C.S. Lewis: Life and Work
Joy Through Reason, Imagination and Faith
Oct 17 - The Formative Years: Longing for Joy
Nov 14 - The Pilgrim's Regress:In Search of Joy
Nov 28 - Story Telling: Living in Joy
Dec 12 - The Christian Knight: The Apologetics of Joy
(Suffering and The Shadowlands)
The joy of the Lord is our strength.
Neh. 8:10
Compiled by Dr. Paulo F. Ribeiro
Shawnee Park CRC
WOW
Fall 2001, AD
1
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else.
Prayer is either a sheer illusion or a personal contact between
embryonic, incomplete persons (ourselves) and the utterly
concrete Person.
Prayer in the sense of petition, asking for things, is a small part
of it; confession and penitence are its threshold, adoration its
sanctuary, the presence and vision and enjoyment of God its
wine. In it God shows himself to us. That He answers prayers is
a corollary—not necessarily the most important one. What He
does is learned from what He is.”
C.S. Lewis
2
All that is not eternal is eternally out of date.“
"Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and, if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it
cannot be is moderately important"
___________________________________________________________________________
"Is--is he a man?" asked Lucy.
"Aslan a man!" said Mr. Beaver sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the
great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don't you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion--the Lion, the great
Lion."
"Ooh!" said Susan, "I'd thought he was a man. Is he--quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a
lion."
"That you will, dearie, and no mistake,' said Mrs. Beaver, 'if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan
without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he
isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King I tell you."
"I'm longing to see him," said Peter, "even if I do feel frightened when it comes to the point."
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe)
____________________________________________________
Who is this man, who can write so clearly, convincingly, inspiring, and profoundly …?
Scholar, children’s story, adult fiction…
In this next four WOWs I hope to share with you some insights into the life and writings of this
incredible Christian
I hope you will be inspired, blessed, encouraged by Lewis’s imagination, writings, honesty, and
3
faith in our Savior Jesus Christ.
Why Lewis:
The most important Christian writer of the 20 th century.
I encountered Lewis 27 years ago.
Thanks for the opportunity
Style – Participation – facilitator …. Share your insights etc.
4
Footnote to All Prayers
He whom I bow to only knows to whom I bow
When I attempt the ineffable Name, murmuring Thou,
And dream of Pheidian fancies and embrace in heart
Symbols (I know) which cannot be the thing Thou art.
Thus always, taken at their word, all prayers blaspheme
Worshipping with frail images a folk-lore dream,
And all men in their praying, self-deceived, address
The coinage of their own unquiet thoughts, unless
Thou in magnetic mercy to Thyself divert
Our arrows, aimed unskilfully, beyond desert;
And all men are idolators, crying unheard
To a deaf idol, if Thou take them at their word.
Take not, O Lord, our literal sense. Lord, in thy great
Unbroken speech our limping metaphor translate.
5
The Apologist's Evening Prayer
From all my lame defeats and oh! much more
From all the victories that I seemed to score;
From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf
At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh;
From all my proofs of Thy divinity,
Thou, who wouldst give no sign, deliver me.
Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead
of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head.
From all my thoughts, even from my thoughts of Thee,
O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free.
Lord of the narrow gate and needle's eye,
Take from me all my trumpery lest I die.
6
It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and
goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting
person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it
now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror
and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a
nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each
other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of
these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the
circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our
dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all
politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a
mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization--these are mortal,
and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals
whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit-immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.
[C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses (Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Eerdmans, 1965), pp. 14–15; emphasis in original]
7
In one way, of course, God has given us the Morning Star already: you can go
and enjoy the gift on many fine mornings if you get up early enough. What more,
you may ask, do we want? Ah, but we want so much more--something the books
on aesthetics take little notice of. But the poets and the mythologies know all
about it. We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is
bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words--to
be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to
bathe in it, to become part of it. ….. That is why the poets tell us such lovely
falsehoods. They talk as if the west wind could really sweep into a human soul;
but it can't. They tell us that "beauty born of murmuring sound" will pass into a
human face; but it won't. Or not yet. For if we take the imagery of Scripture
seriously, if we believe that God will one day give us the Morning Star and
cause us to put on the splendor of the sun, then we may surmise that both the
ancient myths and the modern poetry, so false as history, may be very near the
truth as prophecy. At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side
of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not
make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendors we see. But all the
leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumor that it will not always
be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in.
8
"When Christianity says that God loves man, it means that God
loves man: not that He has some concern for our welfare, but that
we are the objects of His love. You asked for a loving God: you
have one. The great spirit you so lightly invoked, is present: not a
senile benevolence that drowsily wishes you to be happy in your
own way, not the cold philanthropy of a conscientious magistrate,
not the care of a host who feels responsible for the comfort of his
guests, but the consuming fire Himself, the Love that made the
worlds, persistent as the artist's love for his work and despotic as
a man's love for a dog, provident and venerable as a father's love
for a child, jealous, inexorable, exacting as love between the
sexes. How should this be, I do not know: it passes reason to
explain why creatures, not to say creatures such as we, should
have a value so prodigious in their Creator’s eyes.”
CS Lewis, The Problem of Pain
9
I think it important to try to see the present calamity in a true perspective. The
war [terrorism] creates no absolutely new situation: it simply aggravates the
permanent human situation so that we can no longer ignore it. Human life has
always been lived on the edge of a precipice. Human culture has always had to
exist under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself. If men
had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure, the
search would have never begun. We are mistaken when we compare war to
"normal life." Life has never been normal. Even those periods we think most
tranquil, like the nineteenth century, turn out on closer inspection, to be full of
crises, alarms, difficulties, emergencies. Plausible reasons have never been
lacking for putting off all merely cultural activities until some imminent danger
has been averted or some crying injustice put right. But humanity long ago chose
to neglect those plausible reasons.… They propound theorems in beleaguered
cities, conduct metaphysical arguments in condemned cells, make jokes on
scaffolds, discuss poetry while advancing on the walls of Quebec …This is not
panache; it is our nature.
C.S. Lewis, "Learning in War-Time," in The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses
10
A Solid Man
Thoroughly Converted
Marvelous and Seductive Writer
A Romantic
A Christian Knight
(Apologist)
Scholar
Fiction Writer
Novel Writer
Tutor
(Not a Sir Just Jack)
A Prophet
Children’s Literature
Poetry
Wrote with Authority, Mere Christianity, Powerful mind, Fresh Perspective, Wrote Well, Wrote with Authority
The Purpose and Content of the Study
This study is designed to introduce you to the life, thought and works of C. S. Lewis.
C. S. Lewis never claimed to be a theologian. He approached Christianity from a very intellectual, academic, but honest way – not
theological.
" Mere Christianity” is the core set of beliefs held by the majority of Christians throughout the ages. Lewis believed what Jesus claimed to
be: the unique Son of God. He believed that Jesus was literally born of a virgin, crucified, buried, and that He physically rose again never to
die again. Mere Christianity teaches the doctrine of the Trinity: that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are all three God, and that God is one.
C. S. Lewis tried to demonstrate that the supernatural does exist and that miracles did occur. Mere Christianity teaches that Christ died for
our sins, that He was resurrected to prove that He conquered death and that to receive forgiveness of sin one must respond in faith to Him.
The Theme
This study covers the major issues that C. S. Lewis struggled with in his own life and subsequently addressed in his writings: the problem of
suffering and pain, the existence of the supernatural or the miraculous, and how Christianity is the only world-view that consistently
11explains
the nature of man and the universe.
Timeline
1898
1908
1917
1925
1929
1933
1937
1939
1941
1948
1950-56
1952
1954-55
1956
1960
1963
Clive Staples Lewis born in Belfast, Ireland
Lewis's mother dies
Lewis begins studies at University College, Oxford
Awarded a fellowship in English at Oxford's Magdalen College; publication of G.K.
Chesterton's The Everlasting Man
Converts to theism and, in 1931, Christianity
The first members of the Inklings meet in Lewis's chambers
J. R. R. Tolkien publishes The Hobbit
Author Charles Williams moves to Oxford, joins the Inklings
Publication of The Screwtape Letters gains Lewis worldwide fame; Dorothy Sayers,
Lewis's friend and a 22-year member of his Socratic Club at Oxford, publishes her bestknown work, The Man Born to Be King
Lewis loses debate to British philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe
Writes seven volumes of The Chronicles of Narnia
Mere Christianity, a collection of radio broadcasts Lewis delivered during World War II,
is published
Publication of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
Lewis marries Joy Davidman Gresham in a civil ceremony (a Christian ceremony followed
in 1957)
Joy dies; to deal with his emotions, Lewis writes A Grief Observed
Lewis dies at his home, The Kilns.
12
1898 (November 29) Born Clive Staples in Belfast, Ireland, to Albert James Lewis and Flora Augusta Hamilton
Lewis.
1905 Lewis family moves to "Little Lea".
1908 (August 23) Mother died of cancer; Clive Staples (Jack), and older brother Warren sent to Wynyard School in
England.
1910 Attends Campbell College, Belfast for one term due to sickness and father's dissatisfaction with the school.
1911-13 Studied at Cherbourg School, Malvern England, following his brother Warren.
1914-16 Extensive literary and philosophical studies under the private teaching of W.T. Kirkpatrick.
1916 Won scholarship to University College, Oxford.
1917 (April 28) Began studies at Oxford; interrupted by serving in WWI; Commisioned as second lieutenant in
Somerset light infantry.
1918 Hospitalized for "trench fever"; rejoined his battalion, wounded in Battle of Arras, France, and hospitalized
again.
1919 Resumed studies at Oxford. Moves in with Mrs. Moore and begins their relationship.
1925 (May) Elected Fellow of English Language and Literature at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he remained
until 1954.
13
1929 (Trinity Term) Becomes a practicing Theist. (September) Lewis' father dies.
1930 (October) Lewis and Mrs. Moore settle at The Kilns.
1931 (28 September) Becomes a practicing Christian.
1939 Began meeting with the Inklings.
1941 (6 August) Began first of twenty-five talks about religion over the BBC. Formed the Socratic Club at Oxford.
1946 Passed over for Merton professorship of English Literature at Oxford. Awarded the Doctorate of Divinity by St.
Andrews University.
1951 Offered the honor of Commander of the Order of the British Empire by the Prime Minister but cordially
refused. Mrs. Jane King Moore died.
1955 (1 January) Elected Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature Magdalen College, Cambridge.
1956 (23 April) Married Joy Davidman Gresham in secret civil ceremony.
1957 (21 March) Married Joy in church ceremony at her hospital bed.
1960 (13 July) Joy Davidman Lewis died.
1963 (July) Lewis goes into a coma and is expected to die. (22 November) Lewis dies at the Kilns. American
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas and on the same day author Aldous Huxley died in
California.
14
Lewis' life was one of change.
1.
He lost both of his parents during his life.
2.
He had to move to England.
3.
He had to go to war.
4.
He went back to school after the war.
5.
He left Christianity and then came back to it.
6.
He came back to his father after disliking him.
Lewis had a varied educational life.
1.
Lewis had a private tutor as a child.
2.
Lewis first school was a bad experience.
3.
Kirkpatrick taught Lewis literature.
4.
Lewis went to University College which is in Oxford.
5.
He became a second lieutenant in the Somerset Infantry.
6.
In 1954 he was elected professor of medieval and Renaissance English literature for Cambridge.
Lewis is commonly thought of as a Christian, though at one time he was an atheist.
1.
Lewis was raised Anglican, but Surprised By Joy hints that he grew up in a religiously unstable household.
2.
