception of Reepicheep, for whom the Voyage is his journey home.


“This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”

2. What has been the effect of your being brought to Narnia? How does Aslan’s statement resonate with your own personal experience? Why were you in particular brought to Narnia?

When I was brought to Narnia at age seven, I was brought into Lewis’ world. As I grew older, I wanted more and more of Lewis’ works, and when I learned he was a medievalist, I wanted to be a medievalist when other girls in my age group were saying they wanted to be doctors and actresses. I believe that my experience transcends Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe forty two years ago; Miracles today, as every time I re-read a Narnia book, as I do with any other great book, I get more out of it and find it richer, just as I find seeing more magical details when I gaze at a Renaissance painting in a museum.

After having been around Aslan in Narnia, I find myself knowing and loving Jesus better here, but we need to know that it is not Aslan and Galadrielle in Narnia, but rather Aslan and Lucy; Aslan and Caspian; Aslan and Jill – all in Narnia, but Jesus and Galadrielle in the land of the here and now. Yet when I see Lucy interact with Aslan and becoming closer to Him, I try hard at becoming closer to Jesus just as Lucy is to Aslan.

I was brought, in particular to Narnia because I believe the Holy Spirit had placed me on the heart of my pastor. I believe He wanted my pastor to loan me The Magician’s Nephew when I was seven and to discuss the Narnian series and Lewis’ other works with me for almost forty years – my pastor started discussing Lewis’ works with me when I was seven, and the last conversation he and I had before Jesus took him home almost forty years later was about the Narnian books.


Lewis said that he wrote the Narnia stories to steal past the kind of negative “stained glass associations” he had with the forced reverence and tedious religious lessons he experienced in youth.

3. What has been your experience with religious institutions and how do the Chronicles of Narnia either fit in with or complement it?

I have had both good and bad experiences with religious institutions.

In regards to the bad: I believe that the deadliest sin of all, spiritual pride, can be committed right in the middle of a church service! I find spiritual pride appalling as those who commit spiritual pride tend to push people away from the Faith.

However, I have had some very blessed experiences in church. I never need to call my Senior Pastor; when I need to see her, she tends to track me down after church and advises me to set up a time to call or see her. My Assistant Pastors are likewise very compassionate and they are right there when needed.

I believe that Christian schools staffed with compassionate non-judgmental teachers and staff are important. I went to Christian schools from Kindergarten through high school graduation. My Kindergarten teacher was a nun who transcribed Bible Verses onto an easel for us to read aloud every day, using bright crayons. The first thing I ever learned to read in a classroom was John 3:16.

We must also remember that both Oxford and Cambridge began as schools that prepared young men for law, medicine, and the Christian clergy. Prior to World War II, chapel attendance was mandatory, so the Narnian series and the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings came out of a great hotbed of Christian thought. Both Lewis’ grandfather and Tolkien’s legal guardian were pastors, as was Lewis’ friend Walter Hooper.

With this strong religious influence in the lives of both Lewis and Tolkien, I believe Tirian’s question can be turned around as we explore how religious institutions in general, and Christian ones in particular, have influenced the whole body of work of both Lewis and Tolkien. While I have taught the Voyage of the Dawn Treader in adult Sunday School, I firmly believe that the Narnian series needs to be taken out of church and into homes and casual restaurants. After all, our tales began to be told in the Eagle and Child Pub. Because they are such great literary classics, I believe them to be excellent introductions to Lewis’ world, preparing people for the Lord of the Rings as much as for the Bible. I remember having lunch with a Wiccan gentleman one Easter. He noticed my gown and hair were exceptionally beautiful and asked me why I was so gussied up, as if for the Academy Awards. When I explained the Resurrection to him, he asked “You mean like Gandalf?” I answered “Precisely like Gandalf.” Because this Wiccan gentelman knew about Gandalf, he was prepared to be exposed to knowledge of Jesus. If the Narnian series do not prepare one for the Bible, they may at least prepare one for The Lord of the Rings, with the strong similarities between not only Aslan and Jesus, but Aslan and Gandalf.

[DOECOG]

1. How would you describe what The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the other Chronicles of Narnia offer readers in general?“This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”

I think it offers children and adults a way to enjoy a fairy tale as not just a great story, but a tale that has characters that all of us can relate to.
It tells an old story in a way so that by knowing that name of Aslan and the story of Narnia the reader can come to know an even greater story.

A fantasy-style glimpse into the real "real world", instead of what we always thought was the real world.

I agree. I was thinking the same thing, but could not begin to articulate it.

2. What has been the effect of your being brought to Narnia? How does Aslan’s statement resonate with your own personal experience? Why you were in particular brought to Narnia? Lewis said that he wrote the Narnia stories to steal past the kind of negative “stained glass associations” he had with the forced reverence and tedious religious lessons he experienced in youth.

I was a Christian before I read the chronicles of Narnia. The books haven't really changed my perspectives on Christianity, but it has enhanced them. I still see Jesus the same way I did before the books, but I think I see and know him better now. I think they help me to see him as more and more of a real person who lived not only 2000 years ago, but still today and is always watching over us. I think the books also served to remind me that you can treat God not only with reverence and respect, but also with a level of intimacy because he’s a close friend.

3. What has been your experience with religious institutions and how do the Chronicles of Narnia either fit in with or complement it

I think the chronicles fit in with my religious experiences for the most part. They also help remind me that my relationship with Christ is not limited to my church experience, but it is a part of every moment of my life. Just like the children’s relationship with Aslan was not limited to Narnia.

[waggawerewolf27]

I almost did not visit Narnia.

I grew up in a rough part of Chicago's southside where let's just say C. S. Lewis was not a household word.

I did not hear of Lewis or Narnia until I was 16. My older brother came home from college and gave me THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE.

I am curious how other Narniaweb fans first learned about the Chronicles.

--Devin Brown

One of the older and better behaved girls in my dormitory at school was allowed to borrow LWW from the School Library and retold it to us, bit by bit at lights out. At that time my class was considered too young and unruly to visit the library. After I left that school in 1956 I was able to join the local Public Library and read LWW and the other books as much as I pleased, and when I wanted. I resolved to become a librarian, which I did.

Although I have been very fond of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and of the Harry Potter novels, I still remain fond of the Narnia chronicles, which I read to my children, and have also answered needs in my life at various times. For example, after I all but died of an asthma attack, I found Horse and his Boy, in particular, very comforting and helpful for some reason. Did you know that JK. Rowling once compared MN's 'Wood between the Worlds' to a library, another place to escape into different worlds?

Lewis said that he wrote the Narnia stories to steal past the kind of negative “stained glass associations” he had with the forced reverence and tedious religious lessons he experienced in youth.

3. What has been your experience with religious institutions and how do the Chronicles of Narnia either fit in with or complement it?

I can see what Lewis meant, though now that I am older it doesn't seem that way so much. The church I go to organised for parishioners to go to see Prince Caspian. The churches of my youth sometimes tended to regard the Narnian books much like the Harry Potter books were regarded before 2007, not necessarily approving of them as proper reading material.