In anticipation of the Dec. 9 theatrical release of Disney’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Catholic Exchange and Ascension press have released 100 Questions about The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – a book designed to bring a “Little Catechism” to movie viewers, allowing them to go “beyond mere entertainment and into meaning,” according to a statement released by the Catholic Exchange.
“Lewis’s imagination is so rich and exciting that it’s possible to receive the story simply at the level of story and be …full after the meal, so to speak,” says co-author Matt Pinto. “However, one of the joys of good literature – like good film – is the pleasure of digestion, of finding that you really did eat something of real substance and not just a piece of quickly forgotten fluff. 100 Questions about The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe will help many readers – both believers and non-believers – see into the depths of Lewis’s faith and fiction with new eyes.”
Tom Allen, President of Catholic Exchange, as noted in the book’s forward, sees the theatrical release of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as an effective means of reaching an “Image”-dominated society with the Gospel.
“We live now in a time that is dominated far more by the Image than by the Word. People get their information about life, the universe, and everything primarily from TV and the movies,” writes Allen. “Less and less do people read. And less still do they read works of abstract theology. So the release of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as a motion picture is particularly welcome event because it gives us the essence of the Gospel in a way that anybody can understand it.”
“Through [the film], a whole new generation – who might have missed this marvelous tale because they are not readers – will be introduced to the joys of Narnia and her most gracious Lord, Aslan,” he continues. “Our prayer is that many will be led from the image on the screen, not merely back to Lewis’s words, but to the Word Incarnate, Jesus Christ.”
100 Questions about The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is available for $6.95 at www.ascensionpress.com.