Philosophy and Narnia

In light of contending for Christ, I thought this quote was a great reason we should read the Chronicles of Narnia to our children:

"Plato claims it is crucial that we take great care with the tales we tell our young. Convinced that gymnastics, melodic harmonies, and the "music" of fictional tales can mold a person's character, Plato censors even the nursery stories in his city...the younger one is, the slimmer the gap in one's mind between truth and fiction, the more easily one can mistake the illusory for the real...

At first glance, the symbols and imagery of the Narnia Chronicles follow a conservative pattern - a pattern now widely recognized as dangerous to our impressionable young, a pattern that fosters an ideology of war instead of ideals of justice and harmony. The characters of Narnia emerge in stark moral garb - good guys and bad guys, heroes and monsters...

The myth of the primal fall from paradise, a myth common to almost every religious system, has supported a pervasive popular assumption that humans are fundamentally flawed and decadent. This myth...is responsible for a ubiquitous and lingering sense of guilt, loss, and unworthiness that undermines a healthy worldview."

Beasts, Heroes, and Monsters - Wendy Hamblet

Wait, so you mean that the Chronicles of Narnia foster ideas of battling for moral good, the depravity of human nature, the importance of training your mind to value Christ and direct your imagination towards His truth, and the understanding that there is absolute good and evil and we must choose sides? Horror!

Obviously I have gone to the dark side of cyncisim, satire, and mockery - but, as Spurgeon contended, sometimes sarcasm can be used for good. Hamblet's contention that our sense of guilt, loss, and depravity undermines a "healthy world view" is straight from the pit and laced through with Post-Modern, philosophical filth. In contrast, I think this is one of the main reasons we read stories to our children - Lewis called the Chronicles a sort of 'pre-baptism' of the imagination. As children read the Chronicles, they fall in love with Aslan. Lewis hoped when they then encountered Christ they would see Aslan was but a reflection - a sign pointing to the true Savior- and they would transfer that childish love to the one who truly did sacrifice for them and is the ultimate King.