The Seven Deadly Sins in Narnia

I am leading a Sunday evening discussion for four weeks at Arcadia Presbyterian Church on the Chronicles. It has been great so far to discuss the genesis of the Chronicles, and then delve into some of Lewis' spiritual insights in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe the first week, and then The Horse and His Boy this past Sunday.

My good friend and colleague, Bob Ramsey, asked me if I had seen anything new this time round in the Chronicles. I have paid attention to Lewis's descriptions of Aslan. Aslan is described as terrible and beautiful (Chapter 7). In chapter 8, there is the great response of Mr. Beaver to Susan's question, "Is he--quite safe?":

"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe?'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

In chapter 12, when the children finally meet Aslan face to face, Lewis writes:

People who have not been in Narnia sometimes think a thingcannot be good and terrible at the same time. If the children had ever thought so, they were cured of it now. For when they tried to look at Aslan's face they just caught a glimpse of the golden mane and the great, royal, solemn, overwhelming eyes; and then they found they couldn't look at him and went all trembly.

In chapter 15, after the romp that Susan and Lucy have with Aslan after his coming back to life, Lewis writes:

It was such a romp as no one has ever had except in Narnia; and whether it was more like playing with a thunderstorm or playing with a kitten Lucy could never make up her mind.

This goes further in The Horse and His Boy, where Aslan appears as a fierce lion, and as a rather large cat.

The point Lewis seems to be making is that Aslan (Jesus) is both beautiful and terrible, powerful and gentle, loving and harsh, majestic and humble. Isn't it Paul who writes that in Him (Jesus) all things hold together? Too often we humans polarize these extremes. We say that Jesus "is my best buddy", expressing the beautiful theological truth of being God's friend. But this also runs the risk of trivializing the Lord of the universe to being merely personal.

On the other hand, we can worship the transcendent one who is the ground of our being, expressing the theological truth of his majesty and holiness. But this also runs the risk of keeping the intimate Lord far away from us.

I think Lewis brilliantly balances what could be the extremes in the nature of Aslan (Jesus), and allows them to coexist in tension with each other if need be. He does not define nor explain, just describe.

Well, I originally started this post with the intention of sharing an interesting article about the seven deadly sins in The Chronicles of Narnia, here. I found it thought provoking.

I am very much enjoying the Narnia series at church, and am hoping and praying that people will read the books for themselves, and discover what millions around the world have discovered in and through these books.