24. How Do We Defeat the Top Seven Myths about The Chronicles of Narnia? Part 1

Is Man A Myth ? asks a book belonging to Mr. Tumnus, a Faun from C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia series. Yet Christians have our own myths about Narnia. Today we begin to explore a total of seven myths about Lewis’s famed fantasy world. Myth 7: “The Chronicles show random myths.” This is a more academic idea, and it goes something like this: “C. S. Lewis, unlike Tolkien, was mostly messing around in his world-making.” “He throws in all Greek creatures, plus other fantasy elements, at random.” “And then, lo, Father Christmas comes bounding in besides.” Scholars say: “Yeah, this isn’t like Tolkien. It’s just random. Fun, but random.” Michael Ward in Planet Narnia engages a lot with this idea. Ward has a grand awesome theory about each of the seven Chronicles. He believes Lewis, a medieval scholar, was “influenced” by overarching myths. These myths were about the seven worlds or spheres of medieval cosmology. Each planet (including Sol or sun, and Luna/moon) has ideas, images, and colors. Medieval literature and worldview all supported these cosmological associations. For instance, The Lion … is very “Jovian,” about joy, kingliness, and summer. The Horse and His Boy is very “Mercurian,” with speed and images of silver. Lewis wasn’t a random person. Not at all. Not even when he seems to be. Ward does a lot of academic wrangling to support his theory (which is plausible). Some challenges: “By Jove!” occurs in all Chronicles. Each one influences the other. Ward accepts this broad influence, but says each story has its own planetary theme. Stephen believes he’s right, because of Lewis’s (as creator’s) own subconscious. As a writer, your knowledge will get into your stories before you even know it. Later, perhaps, Lewis started to get more organized about developing these themes. After all, Lewis did end up with seven books, the exact number of medieval “spheres.” The best proof? The Last Battle is “Saturnine.” Draft had Saturn, not Father Time. Even apart from the Planet Narnia idea, Narnia isn’t just random myths. The whole Narnian idea is that all these myths somehow “leaked” into the real world. (You have to bend time a bit, though. Greek myths predate Narnia’s creation!) But if the big idea is that Aslan is lord of all myths, and all serve him … ? Well then, that’s the greatest idea: before Christ, all myths say “hail the King.” It seems this may be lost on some scholars who don’t get Aslan’s central role. Especially given the stories’ first audience, children , this is a fantastic approach. Myth 6: “The Chronicles are just children’s stories.” This myth is more based on the little phrases Christians and other readers say. Too often we minimize this series as, “C. S. Lewis’s children’s stories.” We might presume fantasy altogether is foremost for children. This leaves open a silly “grown-up” idea that adults must be Realistic. Lewis, of course, not only implicitly but explicitly rejected this myth: Critics who treat ‘adult’ as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up. —C. S. Lewis, found in “ On Three Ways of Writing for Children ,” collected in Of Other Worlds This isn’t just a Lewis idea but a biblical idea. Jesus endorsed childlike faith. He didn’t endorse childlike thought, but childlike “faith.” We must have mature minds like adults, but keep the faith and heart of a child! Childlike faith and reception to wonder are essential to our growing as Christians. So for anyone who says, “I read Narnia as a kid”? Read it again. Be blessed! Myth 5: “There’s only one best reading order (chronological).” Note this box set’s chronological order, with The Magician’s Nephew being book 1, and The Horse and His Boy being book 3. Among Narnia nerds (and some scholars), it’s funny how controversial this debate can be. This myth says, “Well, Lewis originally wrote the Chronicles this way. &