There are certain Christians and Christian organizations who feel that The Chronicles of Narnia promotes "soft sell paganism and occultism", because of the recurring pagan themes and the heretical depictions of Christ as an anthropomorphic lion. Satyrs, fauns, centaurs, dwarves, werewolves, giants, and even the pagan god Bacchus and the Maenads are depicted in a positive light, when they are distinctly pagan motifs. Even an animistic "River god" is portrayed in a positive light. (Chattaway 2005), (Berit 2005) According to Josh Hurst from Christianity Today, "not only was Lewis hesitant to call his books Christian allegory, but the stories borrow just as much from pagan mythology as they do the Bible."(Hurst 2005)
Drew Trotter, PhD, president of the Center for Christian Study, noted that the producers of the film version of The Chronicles of Narnia felt that The Chronicles of Narnia closely follows the archetypal pattern of the monomyth as detailed in Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces. [1] Joseph Campbell himself felt that the New Testament adhered to the archetypal monomyth and was but "one version of mythic stories that can be found in many cultures."[2] Both The Chronicles of Narnia and the New Testament are rife with Jungian archetypal imagery.
A religious studies professor, Dennis R. MacDonald, PhD, who teaches at the Claremont School of Theology, has written numerous books stating that portions of the New Testament are actually derived from Classical pagan Greek literature like the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer(MacDonald 2000), (MacDonald 2003). Assuming that Lewis did indeed base aspects of The Chronicles of Narnia on the New Testament, Lewis might have, in fact, been infusing pagan symbolism, allegory, and supposition into The Chronicles of Narnia.
CS Lewis himself stated in an essay called Is Theism Important?:
"When grave persons express their fear that England is relapsing into Paganism, I am tempted to reply, 'Would that she were.' For I do not think it at all likely that we shall ever see Parliament opened by the slaughtering of a garlanded white bull in the House of Lords or Cabinet Ministers leaving sandwiches in Hyde Park as an offering for the Dryads. If such a state of affairs came about, then the Christian apologist would have something to work on. For a Pagan, as history shows, is a man eminently convertible to Christianity. He is essentially the pre-Christian, or sub-Christian, religious man. The post-Christian man of our day differs from him as much as a divorcee differs from a virgin."(Lewis 1994)
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There are certain Christians and Christian organizations who feel that The Chronicles of Narnia promotes "soft sell paganism and occultism", because of the recurring pagan themes and the heretical depictions of Christ as an anthropomorphic lion. Satyrs, fauns, centaurs, dwarves, werewolves, giants, and even the pagan god Bacchus and the Maenads are depicted in a positive light, when they are distinctly pagan motifs. Even an animistic "River god" is portrayed in a positive light. (Chattaway 2005), (Berit 2005) According to Josh Hurst from Christianity Today, "not only was Lewis hesitant to call his books Christian allegory, but the stories borrow just as much from pagan mythology as they do the Bible."(Hurst 2005)
Drew Trotter, PhD, president of the Center for Christian Study, noted that the producers of the film version of The Chronicles of Narnia felt that The Chronicles of Narnia closely follows the archetypal pattern of the monomyth as detailed in Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces. [1] Joseph Campbell himself felt that the New Testament adhered to the archetypal monomyth and was but "one version of mythic stories that can be found in many cultures."[2] Both The Chronicles of Narnia and the New Testament are rife with Jungian archetypal imagery.
A religious studies professor, Dennis R. MacDonald, PhD, who teaches at the Claremont School of Theology, has written numerous books stating that portions of the New Testament are actually derived from Classical pagan Greek literature like the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer(MacDonald 2000), (MacDonald 2003). Assuming that Lewis did indeed base aspects of The Chronicles of Narnia on the New Testament, Lewis might have, in fact, been infusing pagan symbolism, allegory, and supposition into The Chronicles of Narnia.
CS Lewis himself stated in an essay called Is Theism Important?:
"When grave persons express their fear that England is relapsing into Paganism, I am tempted to reply, 'Would that she were.' For I do not think it at all likely that we shall ever see Parliament opened by the slaughtering of a garlanded white bull in the House of Lords or Cabinet Ministers leaving sandwiches in Hyde Park as an offering for the Dryads. If such a state of affairs came about, then the Christian apologist would have something to work on. For a Pagan, as history shows, is a man eminently convertible to Christianity. He is essentially the pre-Christian, or sub-Christian, religious man. The post-Christian man of our day differs from him as much as a divorcee differs from a virgin."(Lewis 1994)