In 1974, when I was in the 8th grade there was a book that our English class had to read titled, "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe." It was the second book of C.S.Lewis’ adventures of a land called Narnia. I vaguely remember what the book was about, with the exception of the allegory of Jesus’ death. That was thirty one years ago and and many moons have passed over the land of Narnia, the home of Edmund, Peter, Susan, Lucy and Aslan. Honestly I had almost forgotten about the book until the announcement that it was being made into a major motion picture.

A few years ago when the Lord of The Rings came out at theaters, we bought the books and I read the triology in a week, so it was only natural that we get the Narnia series as well. On my day off yesterday, I finished off TLTWTW and began "A Boy and His Horse." What is neat for me, is to see my daughters wanting to read these books and discover the land of Narnia.  It especailly delights me to see that movie is being heavily promoted and new generations of young people will be excited by these tales by Lewis. As a pastor I can’t help but pray that the trure meaning of Aslan and his sacrifice for Edmund will elicit questions from children and adults alike.

In his writings Lewis is much more outward in his allegorical descriptions that correalte Christianty than Tolkein was in his books.  You can see and hear Lewis’ joy throughout the book as one who left the religion of atheism to discover the life of Christ. It has been a thrill to re-read TLTWTW and I plan on reading the rest of the chronicles over the holidays.

If you are going to read the books, please let me warn you not to look at them as Christian doctrine, but look at them for they are, literary works by a great writer. If all you do is see Christian values throughout the book, you are missing what Lewis is doing in his writing. He is a master at painting pictures with words that your mind can easily envision. Lewis was a man who was extremely intelligent and was well read in many of the world’s philosophies and teachings. Yet, he wrote with simplicity and feeling.

These are books that you can read by yourself or read to a child for the sheer enjoyment of reading! As I have already said, it is exciting to see what will happen with the movie and what doors it will open to young minds who are addicted to Play Stations, X Boxes, Computers and DVD’s. Maybe reading will become a pleasure for the very first time to many adults and children alike as they discover, or in my case re-discover these literary jewels.