The real problem with Narnia

I think when it comes to Narnia, from going to Ex-Narnian the real problem may be that it seems far too jarring to be properly Christian. Even some secular people feel that way. It’s like if Narnia’s a Christian story, what’s with all the magic being permitted if magic’s abhorred in the Bible? It’s so jarring that it’s enough to disturb people, enough to be suspicious.

Now imagine if the ruler of Narnia’s actually a perpetually despised ram who lives in a dilapidated shack, mistreated by his own followers and actually does show mercy in addition to being harsh? Not necessarily any better but much more Biblically consistent as Jesus was something of a loser in life and compared to a lamb.

Imagine if magic’s the domain of only evildoers in Narnia, it would be just as consistent. So it seems the real problem’s how jarring it is that people can’t get over it.

Aslan

The lion kept prowling

For humans, killing and

Eating them as he wills.

A crisis of infinite faiths

I sometimes think the real problem with Narnia’s not because it promotes witchcraft but because it’s so jarring that it gives some readers a profound crisis of faith. Why would the God figure of Aslan condone and use magic if magic’s despised in the Bible? Actually it wouldn’t be any better if this was retold with a tantrum-throwing lamb who’s often bullied by puppies even if it’s closer to how he’s portrayed in the Bible and stuff.

I actually think in those cases, that would mean either greater consistency or at least much more transparency than usually deployed. Had Aslan been depicted as a misunderstood, crying but sweet lamb who’s even poor or working class in a world with little to no magic and if magic characters are bad it would be a lot closer to the Bible.

Maybe much more consistent but also too preachy even if it’s less jarring this way.

Nothing to laugh at

I sometimes think the Divine Comedy has a much better sell than Narnia does if because it’s so damning to realise just how many people go to hell even if they’re well-adjusted characters. (Whether if it’s true or not, it’s up to you.) There was one Catholic criticism of Divine Comedy, thinking the author’s spiteful. In reality The Divine Comedy’s one of the earliest been to hell testimonies.

(It wouldn’t matter if Dante Alighieri’s technically a Catholic, he would’ve been one of the few medieval Christians in the Evangelical sense of the word along with St Bernard of Cluny, Saint Julian and Girolamo Savonarola. Even the Cathars count.)

I still think the Divine Comedy holds up better than Narnia does when it comes to how shocking to realise even a beloved celebrity can go to Hell. There are people who say that Michael Jackson, Princess Diana and Carrie Fisher are in Hell. The latter two being beloved characters who’re very troubled in their private lives.

(Though keep in mind not all of them stay that way.)

The Great Divorce is decent but it doesn’t seem to have the same staying power if because most of the characters who do go to Hell are completely obscure to most readers. Whereas Carrie Fisher and Michael Jackson are fairly well-known and enough to damn some people if they went to hell at all. The fact that Divine Comedy uses well-known celebrities in Dante’s time makes it comparable to the later been to hell testimonies.

It could be my taste but I still prefer Divine Comedy over Great Divorce, especially in how alarming a beloved celebrity can go to hell.

I just can’t get into it

Maybe that’s not the right word for it but when it comes to Narnia, it’s actually surprisingly easy to question it. Even some Christian do it. In my opinion, I actually think the actual problem’s not so much with the use of magic but that it’s pretty hard to take it seriously. Especially if the Christ figure’s presented as overly cool yet rather aloof. Or at the very least just not that down to earth.

The other problem’s that if you depict a Christ-figure as practically a tired nurse or coach, it makes much more sense but also way too drab to be showy. Even if that’s Jesus Christ as he is (I actually think him being a nurse makes the most sense, if not then the sports coach). I won’t be surprised if somebody already wrote a blog about it. But what that means is that whilst well-meaning, it’s not that precise.

Or as straight-forward as making God into a grumpy nurse (this is something others can get by really). Especially if dealing with people can tire or upset somebody a lot. But alas coolness triumphs door pragmatism and why some Christians can’t stand Narnia.

