On Reading Narnia
For the First Time or Covenantally
C. S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia is a collection of stories that has been dearly loved by millions of people for well over half a century now. It is often loved for its powerful themes even by those who have never fully realized its spiritual dimensions. I have encountered a surprising number of non-Christians who love Narnia and Aslan but who have no idea that Aslan is a picture of Christ. Nevertheless, these stories are held near and dear to their heart and, I expect, they are more open to the gospel because of their time in Narnia than they would be without it.
In case no one has ever pointed it out to you, though, The Chronicles of Narnia is a profoundly Christian set of stories. There is so much one could say (and so much which has been said in countless books, blogs, and even academic journals) concerning the Christian themes, imagery, and allusions in each of the 7 books. I may eventually join in to further the overall running commentary on these books, if for no other reason than I enjoy talking about them so much, but today I want to talk less about the content of the books and more about the experience of reading them.
You may (or may not) be aware that there is some controversy around The Chronicles of Narnia. Actually there is more than one kind of controversy about it. I am not however discussing the concern that some Christians have expressed about the presence of magic in the stories (the use of which I would defend thoroughly if that was what I were discussing now). I am also not talking about the idea that Lewis redeems aspects of pagan thought in his books (something Christians are supposed to do, by the way). I am talking about the controversy concerning the ordering of the books.
Go ahead and answer the following question out loud: “What is the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia?”
If you are among the hoodwinked, one of those unfortunate souls who has been lied to and fed disinformation your whole life, then you just said “The Magician’s Nephew.” But if you are among those with Gnostic-like secret knowledge and have been initiated into the true paths of knowledge then you said “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.”
Why this discrepancy? Why would people give two completely different answers to the same question? Why would people who clearly love the same stories with equal passion and affection disagree so strongly about which book is the first in the series? The answer lies in a simple fact that many just don’t know. If you have a boxed set of Narnia books purchased during or after the 1980’s it will be ordered and numbered like so:
But had you bought your set before that time it would have been ordered like so:
In fact, the publisher changed the order of the books because of a letter C. S. Lewis wrote in response to a little girl. After the little girl noted that one could (and that she liked to) read them in chronological order Lewis kindly replied to her that one could in fact do this. What was he supposed to do? Lecture the little punk? Posthumously, that is to say after Lewis was quite dead, the publisher seemed to take this as permission to reorder the books away from how Lewis delivered them to us. Hence, there is a hearty disagreement about which book should be read first.
These then are the facts which explain the confusion and debate. People passionately feel one way or the other about it. I have already made plain enough my own feelings on the matter. All of this, though, is prolegomena to what I really wanted to say here, namely, that reading Narnia can be both a conversional and a covenantal experience. Allow me to clarify what I mean.
Assuming you enter Narnia for the first time as God intended (by reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe first) then you are in for a conversion experience. As you vicariously join the Pevensie children in the discovery of a world which you did not know exists. Oh that world was always there, you just didn’t know it. You hadn’t been, how could you? There is no immediate explanation as to where this world came from, why it came to be, or its depths of history and legend, it’s just there and it’s very real. It’s not merely another world like ours, however, rather it is a magical world with talking animals, powerful magic, vividly clear examples of good and evil (no gray!), and a lion named Aslan who is the one true hope of everyone. At the name of Aslan you will experience the same excitement, wonder, and perhaps uneasiness that Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy felt.
As Lewis wrote:
“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 in it's 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 realize that it is the beginning of the holidays or the beginning of Summer.”
The Pevensie children had entered into a place they could never have imagined, a place much bigger and more perilous than they had known, and the name of Aslan awoke within them something which they could not account for. Throughout the story the children are transformed time and time again by the work of Aslan who called them into Narnia in the first place (for no one can come unless Aslan first calls them). It is a salvation story from start to finish.
