What I Learned in Narnia

I thoroughly enjoy CS Lewis, and particularly his Narnia series.  I get even more out of his books as an adult than I did when I first read them in junior high, which supports his popular quote “A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.”  I usually like the actual Narnia books far more than other books about Narnia, but after reading Douglas Wilson's book, What I Learned in Narnia, I have to highly recommend it for Narnia lovers to read alongside their beloved friends.

One of the best things about this book is that Wilson refuses to usurp the proper place of the Narnia books.  If you don't know Puddleglum, Tirian, Digory, Lucy, Caspian, Trumpkin and Aslan, he says to put this book down and go read the Narnia stories.  "This is like a conversation between good friends about some other good friends, talking about what a good time we all had and why.  But in order to have that conversation, we have to have had the good time first" (11).

Wilson goes on to thoroughly examine the proper and improper attitudes and behaviors of various Narnian characters toward seven themes:  authority, confession of sin, nobility, spiritual disciplines, love of story, thorough grace, and love for Aslan/love for God.

The truth is, I started this review several months ago when I first read the book with Briana and Destry alongside our reading of the Narnia chronicles in our worldview study.  I loved the book so much, I couldn't condense my review.  But in conjunction with Carrie's book club and her obsession with love for all things Narnia, I decided to revisit Narnia this month through the wonderful lessons Wilson highlights.  (The assignment really was to read one of the actual Narnia books, but I decided to tweak the assignment).

I'm forcing myself to limit my discussion to the two sections that stood out to me the most.

• True and false authority.  False authority is based on selfishness and grasping and exemplified in Jadis and Uncle Andrew who try to put themselves above all authority but their own.  "True authority can only be exercised by leaders who delight in submitting to authority themselves" (17).  False authority is also frequently gained through manipulation, trickery and groveling before others (consider Ahoshta and Shift) and is motivated by a desire for power.  True authority, on the other hand is sacrificial and humble and prompts obedience.  "True authority and submission is one of the great lessons of Narnia--not only how to rule without being a tyrant, but also how to obey without being a mindless follower or a slave" (37).  (I think the section on authority stood out to me as I have simultaneously been reading Atlas Shrugged--what a contrast!)

• Memory and forgetfulness.  "Remember, remember, remember the signs," Aslan said to Jill in The Silver Chair.  "Say them to yourself when you wake in the morning and when you lie down at night, and when you wake in the middle of the night".  In my 16 years of parenting, I would hate to try to number how many times I have heard "I forgot" as an excuse for disobedience.  But "remembering to obey is itself an essential part of obedience" (89).   If we focus on "the signs", the commands of God's Word, that will be our focus and we won't forget; we won't be distracted by the comforts of the world.
  "Meditating on God's word should be an activity that permeates your whole day, even filling in those little spaces of free time that you get when you are walking down the street. . .Repeat them.  Memorize them.  They are the signs by which God guides you through the confusion of the world, and without them you are lost" (88).  "There is a direct connection between lack of spiritual discipline and lack of both joy and spiritual fruit in your life" (93).
• Just as Eustace, Jill, and Puddleglum got distracted by anticipating the comforts of Harfang and neglected remembering and reciting the signs, so do I get distracted by life on Earth and neglect God's word.  But my excuse of not remembering God's will when I give in to temptation is really just another sin to confess and repent--first for neglecting to consciously and deliberately remember, and second for succumbing to the sin that His Word would have steered me clear of had I allowed it to permeate my very being.  I found this section particularly convicting.

I will stop there, even though there are many more gems that blessed me.  After you have thoroughly devoured Lewis's Narnian chronicles, I suggest you luxuriate in the lessons Douglas Wilson brings to light.