He became and atheist because of his personal and philosophical ideas.
3.
He returned to Christianity in his thirties.
A.
Hugo Dyson played a role in convincing Lewis to drop atheism and come back to Christianity.
B.
He was surrounded by those who where Christians (including Tolkien).
C.
He had a mystical experience wherein he realized that he was not allowing something to be released.
D.
In the summer of 1929 he admitted that God was indeed God.
E.
He didn't at that point become a Christian, though.
F.
He became became a Christian in 1931.
15
C. S. (Clive Staples) Lewis wrote books about religion in two ways.
1.
1.
One way Lewis wrote was with imagery.
A.
His most famous book is The Screwtape Letters.
B.
Lewis’ series of books in Narnia are children’s books and are less familiar to the public in general.
a.
The Narnia series tells the story of Jesus in a fairy-tale.
b.
The model for Lewis' Narnia series comes from his mother's childhood experience of seeing a dead saint
open her eyes.
C.
He wrote a three novel trilogy that was science fiction and concerning good and evil.
D.
His book Till We Have Faces, is the story of Cupid and Psyche.
The other way Lewis wrote was non-fiction.
A.
Mere Christianity explained his basic thoughts on doctrine. (The British Broadcasting Corporation talks were published
in this book.)
B.
Surprised by Joy is a self-authored book describing how he left atheism for Christianity.
C.
His other works include The Great Divorce, The Problem of Pain and Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition.
Certain loved ones had affects on Lewis' life.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Lewis’ mother died when he was nine years old.
Lewis’ first two works were published under the pen name Clive Hamilton; Hamilton was his mother's maiden name.
Lewis' father's death affected him more that he admitted.
A.
He feared that critics would attribute his theological thought could be explained in terms of the Oedipus complex.
B.
Lewis' wrote that his father's death "does not really come into the story I am telling."
Lewis loved Mrs. Moore.
A.
He denied that his falling in love with her affected him very much.
B.
She would interrupt him as he was writing his books for five minutes to a half an hour.
Arthur Greeves helped Lewis define who he was.
A.
The became close friends as teenagers when they found they had similar interests.
B.
Lewis learned to write to an audience through his correspondence with Greeves.
16
Introductory Remarks
Champion of Basic / Mere Christianity
Born into a bookish family of Protestants in Belfast, Ireland.
"There were books in the study, books in the dining room, books in the cloakroom, books (two deep) in
the great bookcase on the landing, books in a bedroom, books piled as high as my shoulder in the
cistern attic, books of all kinds,"
A Life of Problems and Moments of Delight (Joy)
Lewis mother's death from cancer came just three months before Jack's tenth birthday, and the
young man was hurt deeply by her passing. On top of that, his father never fully recovered from
her death, and both boys felt increasingly estranged from him; home life was never warm and
satisfying again.
Transition From Christianity to Atheism
His mother's death convinced young Jack that the God he encountered in the Bible his mother
gave him didn't always answer prayers. This early doubt, coupled with an unduly harsh, selfdirected spiritual regimen and the influence of a mildly occultist boarding school matron a few
years later, caused Lewis to reject Christianity and become an avowed atheist.
University Life
Lewis entered Oxford in 1917 as a student and never really left. "The place has surpassed my
wildest dreams," he wrote to his father after spending his first day there. "I never saw anything so
beautiful." Despite an interruption to fight in World War I (in which he was wounded by a bursting
17
shell), he always maintained his home and friends in Oxford.
Introductory Remarks
Marvelous and Seductive Writer
(Chronicles of Narnia set, for example, is among Amazon.com's top 200 titles)
Time Magazine 1947:
“Having lured his reader onto the the straight highway of logic, Lewis then inveigles him down the
garden paths of orthodox theology.” The implication: Could such a clever man be sincere about the
Christianity he was proclaiming?
That was the first beauty I ever knew. What a real garden had failed to do, the toy garden did. It made
me aware of nature--not indeed, as a storehouse of forms and colors but as something cool, dewy, fresh,
exuberant.
Intense Experiences From His Childhood: Longing For Joy
(Inconsolable secrete … the secrete we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both.)
The Search For Joy Becomes The Unifying Theme of C.S. Lewis’ Life = The Search for the
inexpressible
"In speaking of this desire for our own far-off country, . . . I feel a certain shyness. I am almost committing an indecency. I am trying to rip
open the inconsolable secret in each one of you - the secret which hurts so much that you take your revenge on it by calling it names like
Nostalgia and Romanticism and Adolescence; the secret also which pierces with such sweetness that when, in very intimate conversation, the
mention of it becomes imminent, we grow awkward and affect to laugh at ourselves; the secret we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire
to do both . . . The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only
came through them . . . Here, then, is the desire, still wandering and uncertain of its object and still largely unable to see that object in the
direction where it really lies . . . Heaven is, by definition, outside our experience, but all intelligible descriptions must be of things within our
experience. The scriptural picture of heaven is therefore just as symbolical as the picture which our desire, unaided, invents for itself . . . "
Sehnsucht – Longing, Joy , Beauty
It was not until his Christian Conversion that Lewis understood what he was seeking
Lewis found joy in Greek and Nordic Mythology, Music, Literature, Nature, Friends...
18
C.S. Lewis: Early Years
First nine Years - Mother Dies, Boys Sent to Boarding School (England)
Books, Books, and Books
Growing Up: Loving and Intellectual Mother, Unstable Father, Vile Boarding School
Became Serious About Christianity - But A Distorted Christianity Led Him To Reject It All Together
Reads G.K. Chesterton (greatly influences Lewis)
(“A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading.”
Preparatory School: He Lost His Faith and His Simplicity
Became Serious About His Studies, His Imaginative Life Flourished
New Tutor: Kirkpatrick (atheist, ruthless rational) - New Environment: Surrey Country Side
Kirkpatrick: Lewis is Qualified for Nothing Else, But The Academic Life
Becomes Fascinated With Poetry, Romance and Mythology
(He later wondered if his near adoration of false gods whom he did not believe was the true God’s way of
developing within him a keen capacity for sincere worship.)
Start To Develop a Priggish Sense of Superiority
(He Maintained that God did not exist. He was angry with God for not existing, and was equally angry with Him
for creating the world)
Arrives At Oxford
19
Goes To War (on his 19th birthday he arrived in the frontline trenches in France)
Meets Paddy Moore (Fellow Soldier) - Takes Care of Paddy’s Mother Until she died 1951
Longing for Joy
Reading, Reading - Especially enjoyed Christian author George MacDonald. Phantastes, powerfully
challenged his atheism.
"What it actually did to me," wrote Lewis, "was to convert, even to baptize…my imagination." G. K. Chesterton's books - The
Everlasting Man, raised serious questions about the young intellectual's materialism.
"A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading," Lewis later wrote in the
autobiographical Surprised by Joy. "God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous."
Logic - Close friend Owen Barfield pounced on the logic of Lewis's atheism. Barfield had converted from atheism to theism, then
finally to Christianity, and he frequently badgered Lewis about his materialism. So did Nevill Coghill, a brilliant fellow student and
lifelong friend who, to Lewis's amazement, was "a Christian and a thoroughgoing supernaturalist."
Soon after joining the English faculty at Oxford's Magdalen College, Lewis met two more Christians, Hugo Dyson and
J. R. R. Tolkien. These men became close friends of Lewis. He admired their brilliance and their logic. Soon Lewis
recognized that most of his friends, like his favorite authors—MacDonald, Chesterton, Johnson, Spenser, and Milton—
held to this Christianity.
In 1929 these roads met, and Lewis surrendered, admitting "God was God, and knelt and prayed." Within two years the
reluctant convert also moved from theism to Christianity and joined the Church of England.
Almost immediately, Lewis set out in a new direction, most demonstrably in his writing. Earlier efforts to become a poet were laid
to rest. The new Christian devoted his talent and energy to writing prose that reflected his recently found faith. Within two years of
his conversion, Lewis published The Pilgrim's Regress: An Allegorical Apology for Christianity, Reason and Romanticism (1933).
This little volume opened a 30-year stream of books on
Christian apologetics and discipleship that became a lifelong avocation.
Not everyone approved of his new interest in apologetics. Lewis frequently received criticism from members of his closest circle
of friends, the Inklings (the nickname for the group of intellectuals and writers who met regularly to exchange ideas). Even close
Christian friends like Tolkien and Owen Barfield openly disapproved of Lewis's evangelistic speaking and writing.
In fact, Lewis's "Christian" books caused so much disapproval that he was more than once passed over for a
professorship at Oxford, with the honors going to men of lesser reputation. It was Magdalene College at Cambridge
20
University that finally honored Lewis with a chair in 1955.
1 - The Formative Years: Longing for Joy
Ref. Books
Surprised by Joy
They Stand Together (letters to Arthur Grieves)
Letters
CS Lewis: A Biography
Top Ten Books That Influenced C.S Lewis
In 1962, The Christian Century magazine published C.S. Lewis's answer to the question, "What books did most to
shape your vocational attitude and your philosophy of life?" Here is C.S. Lewis's list, annotated with
hyperlinks to e-text versions of the works (where available) and to additional information about the authors.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Phantastes by George MacDonald
The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton.
The Aeneid by Virgil
The Temple by George Herbert
The Prelude by William Wordsworth
The Idea of the Holy by Rudolf Otto
The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius
Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell
Descent into Hell by Charles Williams
Theism and Humanism by Arthur James Balfour
21
Top Ten Books That Influenced C.S Lewis
In 1962, The Christian Century magazine published C.S. Lewis's answer to the question, "What
books did most to shape your vocational attitude and your philosophy of life?" Here is
C.S. Lewis's list, annotated with hyperlinks to e-text versions of the works (where
available) and to additional information about the authors.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Phantastes by George MacDonald
The Everlasting Man by G. K. Chesterton.
The Aeneid by Virgil
The Temple by George Herbert
The Prelude by William Wordsworth
The Idea of the Holy by Rudolf Otto
The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius
Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell
Descent into Hell by Charles Williams
Theism and Humanism by Arthur James Balfour
22
The Pilgrim's Regress:In Search of Joy
Toy garden made him aware of the beauties of nature for the first time
That was the first beauty I ever knew. What a real garden had failed to do, the toy garden did. It made me aware of nature--not
indeed, as a storehouse of forms and colors but as something cool, dewy, fresh, exuberant.
Flowering Currant Bush on a Summer Day - The Beauty of Nature
Beatrix Potter book Squirrel Nutkin - Fell In Love With Autumn
Poetry from the Norse god Balder
Longing - Joy as an unsatisfied desire which is better than any satisfaction - The Stab of Joy
April 1914 - Meets Arthur Grieves (likes Norse Mythology - 47 years of friendship)
March 1916 - Phantastes by George McDonald: Imagination was baptized
Rejected Christianity
Philosophical Progression:
Popular Realism - Philosophical Idealism - Pantheism - Theism - Christianity
“All joy (as distinct from mere pleasure, still more amusement) emphasizes our pilgrim status:
always reminds, beckons, awakens desire. Our best havings are wantings.”
23
That was the first beauty I ever knew. What a real garden had failed to do, the toy garden did. It
made me aware of nature--not indeed, as a storehouse of forms and colors but as something cool,
dewy, fresh, exuberant.
Intense Experiences From His Childhood: Longing For Joy
(Inconsolable secrete … the secrete we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both.)
The Search For Joy Becomes The Unifying Theme of C.S. Lewis’ Life = The Search for the
inexpressible
Sehnsucht – Longing, Joy , Beauty
It was not until his Christian Conversion that Lewis understood what he was seeking
Lewis found joy in Greek and Nordic Mythology, Music, Literature, Nature, Friends...
