News and Views
Prince Caspian, the latest Disney movie in the Chronicles of Narnia series is out. The reviews are good and the animation is much improved (Disney spent more money on it). It’s a classic adventure story and features heroes and villains, battles, the conflict of Good and Evil. Good wins, as it should.
You should go see it.
Short Bio for C. S. Lewis
- Born in Dublin in 1898, died in 1963, nicknamed Jack
- Lost mother to cancer when he was young
- Educated as a scholar, went to Oxford, entered Officers Training Corps
- Sent to the front (WW I) and wounded
- Returned to Oxford, took 2 Firsts, became an Oxford don
- Converted to Christianity at Oxford at 33 years of age
- Began writing books about his new faith and giving radio talks
- Write Chronicles of Narnia in 1950s
- Married late in life (1956) to Joy Gresham
- Joy died of cancer in 1960 and Lewis died in 1963
Intro to Chronicles of Narnia
Read the books in the order that they were written, that is, so that they make the best “sense” as a saga. (They are easier to understand this way).
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
- Prince Caspian (1951)
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
- The Silver Chair (1953)
- The Horse and His Boy (1954)
- The Magicians Nephew (1955)
- The Last Battle (1956)
There’s a debate about “how” the books came to be written – what organizing principle was used. One thing we know for sure – Lewis did not set out to write a set of books promoting Christian doctrines to young people. There are at least two theories:
- Each book emphasized one of the “Seven Deadly Sins” from classic Christian morality, which are
- Gluttony
- Luxury, the desire for more power and more things
- greed
- sloth
- anger
- pride
- envy
2. Each book illustrates the moral characteristics assigned to one of the 7 planets of the medieval astronomy.
Three General Characteristics of the Narnian World
There is
- A Definite Right and Wrong
- A Natural Order to everything
- A Battle against over-whelming odds
Things To Look For in each book
- Questions or conflicts about beliefs
- Temptation to evil
- Aslan’s (the lion’s) role
- Personal Beacons of faith