The Chronicles of Narnia

[Wrath of the Swarm]

I don't see how anyone can reach that conclusion if they've honestly studied his theological works. Lewis was certainly Christian, and he certainly believed Christianity was the most true system of belief, but he was hardly unable to admit that there is a great deal of good to be found in almost all systems of belief.

First, we need to note that what Lewis considered "good" was heavily influenced - even defined by - his religion. Yes, that applies to most religious people. But the point remains.

Look at the example of Emeth. There may have been "good" in him, but not in the religion he followed.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

Well, i am not a Christian. I would probably not even pick up on any of the so called references to the real world in the book if they had not been mentioned in this thread. I am rather dim like that.

 

[d4]

Lewis is a wonderful writer. I've read a huge hunk of his work, and I've enjoyed, more or less, every bit of it. I was especially pleased with That Hideous Strength, but that isn't Narnia.

interesting; i had a very different reaction. i liked Out of the Silent Planet, was a bit put off by Perelandra, and had to force myself to finish That Hideous Strength. the latter seemed especially heavy-handed and preachy to me.

i read the first Narnia book (it may have been after reading the Outer Space Trilogy, but i can't recall) and didn't become engaged with it. i never moved on to the other books...

here's something interesting: i was watching the Tolkien documentary on the Two Towers Extended DVD, and i could've sworn i heard one of the Tolkien scholars quite authoritatively state the Lewis was an atheist. whaaaa????

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Yeah, they did call Lewis an atheist in that documentary...had me confused too. Just count it as a simple mistake.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

here's something interesting: i was watching the Tolkien documentary on the Two Towers Extended DVD, and i could've sworn i heard one of the Tolkien scholars quite authoritatively state the Lewis was an atheist. whaaaa????

Lewis was an atheist for a good portion of his life, but converted to Christianity in his mid 30s, I believe, although it may have been later than that.

Like many people who convert to a different religion during adulthood, Lewis had very strong beliefs, which were expressed in his writings, including the Narnia books.

Mods: I hope this isn't pushing the "No Discussion of Religion" rules. If it is, feel free to delete this post.

 

[d4]

Lewis was an atheist for a good portion of his life, but converted to Christianity in his mid 30s, I believe, although it may have been later than that.

ah, thanks. perhaps at the period of Tolkien's life to which they were referring, the statement was correct.

i was unaware of Lewis' conversion, so the statement really threw me.

 

[Mark Chance]

First, we need to note that what Lewis considered "good" was heavily influenced - even defined by - his religion. Yes, that applies to most religious people. But the point remains.

That applies to all people, sometimes most especially the non-religious ones, who can be every bit as self-righteous as the most egregious religious stereotype (reference Mr. Pullman here by way of example).

What you say is basically a "well, duh?" moment. Everyone thinks their way of looking at the world is most correct way of looking at the world, and then they judge other ideas accordingly. If people didn't think such, they'd adopt someone else's way of looking at the world and then think that way is the best.

So, let's say Lewis thought that belief system X was basically devoid of truth and virtue. From this does it follow that Lewis is an X-ist, a mere hater of X? Of course not. Despite what too many people believe nowadays, it is entirely possible to profoundly disagree with what a person holds to be true and yet still not hate or demonize that person. This is, after all, the root of unconditional love (not to be confused with unconditional approval), a concept Lewis vividly explains in The Four Loves (for example).

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

ah, thanks. perhaps at the period of Tolkien's life to which they were referring, the statement was correct.

i was unaware of Lewis' conversion, so the statement really threw me.

A very good dual biography of Lewis and Tolkien, centered around their friendship, is Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship.

 

[Wrath of the Swarm]

What you say is basically a "well, duh?" moment. Everyone thinks their way of looking at the world is most correct way of looking at the world, and then they judge other ideas accordingly. If people didn't think such, they'd adopt someone else's way of looking at the world and then think that way is the best.

Yes, but that's not my point. When Lewis was becoming more favorably inclined to religion, there were several he decided to reject because he felt some of their practices were evil - Hinduism and temple prostitution comes to mind. The problem is that his sensibilities were largely derived from the society in which he lived, which was nominally Christian. Thus, he chose Christianity because he felt it was the "most good" religion, but his opinion was basically predetermined.

 

[Storm Raven]

Lewis wasn't racist in the technical sense: "Middle Eastern" is not a race, and in any case he shows no signs of considering people to be inferior because of the structure of their bodies. However, many aspects of Calormene culture are portrayed as barbaric, evil, and unpleasant.

Which is mostly a reflection of the fact that the Calormene Empire presented was a thinly veiled version of the Ottoman Empire. An Empire which, by English standards, had many unpleasant facets.

Since this was a common attitude towards unfamiliar customs, we might excuse this on Lewis' part. (The reoccurring observation that Calormenes put oil on the bread instead of butter is clearly intended to make them seem both exotic and unfamiliar, causing familiarity to become a good thing.)

An observation that serves mostly to make the Calormenes like Italians more than anything else, since the use of olive oil with bread is popular in Italian cuisine. In point of fact, this makes the Calormenes into generic "Mediterranean" inhabitants, which makes them exotic enough.

He does seem to imply that Islam is not only wrong, but delusionally worships demons.

If you assume that Islam is a false religion, then that is a reasonable conclusion, either that or they worship nothing. On the other hand, the Calormenes aren't Muslims, since they are a fictitious people who live across the desert from the fictitious lands of Narnia and Archenland. In a series of books dealing with a monotheistic religion in which the Christ figure (Aslan) interacts personally with the major characters in the books on a regular basis, one would expect that those who worship other powers would be deluded into following false gods, or more accurately, demons.