24
Joy (Sehnsucht)
Myth and Joy (Sehnsucht) played a central role in C. S. Lewis'
pilgrimage to Christian truth and in shaping his apologetics,
particularly his argument from desire.
Far from being separate themes, myth and joy were convergent
streams in Lewis' thinking and experience that he so effectively
presented in his work to help people see the meaning and sweetness of
life in Jesus Christ.
For Lewis, real Joy found its uncommon expression in the true Myth
which became Incarnate and explains how everything (experience,
reason and desire) fits together. Human imagination illumined by the
Holy Spirit brings real Joy and true Myth together to picture Reality,
which Lewis said is that about which truth is . Lewis reached that
stage in his journey when imagination (the organ of meaning) and
reason (the organ of truth) were no longer at loggerheads but became
divinely given pointers to something and Someone outside natural
25
experience.
Joy (Sehnsucht)
In Surprised by Joy Lewis recounted an event which profoundly
affected him with a superabundance of mercy. He purchased a copy
MacDonald's Phantastes, a faerie Romance, and began to read it on
a train ride. Lewis wrote:
"I did not yet know (and I was long in learning) the name of the new
quality, the bright shadow, that rested on the travels of Anodos. I do
now. It was holiness. For the first time the song of the sirens sounded
like the voice of my mother or my nurse...It was as though the voices
which had called to me from the world s end were now speaking at
my side...never had the wind of Joy blowing through any story been
less separable from the story itself...That night my imagination was,
in a certain sense, baptized; the rest of me, not unnaturally, took
longer. I had not the faintest notion what I had let myself in for by
buying Phantastes."
26
"In speaking of this desire for our own far-off country, . . . I feel a certain
shyness. I am almost committing an indecency. I am trying to rip open the
inconsolable secret in each one of you - the secret which hurts so much that
you take your revenge on it by calling it names like Nostalgia and
Romanticism and Adolescence; the secret also which pierces with such
sweetness that when, in very intimate conversation, the mention of it
becomes imminent, we grow awkward and affect to laugh at ourselves; the
secret we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both . . . The
books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray
us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them . . .
Here, then, is the desire, still wandering and uncertain of its object and still
largely unable to see that object in the direction where it really lies . . .
Heaven is, by definition, outside our experience, but all intelligible
descriptions must be of things within our experience. The scriptural picture
of heaven is therefore just as symbolical as the picture which our desire,
unaided, invents for itself . . . "
27
"Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for desires exists. A
baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food . A duckling wants to
swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is
such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this
world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another
world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the
universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it,
but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on
the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings,
and on the other, never to mistake them for something else of which they are
only a kind of a copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire
for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it
get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to
press on to that other country and to help others to do the same."
28
"A man's physical hunger does not prove that the man will get any
bread; he may die of starvation in a raft in the Atlantic. But surely a
man s hunger does prove that he comes of a race which repairs its
body by eating and inhabits a world where eatable substances exist. In
the same way, though I do not believe (I wish I did) that my desire for
Paradise proves that I shall enjoy it, I think it a pretty good indication
that such a thing exists and that some men will. A man may love a
woman and not win her; but it would be very odd if the phenomenon
called falling in love occurred in a sexless world."
29
"If we take the imagery of Scripture seriously, if we believe that God
will one day give us the Morning Star and cause us to put on the
splendor of the sun, then we may surmise that both the ancient myths
and the modern poetry, so false as history, may be very near the truth
as prophecy. At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong
side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but
they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the
splendors we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling
with the rumor that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing,
we shall get in. When human souls have become as perfect in
voluntary obedience as the inanimate creation is in its lifeless
obedience, then they will put on its glory or rather that greater glory
of which nature is only the first sketch."
30
"It was valuable only as a pointer to something other and outer.
While that other was in doubt, the pointer naturally loomed large in
my thoughts. When we are lost in the woods the sight of a signpost is
a great matter. He who first sees it cries, Look! The whole party
gathers round and stares. But when we have found the road and are
passing signposts every few miles, we shall not stop and stare. They
will encourage us and we shall be grateful to the authority that set
them up. But we shall not stop and stare, or not much; not on this
road, though their pillars are of silver and their lettering of gold. We
would be at Jerusalem.'"
31
Conclusion
Lewis insisted that both true Myth and real Joy are cosmic pointers to
God. He saw the work of apologetics as making use of what innately
we know about ourselves and the Reality that is outside ourselves and
then bringing them together by reasoned argument and metaphorical
appeal.
There is a goal and there is a way. It is work that constantly points
outside itself and above itself to the Object of true religious affections.
Lewis works were not so much concerned with the voyage but the
landfall. Like Lewis we too must address and balance appeals to both
head and heart in our defense of our faith and present it in terms best
understandable and identifiable to our audience. As a point of contact
to many unregenerate, therefore, we could approach the presentation
of Scriptural truth as the story of the Real Joy in the True Myth.
Lewis summed up what we constantly must be mindful of when we
are asked to give a defense for the hope we have in Christ, yet with
gentleness and respect.
32
The Apologist's Evening Prayer
From all my lame defeats and oh! much more
From all the victories that I seemed to score;
From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf
At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh;
From all my proofs of Thy divinity,
Thou, who wouldst give no sign, deliver me.
Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead
of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head.
From all my thoughts, even from my thoughts of Thee,
O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free.
Lord of the narrow gate and needle's eye,
Take from me all my trumpery lest I die.
33
2 - The Pilgrim's Regress:In Search of Joy
Ref. Books:
Pilgrim' s Regress
An Experiment In Criticism
English Literature
Surprised by Joy
34
C.S. Lewis: Life and Work
Joy Through Reason,
Imagination and Faith
Part 3
Story Telling: Living in Joy
(What to read while you wait for the next
Harry Potter book…)
“They say Aslan is on the
Reference. Books:
Narnia Chronicles
(Adult Fiction - The Space Trilogy)
Out of the Silent Planet
Perelandra
That Hideous Strength
Till We Have Faces
The Great Divorce
Move
Screwtape Letters
Perhaps has already landed”
35
C.S. Lewis: Making Pictures
To forbid the making of pictures about God would be to forbid thinking a about God at all, for
man is so made that he has no way to think except in pictures. Dorothy Sayers
". . . When [people] try to get rid of man-like, or, as they are called, 'anthropomorphic,'
images, they merely succeed in substituting images of some other kinds. 'I don't believe in
a personal God,' says one, 'but I do believe in a great spiritual force.' What he has not
noticed is that the word 'force' has let in all sorts of images about winds and tides and
electricity and gravitation. 'I don't believe in a personal God,' says another, 'but I do
believe we are all parts of one great Being which moves and works through us all' -not
noticing that he has merely exchanged the image of a fatherly and royal-looking man for
the image of some widely extended gas or fluid. A girl I knew was brought up by
'higher thinking' parents to regard God as perfect 'substance.' In later life she realized
that this had actually led her to think of Him as something like a vast tapioca pudding.
(To make matters worse, she disliked tapioca.) We may feel ourselves quite safe from this
degree of absurdity but we are mistaken. If a man watches his own mind, I believe he will
find that what profess to be specially advanced or philosophic conceptions of God, are,
in his thinking, always accompanied by vague images which, if inspected, would turn out
to be even more absurd than the manlike images aroused by Christian theology.
Miracles
36
Lewis’s Concept of Nature: Spoiled Goodness
Lewis’s Response to Nature:
1 – Romantic Appreciation and Idealization
2 – Acceptance of the Supernatural
The Experience with the supernatural
Lucy’s tale - several hours in Narnia - less than a minute
3 – Moral Awareness of the force of evil in nature and the temporal
transient quality of our world.
Nature is more than a background setting for the action of his characters
“Either there is significance in the whole process of things as well as in human activities,
or there is no significance in human activity itself.” C.S. Lewis, The Personal Heresy,
1939.
Fresh exuberance of nature (This is no thaw; this is spring) - Glimpses of Redeemed Creation
Creation, Fall, Redemption
“They say Aslan is on the Move - Perhaps has already landed”
37
Lewis’s Concept of God: The Coming of the Lion
"Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David,
has prevailed.
Rev. 5:5
“’They say Aslan is on the move – perhaps has already landed’
And now a very curious thing happened. None of the children knew who Aslan was any
more than you do; but the moment the Beaver had spoken these words everyone felt quite
different. Perhaps it has sometimes happened to you in a dream that someone says
something which you don’t understand but in the dream it feels as if it had some enormous
meaning – either a terrifying one which turns the whole dream into a nightmare or else a
lovely meaning too lovely to put into words, which makes the dream so beautiful that you
remember it all your life and are always wishing you could get into that dream again. It
was like that now. At the name of Aslan each one of the children felt something jump
inside. Edmund felt a sensation of mysterious horror. Peter felt suddenly brave and
adventurous. Susan felt as if some delicious smell or some delightful strain of music had
just floated by her. And Lucy got the feeling you have when you wake up in the morning
and and realize that its the beginning of the holidays or the beginning of summer.”
The LWW
38
Lewis’s Concept of Humanity: Possible Gods and Goddesses
It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to
remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one
day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to
worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all,
only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other
to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming
possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we
should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all
play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a
mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization--these are mortal, and their
life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with,
work with, marry, snub, and exploit--immortal horrors or everlasting
splendors.
The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses
39
Narnia
Many Christian doctrines (Classical Christianity)
Doctrines fall into three categories:
Nature, God, Man’s Relationship to Nature, God and his fellow man.
Animal-Land (7-8 years old)
The Narnia Series: Different from other Stories - Magic, Fantasy … the Glimpsing of OtherWorlds
Stories
-(1-4)London Children being evacuated to the country during WW II. Children
Transported from this world into a world faire-tale creatures belonging to a great lion
(four books on this scheme). The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe,
- (5)The tale of two native children of that world who are also chosen by the great lion to
serve the land of Narnia and to know him in a special way.
- (6)The beginning of the world of Narnia - the intrusion of two Victorian children into
the newborn world begins the complications which give rise to all the later adventures.
(The Magician’s Nephew)
-(7)The end of Narnia (Last Battle)
Each story complete in itself - George MacDonald stile.
Fragmented - Strong unity of philosophy and consistency of doctrine.
40
Narnia:
Myth Made Truth:
The Origins of the Chronicles of Narnia
In the process of writing the Chronicles of Narnia, C.S.
Lewis gradually expanded the breadth and scope of his
literary ambitions. What was foreseen from the outset
as a collection of stories for children developed into a
complex depiction of an entire moral universe. As the
seven books progress, Lewis unfolds the whole Divine
plan for this universe from its creation to its
apocalypse. However, the uniqueness of Lewis' literary
achievement stems from the fact that Lewis manages to
do two things at once. That is, he remains faithful to his
original intention to write stories for children while
adding in subtle moral and spiritual complexities.
These complexities do not seem like authorial
intrusions or editorializing. They are instead woven
into the very fabric of Lewis’s creative universe. Thus,
the Chronicles of Narnia are a series of books that can
delight the senses as they challenge and stir the soul.
(Mark Bane)
41
Narnia
ENGLAND - English
years
-
NARNIA - Narnian years
-
-
-
1888 Digory Kirke born.
-
-
1889 Polly Plummer born.
1
Creation of Narnia. The Beasts made able to talk. Digory plants the
Tree of Protection. The White Witch Jadis enters Narnia but flies into
the far North. Frank I becomes King of Narnia.
Polly and Digory
1900 carried into Narnia by
magic Rings.