The children, who did not even know that there was an Aslan let alone that they needed him in their life, had their eyes and hearts opened by him. They were made Kings and Queens of Narnia and set up to reign over all Narnia as vice-regents of Aslan himself. Their story is the story of Saul of Tarsus who was knocked to the ground by Jesus on the road to Damascus and claimed by Christ. Their story is that of Moses who stumbled upon a burning bush that was not consumed. The children’s story is the story of the Philippian Jailer who was about to take his own life in despair until called to hope. The Pevensie story is like the story of countless Christians who never knew they had a need for Jesus but who came to realize that Christ is everything that matters and everything that makes this life matter. They were not looking for Aslan, as you and I were not looking for Christ, but we were called all the same. When we come to Christ we enter into a completely different world that was always just at our heels but just beneath our notice. It turns out that this world is more real than what we would have called real before.
The Pevensie’s experience of entering Narnia and finding Aslan matches well with those who convert to Christianity from anything else (or nothing else). If that’s you then you may have encountered Christ by a friend sharing his faith with you, or a faithful family member, maybe you stumbled upon a sermon online, perhaps you picked up a Christian book unwittingly, or maybe you read the Gospel of John that someone left at a hotel. Whatever it was, most commonly our first encounter with Christ is Christ himself. That is to say, it is rare that a non-Christian’s first encounter with Christianity starts with the preamble, starting with Genesis and reading continuously until you get to the Gospels. No doubt this is someone’s story (praise God) but it is certainly less common.
No, most of us came to Jesus without knowing the “back story” of the world we were born into. Many of us came to know Jesus without totally understanding the origin of the world or the problem of sin in the world. We did not know all the promises God made to bring a Savior nor about the faithful men and women who loved God for millennia before Jesus came. We met Jesus rather “out of context,” but no less powerfully all the same. Christ saved us, he claimed us, he called us out of darkness and we entered a strange and magical world where good and evil became clear, where we saw the darkness of our own thoughts and deeds, and where it became obvious that, above all else, I must cling to Jesus to be delivered from great dangers (both the Devil and ourselves). In that way, you can see that reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is very akin to a common Christian conversion experience. We are meant to be baptized into Narnia in this fashion.
If, however, you have had the gracious privilege of being raised in a consistently faithful Christian home then it may very well be that you don’t actually remember not believing in Christ. You don’t remember not knowing the story of Creation, Fall, Abraham, Moses, David, the Prophets, and Jesus with his apostles. Praise God! You were raised in a context where you were already in covenant relationship with God and connected to Christ by the faith of your parents (which seamlessly became your own).
Likewise, maybe your parents have been reading Narnia to you for longer than you can remember. You have always known the origin story given to us by The Magician’s Nephew. You have always known the story of Aslan’s far reaching grace even into the faraway realms of Calormene under exalted rule of the great Tisroc (May he live forever)! You know the Narnia stories backwards and forwards, you could read them in any order you please because they are a part of you. You can read them “covenantally” because you were baptized into these stories before you could remember first hearing them. Just as a long-time Christian may be reading Romans and 1 Corinthians one week and then Isaiah and Proverbs the next (because the whole canon is broadly conceived and known for them now), so also the person who was baptized into Narnia as a small child may pick up any book in the Chronicles and read it in any order they please.
I do not mean, of course, to blur the lines between Narnia and Scripture (Let’s not try to overstretch the analogy), but I think the comparison is meaningful all the same. If you have never read Narnia, never been brought into its world and characters, you really should start with the conversional experience of entering the wardrobe with the Pevensies. You really should meet Aslan in what is equivalent to the “Gospel” story of the series. After that the order is less crucial (although I’ll always advocate for reading them in publication order your first time). You may be excited to find other parallels between stories in Narnia and biblical stories (such as Moses’ story in A Horse and His Boy) or even to realize that Lewis is emphasizing the importance of catechism as a means for spiritual guidance. There is lots to see and the more you read and reread The Chronicles of Narnia alongside the Bible the more you’ll pick up on.
So, if you haven’t already been converted to Narnia yet, can I interest you in a trip through a wardrobe?
“In your world, I have another name. You must learn to know me by it. That was the very reason you were brought to Narnia. That by knowing me here for a little... you may know me better there.”
- Aslan
The above article was originally published on Study the Great Books. It is republished here with permission.
