tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post7489196207043783240..comments2024-01-07T09:34:44.086-05:00Comments on What Canst Thou Say?: The Lion, The Mouse and the Dawn TreaderRobin M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/10336915224193704866noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post-48738796981012741082011-02-16T12:03:01.323-05:002011-02-16T12:03:01.323-05:00Hmmm. Maybe I need to re-read the books I remember...Hmmm. Maybe I need to re-read the books I remember not liking so much as a child - it might be different to read them with my adult eyes.Robin M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10336915224193704866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post-83232045890998662572011-02-16T11:17:19.012-05:002011-02-16T11:17:19.012-05:00delurking briefly... The Magician's Nephew tau...delurking briefly... <i>The Magician's Nephew</i> taught me, as a child, two immensely useful lessons: first, what it looks like when grown-ups lie to themselves; and secondly, to trust my own observations of patterns of behaviour, good or bad, in adults as well as children.<br /><br />It's not a nice book, but it is superbly truthful, especially about this world. Perhaps that's why it's less popular.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post-2470315427362736312011-02-16T00:08:05.415-05:002011-02-16T00:08:05.415-05:00Hystery, I wonder if the Chronicles had a similar ...Hystery, I wonder if the Chronicles had a similar effect on me.<br /><br />Suzanne, yes, I think you are so right. <br /><br />Another Friend emailed me to say she liked the review and that she always knew that Aslan was God. I think that I too understood that Aslan was a God figure, but it didn't occur to me to identify him with Jesus. Then again, I didn't really understand that writers make their characters stand for certain philosophical things, on purpose, until a high school English teacher whacked me upside the head with the idea.Robin M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/10336915224193704866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post-21036887202218465802011-02-15T11:45:34.753-05:002011-02-15T11:45:34.753-05:00Thanks for this post, Robin. I have long held tha...Thanks for this post, Robin. I have long held that the story of Eustace being stripped of his dragon skin by Aslan is a deeply true description of a conversion experience.Suzannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02393838366732279182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13642801.post-27054984890806647662011-02-14T19:45:10.773-05:002011-02-14T19:45:10.773-05:00In a 1963 letter to one of his young fans, Lewis w...In a 1963 letter to one of his young fans, Lewis wrote, "If you continue to love Jesus, nothing much can go wrong with you, and I hope you may always do so. I'm so thankful that you realized [the] 'hidden story' in the Narnian books. It is odd, children nearly always do, grown-ups hardly ever." (C.S. Lewis, Letters to Children, 1985) <br /><br />I cannot express how much Aslan and the 'hidden story' have always meant to me. Without being told, I knew who He was and I think I would have even if I did not know who Jesus was. I first read the Chronicles of Narnia when I was seven and have read them, often multiple times a year, ever since. I think that because C.S. Lewis wrote such a powerful Christ, one that rivaled Jesus of Nazareth in my childish imagination, I developed an early belief that there must be a wide variety of ways to express the idea of that which we human beings understand as "Christ". These figures, male and female, human and animal, corporal and spiritual, embodied and philosophical, do not need to be allegories. They do not need to depend on any biblical template as a source of authority because the Bible is not the Source. It is merely another manifestation of that Source. This prepared me to be a Pagan who felt no conflict between my Christian beliefs and an earth-centered and mythological perspective. It prepared me to be a Quaker. One need not look in the Bible to find Christ. One only need look. S/He is always with us.Hysteryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02044678910937934731noreply@blogger.com