Prince Col, younger son of K. Frank V of Narnia leads certain
180 followers into Archenland (not then inhabited) and becomes first King
of that country.
-
-
204
Certain outlaws from Archenland fly across the Southern desert and set
1927 Peter Pevensie born.
up the new kingdom of Calormen.
-
-
1928 Susan Pevensie born.
-
-
1930
300
The empire of Calormen spreads mightily. Calormenes colonize the
land of Telmar to the West of Narnia.
1932 Lucy Pevensie born.
-
-
1933
Edmund Pevensie
born.
Eustace Scrubb and Jill
Pole born.
The Calormenes in Telmar behave very wickedly and Aslan turns them
into dumb beasts. The country lies waste. King Gale of Narnia delivers
302
the Lone Islands from a dragon and is made Emperor by their grateful
inhabitants.
-
407 Olvin of Archenland kills the Giant Pire.
-
-
460 Pirates form our world take possession of Telmar.
-
-
570 About this time lived Moonwood the Hare.
-
-
898 The White Witch Jadis returns into Narnia out of the far North.
-
-
42
Narnia
900
The long winter begins.
-
-
1000
The Pevensies, staying with
The Pevensies arrive in Narnia. The treachery of Edmund. The
Digory (now Professor)
1940
sacrifice of Aslan. The White Witch defeated and the Long
Kirke, reach Narnia through
Winter ended. Peter becomes High King of Narnia.
the Magic Wardrobe.
1014
King Peter carries out a successful raid on the Northern
Giants. Queen Susan and King Edmund visit the Court of
Calormen. King Lune of Archenland discovers his long-lost
son Prince Cor and defeats a treacherous attack by Prince
Rabadash of Calormen.
-
-
1015
The Pevensies hunt the White Stag and vanish out of Narnia.
-
-
1050
Ram the Great succeeds Cor as King of Archenland.
-
-
1502
About this time lived Queen Swanwhite of Narnia.
-
-
1998
The Telmarines invade and conquer Narnia. Caspian I
becomes King of Narnia.
-
-
2290
Prince Caspian, son of Caspian IX, born. Caspian IX
murdered by his brother Miraz who usurps the throne.
-
-
2303
Prince Caspian escapes from his uncle Miraz. Civil War in
Narnia. By the aid of Aslan and of the Pevensies, whom
Caspian summons with Queen Susan's Magic Horn, Miraz is
defeated and killed. Caspian becomes King Caspian X of
Narnia.
The Pevensies again caught
1941 into Narnia by the blast of the
Magic Horn.
2304
Caspian X defeats the Northern Giants.
-
-
2306Caspian X's great voyage to the end of the World.
7
Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace
1942 reach Narnia again and take
part in Caspian's voyage.
2310
Caspian X marries Ramandu's daughter.
-
-
2325
Prince Rilian born.
-
-
2345
The Queen killed by a Serpent. Rilian disappears.
-
-
2356
Eustace and Jill appear in Narnia and rescue Prince Rilian.
Death of Caspian X
Eustace and Jill, from
1942 Experiment House, are carried
away into Narnia.
2534
Outbreak of outlaws in Lantern Waste. Towers built to guard
that region.
-
-
2555
Rebellion of Shift the Ape. King Tirian rescued by Eustace
and Jill. Narnia in the hands of the Calormenes. The last
battle. End of the World.
1949
Serious accident on British
Railways.
43
The Magician's Nephew
Digory Kirke (12) and Polly Plumber (11) are children living in London. After Digory moves in with
his Aunt Letty and crazy Uncle Andrew, he meets Polly and they do some exploring. They make
their way to Narnia, the new world created by the Great Lion, Aslan. They must save it from the evil
witch, Jadis. The book is usually numbered either first or sixth, but some people recommend reading
it second
The Main Theme: Weakness to Power
Key Symbol: Fruit of the Tree of Life
Favorite Quotes
The Magician’s Nephew and The Bible (Colossians 1:9-17) – Christ created and redeemed the world.
Paul prays for power in their lives.
When and Where in The Magician’s Nephew
Chapter 1,2 – London
Chapters 3,4,5 – Trip to Charn
Chapters 6,7,8 – London
Chapters 9,10,11 – Narnia
Chapters 12, 13 – Western Wild
Chapters 14 – Narnia
Chapters 15 – London
44
The Magician's Nephew
The Lion, whose eyes never blinked, stared at the animals as
hard as if he was going to burn them up with his mere stare.
And gradually a change came over them. The smaller ones - the
rabbits, moles, and such-like - grew a good deal larger. The
very big ones - you noticed it most with the elephants - grew a
little smaller. Many animals sat p on their hind legs. Most put
their heads on one side as if they were trying very hard to
understand. The Lion opened his mouth, but no sound came
from it; he was breathing out, a long, warm breath; it seemed to
sway all the beasts as the wind sways a line of trees. Far
overhead from beyond the veil of blue sky which hid them the
stars sang again; a pure, cold, difficult music. Then there came
a swift flash like fire (but it burnt nobody) either from the sky
or from the Lion itself, and every drop of blood tingled in the
children's bodies, and the deepest, wildest voice they had ever
heard was saying: "Narnia, Narnia, Narnia, awake. Love.
Think. Speak. Be walking trees. Be talking beasts. Be divine
waters."
(The founding of Narnia)
45
The Magician's Nephew
"Child," he (Aslan) replied, "that is why all the rest
are now a horror to her. That is what happens to those
who pluck and eat fruits at the wrong time and in the
wrong way. The fruit is good, but they loath it ever
after."
"Oh I see," said Polly. "And I suppose because she
took it in the wrong way it won't work for her. I mean
it won't make her always young and all that?"
"Alas," said Aslan, shaking his head. "It will. Things
always work according to their nature. She has won
her heart's desire; she has un-wearing strength and
endless days like a goddess. But length of days with
an evil heart is only length of misery and already she
begins to know it. All get what they want; they do not
always like it."
(The Planting of the Tree)
46
The Magician's Nephew
They looked and saw a little hollow in the grass, with a
grassy bottom, warm and dry.
"When you were last here," said Aslan, "that hollow was a
pool, and when you jumped into it you came to the world
where a dying sun shone over the ruins of Charn. There is
no pool now. That world is ended, as if it had never been.
Let the race of Adam and Eve take warning."
"Yes, Aslan," said both the children. But Polly added, "But
we're not quite as bad as that world, are we, Aslan?"
"Not yet, Daughter of Eve," he said. "Not yet. But you are
growing more like it. It is not certain that some wicked one
of your race will not find out a secret as evil as the
Deplorable Word and use it to destroy all living things. And
soon, very soon, before you are an old man and an old
woman, great nations in your world will be ruled by tyrants
who care no more for joy and justice and mercy than the
Empress Jadis. Let your world beware. That is the
warning."
(The End of This Story and the Beginning of All The
Others)
Fledge, Polly and Digory
47
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN: C.S. Lewis
played in this wardrobe as a child.
The Main Theme: Frozen to Thawed
Key Symbol: The Stone Table
Favorite Quotes
LWW and the Bible
When and Where in LWW
1. Lucy accidentally found herself in Narnia
2. After a visit with Mr. Tumus the Faun, Lucy returned to England
3. Edmund accidentally found himself in Narnia and met the Queen of Narnia
4. Edmund became addicted to magic candy
5. Peter and Susan assumed that Lucy’s Narnia was unreal and
6. All four children found themselves in Narnia
7. The four learned about Narnia while visiting Mr. And Mrs. Beaver
8. Edmund sneaked away to betray the others to the White Witch
9. Edmund made his way to the Witch’s castle and became captive there
10. As the children and the Beavers fled, Father Christmas arrived with gifts
11. The Witch discover that her perpetual winter was beginning to thaw
12. Aslan appeared, greeted his friend ands knighted Peter
13. The Witch demand her right to kill Edmund
14. Aslan gave himself to the Witch ti die in Edmund’s place
15. Aslan came back to life
16. Aslan revived all victims of the Witch who had turned to statues
17. The children ruled Narnia for many happy years before returning to England
48
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Daughter of Eve (9,8)
Romans 5:12
I should live to see this day (68, 58)
Luke 2:30
Wrong will be right when. ..(74, 64)
Mat. 12:18-20
At the sound of his roar. ..(74, 64 )
Hosea 11:10-11
Sorrows will be no more (74,64)
Isaiah 65:19
When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone (76, 65 )
Genesis 2:23
They are tools, not toys ( 104, 87 )
Eph. 6:11-17
No need to talk about what is past ( 136, I 12)
Is. 65:16
Deep Magic ( 138, I 14)
I Corinthians 2:5-8
He just went on looking at Asian (138, 114)
Hebrews 12:2
I should be glad of company tonight (147, 121 )
Matthew 26:38
I am sad and lonely ( 147, 121 )
Matthew 26:38
Let him first be shaved (150,124)
Matthew 27:28
Jeering at him saying ( 150, 124 )
Matthew 27:29
In that knowledge, despair and die (152,126)
Matthew 27:46
Warmth of his breath. ..came all over her ( 159, 132 ) John 20:22
A magic deeper still ( 159, 132 )
I Corinthians 2:7-8
Asian provided food (178, 147)
John 6:1-14
He has other countries to attend to (180, 149)
John 10:16
49
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
"Have you forgotten the Deep Magic?" asked the Witch.
"Let us say I have forgotten it," answered Aslan gravely. "Tell
us of this Deep Magic."
"Tell you?" said the Witch, her voice growing suddenly
shriller. "Tell you what is written on that very Table of Stone
which stands behind us? Tell you what is written in letters deep
as a spear is long on the fire-stones on the Secet Hill? Tell you
what is engraved on the scepter of the Emperor-beyond the
sea? You at least know the Magic which the Emperor put into
Narnia at the very beginning. You know that every traitor
belongs to me as my lawful prey and that for every treachery I
have a right to a kill."
"Oh," said Mr. Beaver. "So that's how you came to imagine
yourself a queen -- because you were the Emperor's hangman.
I see."
Lucy and Mr. Tumnus
(Deep Magic from The Dawn of Time)
Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie were sent away from their home, during the war, to the
house of an old professor. To pass time, they start a game of hide and seek, because Professor Kirke
didn’t mind them wandering around the enormous house. Lucy is the first to discover the secret of
the wardrobe in the empty room, but soon enough, the other children follow. After they meet Mr.
and Mrs. Beaver, the Pevensie children learn of the White Witch and her spell over Narnia, and they
all decide to find Aslan and save Narnia- or do they all?
50
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
"Oh, you're real, you're real! Oh, Aslan!" cried Lucy, and both girls flung
themselves upon him and covered him with kisses.
"But what does it all mean?" asked Susan when they were somewhat calmer.
"It means, said Aslan, that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is
a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only
to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into
the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read
there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing
victim who has committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the
Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward."
(Deeper Magic From Before The Dawn of Time)
"Of course," said Aslan. "And now! Those who can't keep up - that is,
children, dwarfs, and small animals - must ride on the backs of those who
can - that is, lions, centaurs, unicorns, horses, giants and eagles. Those who
are good with their noses must come in the front with us lions to smell out
where the battle is. Look lively and sort yourselves."
And with a great deal of bustle and cheering they did. The most pleased of
the lot was the other lion who kept running about everywhere pretending to
be very busy but really in order to say to everyone he met, "Did you hear
what he said? Us Lions. That meant him and me. Us Lions. That's what I
like about Aslan. No side, no stand-off-ishness. Us Lions. That meant him
and me." At least he went on saying this till Aslan had loaded him up with
three dwarfs, one dryad, two rabbits, and a hedgehog. That steadied him a
bit."
