The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy: The Lion, the Witch, and the Worldview

C.S. Lewis has been dead for over forty years, but he's one of the hottest authors around right now. Lewis has always been a favorite in Christian circles and college campuses, but now that his famed children's fantasy series, "The Chronicles of Narnia" are being adapted into major motion pictures, his works are gaining an even wider audience. THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA AND PHILOSOPHY is a collection of philosophical essays that examines and explores the moral, ethical, and sociological realm that Lewis created through his Narnia series. Was Lewis a sexist? Do dogs go to Heaven? Do words have any power or real meaning? These are just a sampling of questions that the essays in this book examine. Some of the essays I found fascinating and others were just so-so. However, overall I enjoyed reading the book. My only preface to would-be readers is that many of those who contributed to the book are Christian professors. This isn't anything negative, but would be readers should know that before buying the book.

Into Narnia? Want to go deeper? This is excellent book to aid with that. Not written for professional philosopher. Not written for those who just want to leave Narnia as the entertaining read it is, even for child in all of us. This delves into the philosophy behind Narnia which for sure Jack was into as well, for he taught philosophy early on in his career and was avid philosopher all his life. Here parallels to such metaphysics as time, epistemology, altruism, objective morality, and more, they are each treated here from Narnia position by this group of committed philosophers. There is definite Christian bent to their worldview, as there was with Jack's. The article on Aslan and Other Religions explores the stickiest issue with Lewis' theology, that of inclusivism. This discussion brings forth the issues in contention. Likely this is why many Christian apologists shy away from Lewis, due to his likely unbilbical stance here. Sure we would all like to believe this somewhat, but the Scripture evidence is lacking. I particularly found Kevin Kinghorn's work on virtue epistemology fascinating, especially as he sees it in relation to Uncle Andrew's inability to hear the Talking Animals. Further, Michael and Adam Peterson's venture into time and eternity from Narnian view is cogent and timely, ha! Angus Menuge tackles the gripping topic of "why Eustace Clarence Scrubb"almost deserved his name. This is engagement with modern secularism exposing its bias which even it itself cannot provide all evidence it seems to demand from other views. Closeness to Transcendent is vital area to explore and this will help. Hopefully for those kin to engage in these thoughts, this is good source to take off exploring these some twenty authors ventures into Aslan's country.

The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy is an excellent companion and must-read for anyone who is interested in what C.S. Lewis puts at stake in his much beloved Chronicles. The essays are well written and cover topics from time to Lewis' apparent inclusivist views as shown in The Last Battle. The Philosophy portion of this book does not overwhelm and definitely adds to the magic, rather than putting a grown up squash on it.