You don't have to be Christian to love Narnia

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+JMJ

When I was in highschool, I had an atheist friend who was enamored with Narnia. He would say, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is genius." He actually performed in a stage-play version of it.
 
I mean you don't have to be christian to love it, no. But it's definitely a very christian focused series and a lot of it makes more sense if you ARE Christian. Quite possibly an unpopular comment in this exact setting but it's a far better christian fantasy novel series than it is a fantasy novel series.
 
I think it's wonderful that both Christians & non-Christians can be Chronicles of Narnia fans, but it seems to me that one MUST be a Christian to really be in the loop; to fully enjoy the books, movies, radio dramas, study guides, etc., to provide more input in the online community & social media platform discussions & most importantly, to have such cool Narnian character-themed profile names!

I'm only speaking for myself, fellow Narniacs 😊
 
jadeyrosgold7 said:
I think it's wonderful that both Christians & non-Christians can be Chronicles of Narnia fans, but it seems to me that one MUST be a Christian to really be in the loop; to fully enjoy the books, movies, radio dramas, study guides, etc., to provide more input in the online community & social media platform discussions & most importantly, to have such cool Narnian character-themed profile names!

I'm only speaking for myself, fellow Narniacs 😊
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I don’t really agree with you cuz as I said I’m not Christian and I’m over obsessed with Narnia and in my class there’s a boy who is Christian and has the whole series and doesn’t even care about narnia and I read the whole series 3times but voyage of the dawn treader 4times and I bet I would get full marks in a Narnia quiz
 
I recommend that you read Mister Lewis' autobiography, Surprised by Joy. This, among other things, reveals how he came to write the Chronicles.
 
No, one does not have to be a Christian to enjoy both the books and the movies, but it helps with understanding the spiritual aspects behind the Chronicles and get the full God-inspired blessings from them.
 
Many people read or study the Bible and see it as history or literature or mythology. They can thoroughly enjoy the words on the page much like "Anna Karenina" or "Oliver Twist", seeing it all as just words. I contend, though, deeper meaning can be found in both the Bible and Narnia (and many other stories) we allow the text to wash over us. If we can get past the mere head knowledge and allow it in our hearts.
 
I just want to say that we should remember that people can get out of these stories whatever they end up getting out of them. If they end up discovering a deeper meaning great, but if they end up loving it as a whimsical adventure story only, then there's nothing wrong with that either. The Christian themes are subtle enough for Christians to pick up on them and go either wholly unnoticed by everyone else or can be ignored by everyone else.
 
ShastaoftheNineRealms said:
I just want to say that we should remember that people can get out of these stories whatever they end up getting out of them. If they end up discovering a deeper meaning great, but if they end up loving it as a whimsical adventure story only, then there's nothing wrong with that either. The Christian themes are subtle enough for Christians to pick up on them and go either wholly unnoticed by everyone else or can be ignored by everyone else.
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I agree that anyone can enjoy the books on a base level, and can even see the beauty of the deeper elements. A Christian will relate to the stories much more I think, because they are in many ways a mirror to Christianity itself. For those who are not Christian and loving the stories/world/message, I would wonder what are you really liking about it? Not asking this in a pandering way, but an honest way, what is it about the story that draws you in? An honest answer could lead to a radical real life change in ones view of everything. If you value the message and themes of the series then maybe Christianity is something you ought to give a look into.
 
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The only two that are remotely overtly Christian themed are LWW and TLB. All others can be viewed in many other ways. PC was based on the conflicts of Hamlet (which are even older than that). One could say VotDT was akin to "The Odyssey". TMN was, in part, the Genesis creation story, which is Jewish, Christian, and Islamic.
 
MrBob said:
The only two that are remotely overtly Christian themed are LWW and TLB. All others can be viewed in many other ways. PC was based on the conflicts of Hamlet (which are even older than that). One could say VotDT was akin to "The Odyssey". TMN was, in part, the Genesis creation story, which is Jewish, Christian, and Islamic.
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Jewish and Christian share the same origins as Chrstianity is a continuation of Judaism. The first Christians were predominantly Jews. I would say Islam is not an Abrahamic religion, it came 5 or 6 centuries after Christ and adapted some of the stories from the Torah and made claims about a connection to Abraham that I think would be and is disputed by many scholars.

You could say that all stories are influenced by The Odyssey. You can view the other books in different ways, but Lewis was a Christian and his faith was the centre of his life so there is no removing the origins of all the Christian themes throughout all the books. You can look at the books at a surface level, or you can go in and look deeper. Could maybe liken it to the magic the White Witch used and the Deep Magic that Aslan knew. I am not saying you cannot enjoy or gleam meaning from the books, but the roots are Christian.
 
I would really say that the stories are about a young adult going on an adventure and all of the things that come with that. There are relatable things, but mostly these are fantasy and supernatural stories. I’d say that there’s something that everyone can relate to; one of the main characters has to have similar traits to any reader.
 
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