(What Happened About The Statues)
And I saw a strong angel, who
shouted in a loud voice: "Who is
worthy to break the seals on this
scroll and unroll it?" But no one in
heaven or on earth or under the
earth was able to open the scroll
and read it. Then I wept because no
one could be found who was worthy
to open the scroll and read it. But
one of the twenty-four elders said
to me, "Stop weeping! Look, the
LION of the tribe of Judah, the heir
to David's throne has conquered.
He is worthy to open the scroll and
break the seven seals." Rev 5:2-5
And Aslan stood up and as he
opened his mouth to roar his face
became so terrible that they did not
dare to look at it. And they saw all
the trees in front of him bend
before the blast of his roaring as
the grass bends in a meadow before
the wind.
The Lion, the Witch and the 51
Wardrobe
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
"Is--is he a man?" asked Lucy.
"Aslan a man!" said Mr. Beaver sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you he is the
King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don't
you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion--the Lion, the great
Lion."
"Ooh!" said Susan, "I'd thought he was a man. Is he--quite safe? I shall feel
rather nervous about meeting a lion."
"That you will, dearie, and no mistake,' said Mrs. Beaver, 'if there's anyone
who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either
braver than most or else just silly."
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who
said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King
I tell you."
"I'm longing to see him," said Peter, "even if I do feel frightened when it
comes to the point.“
"He'll be coming and going. One day you'll see him and another you won't.
He doesn't like being tied down--and of course he has other countries to
attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop in. Only you mustn't press him.
He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion."
52
The Horse and His Boy
Shasta escapes from the land of Calormen with a Narnian warhorse, Bree. Along with Aravis
and her horse Hwin, they uncover a Calormene plot to conquer Narnia and must find a way to
save Narnia and its people.
The Main Theme: Slavery to Freedom
Key Symbol: Living Water
Favorite Quotes
The Horse and His Boy and the Bible:
Zechariah 1:7-17, 3, 4:6, 6:1-8, 7:8-10,
9:9, 9:12, 10:3-6, 13:1, 14:8, 14:20
Isaiah58:8-11; John 4:14
When and Where
Takes place in 1940 English time and 1014 Narnia time. The four Pevensies have been ruling Narnia for 14
years. Susan mentions the recent planting of an apple orchard at pair Paravel; this will be recalled by Peter
almost 1300 later, Narnian time, in the Prince Caspian.
The Horse and His Boy is the only story of the seven Chronicles that does not involve anyone journeying out
of our own world.
53
The Horse and His Boy
At that moment everyone's feelings were completely altered by a sound from behind.
... It was the same snarling roar [Shasta] had heard that moonlit night when they first
met Aravis and Hwin. Bree knew it too. His eyes gleamed red and his ears lay flat back
on his skull. And Bree now discovered that he had not really been going as fast - not
quite as fast - as he could. Shasta felt the change at once. Now they were really going
all out.
Aslan, speaking to Shasta: "I was the lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was
the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the
jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength
of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion
you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that
it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight to receive you."
Shasta: "Then it was you who wounded Aravis?"
Aslan: "It was I."
Shasta: "But what for?"
Aslan: "Child, I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no-one any story but his
own."
Corin: "Hurrah! Hurrah! I shan't have to be King... I'll always be a prince. It's princes
have all the fun."
King Lune: "And that's truer than thy brother knows, Cor. For this is what it means to
be a king: to be first in every desperate attack and last in every desperate retreat, and
when there's hunger in the land (as must be now and then in bad years) to wear finer
clothes and laugh louder over a scantier meal than any man in your land."
54
Prince Caspian
Troubled times have come to Narnia as it is gripped by civil war. Prince Caspian is forced to blow The Great
Horn of Narnia, summoning the help of past heroes, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. Now they must
overthrow Caspian's uncle, King Miraz, to restore peace to Narnia. PC emphasizes education more
than of the other Chronicles.
The Main Theme: Fasting to Feasting
Key Symbol: A Dorr in the Air
Favorite Quotes
Prince Caspian and the Bible: Psalm 148
When, Where and How Long
1. In the LWW Peter was thirteen, Susan was twelve, Edmund was ten and Lucy eight.
2. One year has passed in England and it is 1941 there.
3. In Narnia 1303 years have passed while one year passed England
How Long
1. Chapters 1-3: Arrival in Narnia
2. Chapters 4-7: The dwarf’s story
3. Chapters 8-11: The long journey
4. Chapters 12-14: Accomplishing the task
5. Chapters 15: Rewards
Prince Caspian and the Bible
The People That Lived in Hiding (68, 59 )
Help may be even now at the door (158, 134)
A few join his company (195, 166)
Not water but richest wine(198,168)
Isaiah 9:1
Mark 13:29
John 6:66
John 2:9
55
Prince Caspian
"Great Scott!" said Peter. "So it was the horn - your own horn, Su - that dragged us all off that seat on the platform yesterday
morning! I can hardly believe it, yet it all fits in."
"I don't know why you shouldn't believe it," said Lucy, "if you believe in magic at all. Aren't there lots of stories about magic
forcing people out of one place - out of one world - into another? I mean, whan a magician in The Arabian Nights calls up a
Jinn, it has to come. We had to come, just like that."
"Yes," said Peter, "I suppose what makes it feel so queer is that in the stories it's always someone in our world who does the
calling. One doesn't really think about where the Jinn's coming from."
"And now we know what it feels like for the Jinn," said Edmund with a chuckle. "Golly! It's a bit uncomfortable to know that we
can be whistled for like that. It's worse than what Father says about living at the mercy of the telephone."
(How They Left The Island)
"Such a horrible idea has come into my head, Su."
"What's that?"
"Wouldn't it be dreadful if some day in our own world, at home,
men started going wild inside, like the animals here, and still looked like men,
so that you'd never know which were which?"
(What Lucy Saw)
"Aslan," said Lucy, "you're bigger."
"That is because you are older, little one," answered he.
"Not because you are?"
"I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger."
(The Return of the Lion)
56
Prince Caspian
"I say, Peter," whispered Edmund. "Look at those carvings on the walls. Don't they
look old? And yet we're older than that. When we were last here, they hadn't been
made."
"Yes," said Peter. "That makes one think."
(Sorcery and Sudden Vengeance)
"I am confounded," said Reepicheep to Aslan. "I am completely out of countenance.
I must crave your indulgence for appearing in this unseemly fashion."
"It becomes you very well, Small One," said Aslan.
"All the same," replied Reepicheep, "if anything could be done... Perhaps her
Majesty?" and here he bowed to Lucy.
"But what do you want with a tail?" asked Aslan.
"Sir," said the Mouse, "I can eat and sleep and die for my King without one. But a
tail is the honor and glory of a Mouse."
"I have sometimes wondered, friend," said Aslan, "whether you do not think too
much about your honor."
"Highest of all HIgh Kings," said Reepicheep, "permit me to remind you that a very
small size has been bestowed on us Mice, and if we did not guard our dignity, some
(who weigh worth by inches) would allow themselves very unsuitable pleasantries at
our expence. That is why I have been at some pains to make it known that no one
who does not wish to feel this sword as near his heart as I can reach shall talk in my
presence about Traps or Toasted Cheese or Candles: no, Sir - not the tallest fool in
Narnia!"
(Aslan Makes a door in the Air)
57
The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader'
Lucy, Edmund, and their cousin Eustace, are magically transported onto the ship, Dawn Treader,
where King Caspian is searching for the seven lost friends of his father. On the voyage, the
children meet many fantastical creatures, including the great Aslan himself.
The Main Theme: West to East (God-ward – Gen2:8)
Key Symbol: A Magic Spell
Favorite Quotes
VDT and the Bible: Ezekiel 43:2-4,47:1-12
When, Where and Who
208)
Edmund, Lucy and Eustace joined voyage
The storm
Limping east in a bad condition
Dragon Island
“Oh, Aslan, said Lucy. Will you tell us how to get
into your country from our world?
I shall be telling you all the time, said Aslan”
VDT and the Bible
As bad as I was (91, 91)
Well-he knows me (92,91)
Caspian obeyed (173,169)
A little live coal ( 178, 173)
Come and have breakfast (214, 208)
James 5: 16
I Cor. 13:12
Ephesians 5:21
Isaiah 6:6
John 21:12
58
The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader'
Parts of the voyage
1. The 400-league journey from Cair Paravel to the four western islands, taking 30 days
2. The Lone Islands adventures at Felimath, where the voyagers were captured by slave traders, and Doorn, where
they cleaned the corrupt government of Narrowhaven.
3. Twelve days in a great storm followed by eights of anxiety
4. A week on Dragon Island and a brief stop at Burnt Island
5. Five days at sea and a deadly struggle with the Sea Serpent
6. Escaping the evil spell of Deathwater Island
7. The Island of the Voices and the Magic Book, where Coriakin ruled
8. Ramandu’s Island, where Aslan’s table was spread with food.
10. To the World’s End, where the sky joins the earth
Aslan appears seven times in this book
1. To Eustace and transformed him
2. Walked by and broke the spell of the greed at Goldwater
3. Magic Book to save Lucy from temptation
4. To Lucy when she made hidden things visible
5. As a bright albatross Aslan led the ship from the Dark island
6. The Lion’s head on the wall came to life and directed Caspian
7. The Lamb became Aslan
59
The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader‘
At first the only people who cheered were those who had been warned by
Bern's messenger and knew what was happening and wanted it to happen.
But then all the children joined in because they liked a procession and had
seen very few. And then all the schoolboys joined in because they also liked
processions and felt that the more noise and disturbance there was the less
likely they would be to have any school that morning. And then all the old
women put their heads out of doors and windows and began chattering and
cheering because it was a king, and what is a governor compared with that?
And all the young women joined in for the same reason and also because
Caspian and Drinian and the rest were so handsome. And then all the young
men came to see what the young women were looking at, so that by the time
Caspian reached the castle gates, nearly the whole town was shouting.
Then her face lit up till, for a moment (but of course she didn't know it), she looked
almost as beautiful as that other Lucy in the picture, and she ran forward with a
little cry of delight and with her arms stretched out. For what stood in the doorway
was Aslan himself, The Lion, the highest of all High Kings. And he was solid and
real and warm and he let her kiss him and bury herself in his shining mane. And
from the low, earthquake-like sound that came from inside him, Lucy even dared to
think that he was purring.
"Oh, Aslan," said she, "it was kind of you to come."
"I have been here all the time," said he, "but you have just made me visible."
"Aslan!" said Lucy almost a little reproachfully. "Don't make fun of me. As if
anything I could do would make you visible!"
"It did," said Aslan. "Do you think I wouldn't obey my own rules?"
60
The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader‘
"Secondly," said Caspian, "I want to know why you have permitted this
abominable and unnatural traffic in slaves to grow up here, contrary to
the ancient custom and usage of our dominions."
"Necessary, unavoidable," said his Sufficiency. "An essential part of the
economic development of the islands, I assure you. Our present burst of
prosperity depends on it."
"What need have you of slaves?"
"For export, your Majesty. Sell ‘em to Calormen mostly, and we have
other markets. We are a great center of the trade."
"In other words," said Caspian, "you don't need them. Tell me what
purpose they serve except to put money into the pockets of such as
Pug?"
"Your Majesty's tender years," said Gumpas, with what was meant to be
a fatherly smile, "hardly make it possible that you should understand the
economic problem involved. I have statistics, I have graphs, I have--"
"Tender as my years may be," said Caspian, "I believe I understand the
slave trade from within quite as well as your Sufficiency. and I do not
see that it brings into the islands meat or bread or beer or wine or timber
or cabbages or books or instruments of music or horses or armor or
anything else worth having. But whether it does or not, it must be
stopped."
(What Caspian Did There)
61
The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader‘
"The King who owned this island," said Caspian slowly, and his face flushed as
he spoke, "would soon be the richest of all Kings of the world. I claim this land
forever as a Narnia possession. It shall be called Goldwater Island. And I bind all
of you to secrecy. No one must know of this. Not even Drinian--on pain of death,
do you hear?"
"Who are you talking to?" said Edmund. "I'm no subject of yours. If anything it's
the other way round. I am one of the four ancient sovereigns of Narnia and you
are under allegiance to the High King my brother."
"So it has come to that, King Edmund, has it?" said Caspian, laying his hand on
his sward-hilt.
"Oh, stop it, both of you," said Lucy. "That's the worst of doing anything with
boys. You're all such swaggering, bullying idiots--oooh!--" Her voice died away
into a gasp. And evryone else saw what she had seen.
Across the gray hillside above them--gray, for the heather was not yet in bloom-without noise, and without looking at them, and shining as if he were in bright
sunlight though the sun had in fact gone in, passed with slow pace the hugest
lion that human eyes have ever seen. In describing the scene Lucy said
afterward, "He was the size of an elephant," though at another time she only said,
"The size of a cart-horse." But it was not the size that mattered. Nobody dared to
ask what it was. They knew it was Aslan.
And nobody ever saw how or where he went. They all looked at one another like
people waking from sleep.
"What were we talking about?" said Caspian. "Have I been making rather an ass
of myself?"
"Sire," said Reepicheep, "this is a place with a curse on it. Let us get back on
board at once. And if I might have the honor of naming this island, I should call
it Deathwater."
(Two Narrow Escapes)
62
The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader‘
..."Do not look so sad. We shall meet soon again."
"Please, Aslan," said Lucy, "what do you call soon?"
"I call all times soon," said Aslan; and instantly he was vanished away and
Lucy was alone with the Magician.
(The Dufflepuds Made Happy)
"Fly! Fly! About with your ship and fly! Row, row, row for your lives away
from this accursed shore. This is the Island where Dreams come true."
"That's the island I've been looking for this long time," said one of the
sailors. "I reckon I'd find I was married to Nancy if we landed here."
"And I'd find Tom alive again," said another.
"Fools!" said the man, stamping his foot with rage. "That is the sort of talk
that brought me here, and I'd better have been drowned or never born. Do
you hear what I say? This is where dreams--dreams, do you understand-come to life, come real. Not daydreams: dreams."
There was about half a minute's silence and then, with a great clatter of
armor, the whole crew were tumbling down the main hatch as quick as they
could and flinging themselves on the oars to row as they had never rowed
before; and Drinian was swinging round the tiller, and the boatswain was
giving out the quickest stroke that had ever been heard at sea. For it had
taken everyone just that half-minute to remember certain dreams they had
had--dreams that make you afraid of going to sleep again--and to realize
what it would mean to land on a country where dreams come true.
(The Dark Island)
63
The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader‘
"I saw them long ago," said the Old Man, "but it was from a gret
height. I cannot tell you such things as sailors need to know."
"Do you mean you were flying in the air?" Eustace blurted out.
"I was a long way above the air, my son," replied the Old Man.
"I am Ramandu." But I see that you stare at one another and
have not heard this name. And no wonder, for the days when I
was a star had ceased long before any of you knew this world,
and all the constellations have changed."
"Golly," said Edmund under his breath. "He's a retired star."
"Aren't you a star any longer?" asked Lucy.
"I am a star at rest, my daughter," answered Ramandu. "when I
set for the last time, decrepit and old beyond all that you can
reckon, I was carried to this island. I am not so old now as I was
then. Every morning a bird brings me a fire-berry from the
valleys in the Sun, and each fire-berry takes away a little of my
age. And when I have become as young as the child that was
born yesterday, then I shall take my rising again (for we are at
earth's eastern rim) and once more tread the great dance."
(The Beginning of the End of the World)
64
The Silver Chair
King Caspian's beloved son Prince Rilian has disappeared. Aslan sends Eustace and his school
friend Jill to Narnia on a quest to search for the young prince and defeat the evil Witch
The Main Theme: Darkness to Light
Key Symbol: A Shield of Faith
Favorite Quotes
SC and the Bible:
John 8:12-32
Isaiah 57:13-16
When, Where
London in Narnia
65
The Silver Chair
"And how shall we start?" said Scrubb.
"Well," said the Marsh-Wiggle very slowly, "all the others who ever
went looking for Prince Rilian started fro the same fountain where
Lord Drinian saw the lady. They went north, mostly. And as none of
them ever came back, we can’t exactly say how they got on."
"We’ve got to start by finding a ruined city of giants," said Jill.
"Aslan said so."
"Got to start by finding it, have we?" answered Puddleglum. "Not
allowed to start by looking for it, I suppose?"
"That’s what I meant, of course," said Jill.
Puddleglum
"Don’t you lose heart, pole," said Puddleglum. "I’m coming, sure
and certain. I’m not going to lose an opportunity like this. It will do
me good. They all say --- I mean, the other wiggles all say -- that
I’m too flighty; don’t take life seriously enough. If they’ve said it
once, they’ve said it a thousand times. ‘Puddleglum,’ they’ve said,
‘you’re altogether too full of bobance and bounce and high spirits.
You’ve got to learn that life isn’t all fricasseed frogs and eel pie.
You want something to sober you down a bit. We’re only saying it
for your own good, Puddleglum.’ That’s what they say. Now a job
like this -- a journey up north just as winter’s beginning, looking for
a Prince that probably isn’t there, by way of a ruined city that no
one has ever seen -- will be just the thing. If that doesn’t steady a
chap, I don’t know what will."
Puddleglum
66
The Silver Chair
It tool them some time to reach the foot of the slope and, when they did, they looked
down from the top of the cliffs at a river running below them from west to east. It
was walled in by precipices on the far side as well as on their own, and it was green
and sunless, full of rapids and waterfalls. The roar of it shook the earth even where
they stood.
"The bright side of it is," said Puddleglum, "that if we break our necks getting down
the cliffs, then we’re safe from being drowned in the river."
The Wild Waste Lands of the North
"Very well. We’ll have to manage without it. But there’s one thing more I want to
know. If this owls’ parliment, as you call it, is all fair and above board and means no
mischief, why does it have to be so jolly secret -- meeting in a ruin in dead of night,
and all that?"
"Tu-whoo! Tu-whoo!" hooted several owls. "Where should we meet? When would
anyone meet except at night?"
"You see," explained Glimfeather, "most of the creatures in Narnia have such
unnatural habits. They do things by day, in broad blazing sunlight (ugh!) when
everyone ought to be asleep. And, as a result, at night they’re so blind and stupid that
you can’t get a word out of them. So we owls have got into the habit of meting at
sensible hours, on our own, when we want to talk about things."
A Parliment of Owls
"O-ho!" said the Porter. "That’s quite a different story. Come in, little people, come
in. You’d best come into the lodge while I’m sending word to his Majesty." He
looked at the children with curiosity. "Blue faces," he said. "I didn’t know they were
that color. Don’t care about it myself. But I dare say you look quite nice to one
another. Beetles fancy other beetles, they do say."
"Our faces are only blue with cold," said Jill. "We’re not this color really."
The Hill of the Strange Trenches
67
The Silver Chair
"So it’s no good, Pole. I know what you were thinking because I was thinking the same. You were
thinking how nice it would have been if Aslan hadn’t put the instructions on the stones of the ruined
city till after we’d passed it. And then it would have been his fault, not ours. So likely, isn’t it? No.
We must just own up. We’ve only four signs to go by, and we’ve muffed the first three."
The House of Harfang
Suddenly Puddleglum turned to them, and his face had gone so pale that you could see the paleness
under the natural muddiness of his complexion. He said:
"Don’t eat another bite."
"What’s wrong?" asked the other tow in a whisper.
"Didn’t you hear what those giants were saying? ‘That’s a nice tender haunch of venison,’ said one of
them. ‘Then that stag was a liar.’ said another. ‘Why?’ said the first one. ‘Oh,’ said the other. ‘They
say that when he was caught he said, Don’t kill me, I’m tough. You won’t like me.’" For a moment
Jill did not realize the full meaning of this. But she did when Scrubb’s eyes opened wide with horror
and he said:
"So we’ve been eating a Talking stag."
This discovery didn’t have exactly the same effect on all of them. Jill, who was new to that world,
was sorry for the poor stag and thought it rotten of the giants to have killed him. Scrubb, who had
been in that world before and had at least one Talking beast as his dear friend, felt horrified; as you
might feel about a murder. But Puddleglum, who was Narnian born, was sick and faint, and felt as
you would feel if you found you had eaten a baby.
"We’ve brought the anger of Aslan on us," he said. "That’s what comes of not attending to the signs.
We’re under a curse, I expect. If it was allowed, it would be the best thing we could do, to take these
knives and drive them into our own hearts."
And gradually even Jill came to see it from his point of view. At any rate, none of them wanted any
more lunch As soon as they thought it safe they crept quietly out of the hall.
Something Worth Knowing
68
The Silver Chair
"One thing I’d like to know," said Puddleglum, "is whether anyone form our
world--from up-a-top, I mean--has ever done this trip before?"
"Many have taken ship at the pale beaches," replied the Warden, "and--"
"Yes, I know," interrupted Puddleglum. "And few return to the sunlit lands.
You needn’t say it again. You are a chap of one idea, aren’t you?"
Travels Without the Sun
"What is a lion?" asked the Witch.
"Oh, hang it all!" said Scrubb. "Don’t you know? How can we describe it to
her? Have you ever seen a cat?"
"Surely," said the Queen. "I love cats."
"Well, a lion is a little bit--only a little bit, mind you--like a huge cat--with a
mane. At least, it’s not like a horse’s mane. you know, it’s more like a judge’s
wig. And it’s yellow. And terrifically strong."
The Witch shook her head. "I see," she said, "that we should do no better
with your lion, as you call it, than we did with your sun. Well, ‘tis a pretty
make-believe, though, to say truth, it would suit you all better if you were
younger. And look how you can put nothing into your make-believe without
coping it from the real world, this world of mine, which is the only world.
But even you children are too old for such play. As for you, my lord Prince,
that art a man full grown, fie upon you! Are you not ashamed of such toys?
Come, all of you. Put away these childish tricks. I have work for you all in
the real world. There is no Narnia, no Overworld, no sky, no sun, no Aslan.
And now, to bed all. And let us begin a wiser life tomorrow. But, first, to bed;
to sleep; deep sleep, soft pillows, sleep without foolish dreams."
The Queen of the Underland
69
The Silver Chair
"One word, Ma’am," he said, coming back from the fire; limping,
because of the pain. "One word. All you’ve been saying is quite
right, I shouldn’t wonder. I’m a chap who always liked to know the
worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won’t deny any of
what you said. But there’s one thing more to be said, even so.
Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things--trees
and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose
we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things
seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this
black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me
as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to
think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But
four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your
real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play-world.
I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going
to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia. So,
thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the
young lady are ready, we’re leaving your court at once and setting
out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not that our
lives will be very long, I should think; but that’s a small loss if the
world’s as dull a place as you say."
The Queen of the Underland
70
The Silver Chair
"Do you know the way to those new diggings, by which the sorceress meant to lead out an army
against Overland?"
"Ee-ee-ee!" squeaked Golg. "Yes, I know that terrible road. I will show you where it begins. But it
is no manner of use your Honor asking me to go with you on it. I’ll die rather."
"Why?" asked Eustace anxiously. "What’s so dreadful about it?"
"Too near the top, the outside," said Golg, shuddering. "That was the worst thing the Witch did to
us. We were going to be led out into the open--into the outside of the world. They say there’s no
roof at all there; only a horrible, great emptiness called the sky. And the diggings have gone so far
that a few strokes of the pick would bring you out to it. I wouldn’t dare to go near them."
"Hurrah!" Now you’re talking!" cried Eustace, and Jill said, "But it’s not horrid at all up there. We
like it. We live there."
"I know you Overlanders live there," said Golg. "But I thought it was because you couldn’t find
your way down inside. You can’t really like it--crawling about like flies on top of the world!"
The Bottom of the World
"Down there," said Golg, "I could show you real gold, real silver, real diamonds."
"Bosh!" said Jill rudely. "As if we didn’t know that we’re below the deepest mines even here."
"Yes," said Golg. "I have heard of those little scratches in the crust that you Topdwellers call mines.
But that’s where you get dead gold, dead silver, dead gems. Down in Bism we have them alive and
growing. There I’ll pick you bunches of rubies that you can eat and squeeze out a cupful of diamond
juice. You won’t care much about fingering the cold, dead treasures of your shallow mines after you
have tasted the live ones in Bism." The Bottom of the World
...After that, the Head’s friends saw that the Head was no use as a Head, so they got her made an
Inspector to interfere with other Heads. And when they found she wasn’t much good even at that,
they got her into Parliament where she lived happily ever after.
The Healing of Harms
71
The Last Battle
A false Aslan is roaming Narnia, commanding everyone to work for the cruel
Calormemes. Can Eustace and Jill find the true Aslan and restore peace to the land? The
last battle is the greatest of all and the final struggle between good and evil.
The Main Theme: Death to Life
Key Symbol: The Stable
Favorite Quotes
SC and the Bible:
Rev. 5:1-14
When, Where
1. Trouble in Narnia, Chapters 1-4: three weeks
2. Hope from our World, Chapters 5-8: less than 48 hours
3. Utter Hopelessness on the Stable Hill, Chapters 9-12: one night
4. Farther Up and Further In, Chapters 13-15: timelessness
72
The Last Battle
"You will go to your death, then," said Jewel.
"Do you think I care if Aslan doomes me to death?"
said the King. "That would be nothing, nothing at all.
Would it not be better to be dead than to have this
horrible fear that Aslan has come and is not like the
Aslan we have believed in and longed for? It is as if
the sun rose one day and were a black sun."
"I know," said Jewel. "Or if you drank water and it
were dry water. You are in the right, Sire. This is the
end of all things."
(The Ape in Its Glory)
"There! You see!" said the Ape. "It's all arranged. And
all for your own good. We'll be able, with the money
you earn, to make Narnia a country worth living in.
There'll be oranges and bananas pouring in--and
roads and big cities and schools and offices and
whips and muzzles and saddles and cages and
kennels and prisons--Oh, everything."
"But we don't want all those things," said an old Bear.
"We want to be free. And we want to hear Aslan
speak himself."
"Now don't you start arguing," said the Ape, "for it's a
thing I won't stand. I'm a Man: you're only a fat,
stupid old Bear. What do you know about freedom?
You think freedom means doing what you like. Well,
you're wrong. That isn't true freedom. True freedom
means doing what I tell you."
(The Ape in Its Glory)
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The Last Battle
In the shadow of the trees on the far side of the clearing something was moving. It was gliding very slowly Northward. At first glance
you might have mistaken it for smoke, for it was gray and you could see things through it. But the deathly smell was not the smell of
smoke. Also, this thing kept its shape instead of billowing and curling as smoke would have done. It was roughly the shape of a man but
it had the head of a bird; some bird of prey with a cruel, curved beak. It had four arms which it held high above its head, streching them
northward as if it wanted to snatch all Narnia in its grip; and its fingers--all twenty of them--were curved like its beak and had long,
pointed, bird-like claws instead of nails. It floated on the grass instead of walking, and the grass seemed to whither beneath it.
After one look at it Puzzle gave a screaming bray and darted into the Tower. And Jill (who was no coward, as you know) hid her face in
her hands to shut out the sight of it. The others watched it for perhaps a minute, until it streamed away into the thicker trees on their right
and disappeared. Then the sun came out again, and the birds once more began to sing.
Everyone started breathing properly again and moved. They had all been still as statues while it was in sight.
"What was it?" said Eustace in a whisper.
"I have seen it once before," said Tirian. "But that time it was carved in stone and overlaid with gold and had solid diamonds for eyes. It
was when I was no older than thou, and had gone as a guest to The Tisroc's court in Tashbaan. He took me into the great temple of Tash.
Then I saw it, carved abbove the altar."
"Then that--that thing--was Tash?" said Eustace.
But instead of answering him Tirian slipped his arm behind Jill's shoulders and said "How is it with you, Lady?"
"A-all right," said Jill, taking her hands away from her pale face and trying to smile. "I'm all right. It only made me feel a little sick for a
moment."
"It seems, then," said the Unicorn, "that ther is a Tash, after all."
"Yes," said the Dwarf. "And this fool of an Ape, who didn't believe in Tash, will get more than he bargained for! He called for Tash: Tash
has come."
"Where has it--he--the Thing--gone to?" said Jill.
"North into the heart of Narnia," said Tirian. "It has come to dwell among us. They have called it and it has come."
"Ho, ho, ho!" chuckled the Dwarf, rubbing his hairy hands together. "It will be a surprise for the Ape. People shouldn't call for demons
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unless they really mean what they say."
(What News the Eagle Brought)
The Last Battle
"...And the other sight, five leagues nearer than Cair Paravel,
was Roonwit the Centaur lying dead with a Calormene arrow in
his hide. I was with him in his last hour and he gave me this
message to your Majesty: to remember that all worlds draw to
an end and that noble death is a treasure which no one is too
poor to buy."
"So," said the King, after a long silence, "Narnia is no more."
(What News the Eagle Brought)
"I almost wish--no I don't, though," said Jill.
"What were you going to say?"
"I was going to say I wished we'd never come. But I don't, I
don't, I don't. Even if we are killed. I'd rather be killed fighting
for Narnia than grow old and stupid at home and perhaps go
about in a bath-chair and then die in the end just the same."
(The Great Meeting on Stable Hill)
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The Last Battle
Tirian looked and saw the queerest and most ridiculous thing you can imagine. Only a few yards away,
clear to be seen in the sunlight, there stood up a rough wooden door and, round it, the framework of the
doorway: nothing else, no walls, no roof. He walked toward it, bewildred, and the others followed,
watching to see what he would do. He walked round to the other side of the door. But it looked just the
same from the other side: he was still in the open air, on a summer morning. The door was simply
standing up by itself as if it had grown there like a tree.
"Fair Sir," said Tirian to the High King, "this is a great marvel."
"It is the door you came through with the Calormene five minutes ago," said Peter smiling.
"But did I not come in out of the wood into the stable? Whereas this seems to be a door leading from
nowhere to nowhere."
"It looks like that if you walk round it," said Peter. "But put your eye to that place where ther is a crack
between two of the planks and look through."
Tirian put his eye to the hole. At first he could see nothing but blackness. Then, as his eyes grew used to
it, he saw the dull red glow of a bonfire that was nearly going out, and above that, in the black sky,
stars. Then he could see dark figures moving about or standing between him and the fire: he could hear
them talking and their voices were like those of Calormenes. So he knew that he was looking out
through the stable door into the darkness of Lantern Waste where he had found his last battle. The men
were discussing whether to go in and look for Rishda Tarkaan (but none of them wanted to do that) or
set fire to the stable.
He looked around again and could hardly believe his eyes. There was the blue sky overhead, and grassy
country spreading as far as he could see in evvvery direction, and his new friends all round him
laughing.
"It seems, then," said Tirian, smiling himself, "that the stable seen from within and the stable seen from
without are two different places."
"Yes," said the Lord Digory. "Its inside is bigger than its outside."
(How The Dwarfs Refused To Be Taken In)
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The Last Battle
Aslan raised his head and shook his mane. Instantly a glorious feast
appeared on the Dwarfs' knees: pies and tongues and pigeons and
trifles and ices, and each Dwarf had a goblet of good wine in his right
hand. But it wasn't much use. They began eating and drinkung greedily
enough, but it was clear that they couldn't taste it properly. THey
thought they were eating and drinking ony the sort of things you might
find in a stable. One said he was trying to eat hay and another said he
got a bit of an old turnip and a third said he'd found a raw cabbage
leaf. And they raised golden goblets of rich red wine to their lips and
said "Ugh! Fancy drinking dirty water out of a trough that a donkey's
been at! Never thought we'd come to this." But very soon every Dwarf
began suspecting that every other Dwarf had found something nicer
than he had, and they started grabbing and snatching, and went on to
quarreling, till in a few minutes there was a free fight and all the good
food was smeared on their faces and clothes or trodden under foot. But
when at last they sat down to nurse their black eyes and their bleeding
noses, they all said:
"Well, at any rate there's no Humbug here. We haven't let anyone take
us in. The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs."
"You see," said Aslan. "They will not let us help them. They have
chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is only in their own
minds yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that
they cannot be taken out."
(How The Dwarfs Refused To Be Taken In)
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The Last Battle
"So," said Peter, "night falls on Narnia. What, Lucy! You're not crying? With Aslan ahead, and all of us
here?"
"Don't try to stop me, Peter," said Lucy, "I am sure Aslan would not. I am sure it is not wrong to mourn
Narnia. Think of all that lies dead and frozen behind that door."
"Yes and I did hope," said Jil, "that it might go on forever. I knew our world couldn't. I did think Narnia
might."
"I saw it begin," said the Lord Digory. "I did not think I would live to see it die."
"Sirs," said Tirian. "The ladies do well to weep. See, I do so myself. I have seen my mother's death.
What world but Narnia have I ever known? It were no virtue, but great discourtesy, if we did not
mourn.
(Night Falls on Narnia)
It is hard to explain how this sunlit land was different from the old Narnia as it would be to tell you how
the fruits of that country taste. Perhaps you will get some idea of it if you think like this.You may have
been in a room in which there was a window that looked out on a lovely bay of the sea or a green valley
that wound away among mountains. And in the wall of that room opposite to the window there may
have been a looking-glass. And as you turned away from the window you suddenly caught sight of that
sea or that valley, all over again, in the looking- glass. And the sea in the mirror, or the valley in the
mirror, were in one sense just the same as the real ones: yet at the same time they were somehow
different--deeper, more wonderful, more like places in a story: in a story you have never heard but very
much want to know. The difference between the old Narnia was like that. The new one was a deeper
country: every rock and flower and blade of grass looked as if it meant more. I can't describe it any
better than that: if you ever get there you will know what I mean.
It was the Unicorn who summed up what everyone was feeling. He stamped his right forehoof on the
ground and neighed, and then cried:
"I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking
for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it
sometimes looked a little like this. Bree-hee-hee! Come further up, come further in!"
(Further Up and Further In)
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4 - The Christian Knight: The Apologetics of Joy
Now theology is like the map... Consequently, if you do not listen to theology, that will not mean
that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones... --C.S. Lewis,
The Joyful Christian
Myth and Joy (Sehnsucht) played a central role in C. S. Lewis' pilgrimage to Christian truth and in
shaping his apologetics, particularly his argument from desire. Far from being separate themes, myth
and joy were convergent streams in Lewis' thinking and experience that he so effectively presented in his
work to help people see the meaning and sweetness of life in Jesus Christ. For Lewis, real Joy found its
uncommon expression in the true Myth which became Incarnate and explains how everything
(experience, reason and desire) fits together. Human imagination illumined by the Holy Spirit brings real
Joy and true Myth together to picture Reality, which Lewis said is that about which truth is . Lewis
reached that stage in his journey when imagination (the organ of meaning) and reason (the organ of
truth) were no longer at loggerheads but became divinely given pointers to something and Someone
outside natural experience.
While there were many people who influenced and helped propel Lewis down the path of Christianity,
Main:- George MacDonald, Owen Barfield and J. R. R. Tolkien - through whom Lewis came to tie reason
and imagination together.
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VI. Joy (Sehnsucht)
While Lewis struggled through the rational barriers to faith (his head knowledge), at the
same time throughout his life he was also aware of deep human emotions which point to a
dimension of our existence beyond time and space. He referred to this emotion as Joy or
Sehnsucht and perhaps no one since Augustine has written of it so memorably and
movingly. Like a thread he followed it from atheism to theism to Christ.
Along with his intellectual struggle to faith, he was also being drawn into an emotional
relationship with the Person who is the Truth. Lewis understanding of Joy, of the
imagination in its highest, purest state is described in his spiritual autobiography Surprised
by Joy . In it he recounts how he (and all humans) are alienated from this personal
relationship yet we retain a longing with lifelong nostalgia to be united with the Holy Other.
In the preface to The Pilgrim s Regress Lewis writes, "The soul was made to enjoy some
object that is never fully given - nay, cannot even be imagined as given - in our present
mode of subjective and spatio-temporal experience." He saw Joy as pictures or blissful
glimpses God sends to an estranged race to awaken sweet desire of pagans and thereby
calling them to Himself. Lewis used the word Joy to connote the highest definition of
imagination, that is the sense of awe at the presence of the Objective Realty, the Absolute
Truth, which lies outside of ourselves. On a psychological level, it is the word Sehnsucht, to
mean longing or desire for beauty, the transcendent or the sense of separation to that which
is desired such as those imaginative experiences he describes in Surprised by Joy - the green
Castlereagh Hills outside his nursery window, the tiny toy garden on the lid of a biscuit tin,
Beatrix Potter s Squirrel Nutkin and Longfellow's Saga of King Olaf. Later he
distinguished these kinds of experiences of Joy from happiness and pleasure by observing
their common quality as that of an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any
other satisfaction...anyone who has experienced it will want it again.
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VII. The Lewis Apologetic
As in classic reformation tradition, Lewis saw apologetics as not resting on right words
or clever argumentation, as if that were an end in itself, but as being predicated on God s
ability to make Himself known and available through words. Lewis took very seriously
the way words can generate an experience, even if we have not yet had it. For instance in
Surprised by Joy he reflected on the profound effect the words from Longfellow s Saga of
King Olaf ( I heard a voice that cried, Balder the beautiful Is dead, is dead-- ):
"I knew nothing about Balder; but instantly I was uplifted into huge regions of northern
sky, I desired with almost sickening intensity something never to be described (except
that it is cold, spacious, severe, pale and remote) and then...found myself at the very same
moment already falling out of that desire and wishing I were back in it."
In his apologetics Lewis used words in such a way as to convey the quality of the
Christian experience of God and to give clarity to the message of the cross of Christ.
Apologetics must be always pointing beyond and above itself. Lewis was also ever
mindful of his audience and how best to paint word pictures to reach both their head and
heart.
"We must learn the language of our audience. And let me say at the outset that it is no
use laying down a priori what the plain man does or does not understand. You have to
find out by experience...You must translate every word of your theology into the
vernacular. This is very troublesome...but it is essential. It is also of the greatest service to
your own thought. I have come to the conclusion that if you cannot translate your own
thoughts into uneducated language, then your thoughts are confused. Power to translate
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is the test of having really understood your own meaning."
Another instance where Lewis argued from desire to its object was in his most famous sermon - The Weight of
Glory, which many believe is one of its most powerful presentations:
"A man's physical hunger does not prove that the man will get any bread; he may die of starvation in a raft in
the Atlantic. But surely a man s hunger does prove that he comes of a race which repairs its body by eating and
inhabits a world where eatable substances exist. In the same way, though I do not believe (I wish I did) that my
desire for Paradise proves that I shall enjoy it, I think it a pretty good indication that such a thing exists and
that some men will. A man may love a woman and not win her; but it would be very odd if the phenomenon
called falling in love occurred in a sexless world."
Lewis' fiction and non-fiction work carry this imagery of correspondence of echoes, foregleams and shadows
found in the world and our longing for their full expression and fulfillment in heaven. In the same sermon
Lewis captures our longing as follows:
"If we take the imagery of Scripture seriously, if we believe that God will one day give us the Morning Star and
cause us to put on the splendour of the sun, then we may surmise that both the ancient myths and the modern
poetry, so false as history, may be very near the truth as prophecy. At present we are on the outside of the
world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us
fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are
rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in. When human
souls have become as perfect in voluntary obedience as the inanimate creation is in its lifeless obedience, then
they will put on its glory or rather that greater glory of which nature is only the first sketch."
Most all Lewis' apologetical work recognizes the inner sense we have that something important is missing,
something is terribly wrong in our lives, and that the creation is a good thing gone bad. Lewis' approach in this
regard follows along Augustine's famous line: "O, Lord you have made us for Yourself and our hearts are
restless until they find their rest in You." and also Pascal's words: "We desire truth and find in ourselves
nothing but uncertainty. We seek happiness and find only wretchedness and death. We are incapable of not
desiring truth and happiness and incapable of either certainty or happiness."
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Similarly despite the power of such contact with the reality outside his own everyday
experience in life, Lewis was very careful (as should we) how he approached the notion of
mysticism. He did not make use of it as an appeal to belief because of its tendency toward
subjectivity. The authentic experience would always point one outside oneself to the Object
of true religious affections. In Letters to Malcolm, he wrote:
"I do not at all regard mystical experience as an illusion. I think it shows that there is a way
to go, before death, out of what may be called this world - out of the stage set. Out of this;
but into what? That s like asking an Englishman, Where does the sea lead to? He will reply,
To everywhere on earth, including Davy Jones s locker, except England. The lawlessness,
safety, and utility of the mystical voyage depends not at all on its being mystical - that is, on
its being a departure - but on the motives, skill, and constancy of the voyager, and on the
grace of God. The true religion gives value to its own mysticism; mysticism does not
validate the religion in which it happens to occur. I shouldn t be at all disturbed if it could
be shown that a diabolical mysticism, or drugs, produced experiences indistinguishable (by
introspection) from those of the great Christian mystics. Departures are all alike; it is the
landfall that crowns the voyage. The saint, by being a saint, proves that his mysticism (if he
was a mystic; not all saints are) led him aright; the fact that he has practised mysticism
could never prove his sanctity."
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Lewis insisted that both true Myth and real Joy are cosmic pointers
to God.
He saw the work of apologetics as making use of what innately we
know about ourselves and the Reality that is outside ourselves and
then bringing them together by reasoned argument and metaphorical
appeal. There is a goal and there is a way. It is work that constantly
points outside itself and above itself to the Object of true religious
affections. Lewis apologetics were not so much concerned with the
voyage but the landfall. Like Lewis we too must address and balance
appeals to both head and heart in our defense of our faith and present
it in terms best understandable and identifiable to our audience. As a
point of contact to many unregenerate, therefore, we could approach
the presentation of Scriptural truth as the story of the Real Joy in the
True Myth. Lewis summed up what we constantly must be mindful of
when we are asked to give a defense for the hope we have in Christ,
yet with gentleness and respect:
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Aesthetic experience gives us something we want, but only in part, satisfying our
desire only to reveal within us a deeper need that no natural object seems to satisfy:
we want so much more – something the books on aesthetics take little notice of. But
the poets and the mythologies know all about it. We do not want merely to see beauty,
though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can
hardly be put into words – to be united with the beauty we see. . . to receive it into
ourselves. . . to become part of it. . . At present we are on the outside of the world, the
wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do
not make us feel fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all
the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be
so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in.
When human souls have become as perfect in voluntary obedience as the inanimate
creation is in its lifeless obedience, then they will put on its glory, or rather that
greater glory of which Nature is only the first sketch.
The Weight of Glory
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4 - The Christian Knight: The Apologetics of Joy
One primary objection to this argument is to deny the premises. This denial can take two forms, both of which Lewis anticipated
in perhaps his best-known and most-read book, Mere Christianity.
The first form of this denial states, "Yes, I am unhappy in this world and I do experience this longing, but I can think of a
situation in this world where I would be happy." Lewis calls this "the Fool's way," for such an individual will spend his whole
life always seeking for that next big thing which will truly fulfill this longing, but never finding it.
The second form this denial takes is, "No, I am perfectly happy right now, and all this pursuit of something better is nonsense."
Lewis calls this "the Way of the Disillusioned 'Sensible Man.' " He represses his desire and longing by asserting that the whole
business was a fantasy to begin with. Echoing Pascal's "Wager,"Lewis points out that if the possibility of infinite, eternal
happiness was indeed fact, it would be an infinite pity to discover this all to late.
Countering these two denials, Lewis presents a third possibility, what he calls "the Christian Way," really a restatement of his
apologetics of longing.
As he explains,
"Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for these desires exist. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in
this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If that is so I must keep alive in
myself the desire for my true country."
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4 - The Christian Knight: The Apologetics of Joy (Longing)
Theological Works
The Pilgrim’s Regress
The Problem of Pain
Miracles
Reflection on the Psalms
The Four Loves
A Grief Observed
Letter to Malcolm: Chiefly on prayer
Mere Christianity
Screwtape Letters
God in the Dock
Academic / Professional Redemptive Work
Abolition of Man
Conclusion
It must be emphasized that, powerful though this apologetic is, it is also limited in one important respect. The argument demonstrates that the
object of our longing is the Holy Other, but it is unable to elaborate on the character of this Other. We have yet to come before the alter of the God
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; to worship at the throne of the God of the Apostles, Martyrs, and Fathers. This apologetic is an important first step,
but still only a first step. We must also always remember our catechetical obligation. We may be dealing with post-Christian people, but
ultimately they must be brought into the fullness of the Christian tradition.
This apologetic does not provide a comprehensive road map to guide us all the way from the dark wood of postmodernism to the Holy City.
Longing,as Lewis reminds, is "valuable only as a pointer to something other and outer When we are lost in the woods the sight of a signpost is a
great matter But when we have found the road and are passing signposts every few miles, we shall not stop and stare." We are pilgrims on a long
journey, progressing and regressing, and the apologetic of longing is only a glimpse of the first few feet of road on our journey. But, as Lewis
wrote, "to a man on a mountain road by night, a glimpse of the next three feet of road may matter more than a vision of the horizon." That
glimpse is crucial, given the vanished horizons of our time, but once our postmodern pilgrims have set out on those first few feet, then the full
horizon of grace can be brought into sharper relief. But not yet. The message of that grace must be delivered in a language its hearers can
understand; we must take first things first, and Lewis' apologetic of longing is that crucial first thing for this generation in these times.
So, no, Generation X is not a lost cause; the springs of God's grace yet flow and still prove to be irresistible to those spiritually thirsty. We are not
at home in this world, and if we are honest, each of us--of any generation--knows in his heart of hearts that we subjects of a Sovereign of another
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country.