Flashy Fundamentalism

I sometimes think should secular works like the Flash be used to illustrate that even good people can go to Hell (Zatanna, Dr Fate, Pied Piper) as well as being this Biblically consistent (right down to homosexuals, magic users and dogs being all equally suspicious and guilty) it would be so damning that atheists might turn to Narnia instead. Indeed, how much more damning and horrifying to see somebody they know and love go to hell?

How much more shocking if something so beloved/respected isn’t what it seems to be? That and a ram explicitly standing in for Christ in the Flash would be so blatant that Narnia becomes the substitute for atheists. Another problem might be something already deconstructed in the Flash’s that it’s one thing to have characters standing in for something Christian, it’s another to show the real thing right down to the use of imagery and themes.

That it’s actually more horrifying to see a superheroine like Zatanna go to hell whereas Barry Allen goes to heaven with his wife Iris and a ram suggests that either Narnia’s somewhat flawed or that the Flash’s much more spiritually explicit by then. Right down to dogs being associated with evildoers save for recreations of Tobit that you’re getting a text that doesn’t impress some people who might be leery of religion to begin with. Even if it’s necessary.

Spirituality and Fundamentalism in Fiction

I sometimes think if somebody were to turn the Flash into something so Biblically explicit, right down to depicting dogs as suspect and lions as demonic (that’s even there in the Bible) that atheists might turn to Narnia instead. But because Narnia doesn’t speak ill about those two, even if the devil appears as a lion and dog anyways. Which proves my point that when it comes to making something so Biblically consistent that it might not still well with most people.

Given people’s growing sensitivity to homophobia and the like, it would be really distressing to see heroic characters like Zatanna and Pied Piper go to hell anyways. How much more surprising if a villain like Copperhead went to Heaven and a heroine like Zatanna ended up in hell even if it’s kind of consistent with Biblical thought that good deeds aren’t enough? That magic’s just as suspect’s also there. Rao help if Caitlin’s a evil dog witch that’s going to upset certain people.

Even if there are enough passages that treat dogs with some distrust though that depends on circumstance and in some editions, there’s room for positive representation. But my point still stands is that if the Flash were to become almost 100 % consistent with the Bible, it would be so offensive that it’s definitely not going to sit well with most people at all and probably offend them real hard.

Roman Antiquities: Or, An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Romans … (Google Books)

3. RHEA, the wife of Saturn: called also Ops, Cybele, Magna Mater, Mater Deorum, Berecynthia, Idcea, and Dindymine, from three mountains in Phrygia: She was painted as a matron, crowned with towers, (turrita), sitting in a chariot drawn by lions, Ovid. Fast. iv. 249. &c.

Cybele, or a sacred stone, called by the inhabitants the mother of the gods, was brought from Pessinus in Phrygia to Rome, in the time of the second Punic war, Liv. xxix. 11. & 14.

4. PLUTO, the brother of Jupiter and king of the infernal regions; called also Orcus, Jupiter infernus et Stygius. The wife of Pluto was PROSERPINA, tne daughter of Ceres, whom he carried off, as she was gathering flowers in the -plains of Enna in Sicily; called Juno inferna or Stygia, often confounded with Hecate and Luna or Diana; supposed to preside over sorceries or incantations, (veneficiis pratesse).

There were many other infernal deities, of whom the chief were the FATES or Destinies, (PARC/E, a parcendo vel per AttTiphrasin, quod nemini par cant), the daughters of Jupiter and Themis, or of Erebus and Vox, three in number; Clotho, Lm-hcsis, and Atropos, supposed to determine the life of men by spinning; Ovid. Pont. i. 8. 64. Ep. xii. 3. Clotho held the distaff, Lachesis span, and Atropos cut the thread: When there was nothing on the distaff to spin, it was attended with the same effect, Ovid. Amor. ii. 6. 46. Sometimes they are all represented as employed in breaking the threads, Lucan. iii. 18. The FURIES, (Furice vel Dircs, Eumenides vel Erinnyes), also three in number, Alecto, Tysiphone, and Megara; represented with wings, and snakes twisted in their hair; holding in their hands a torch and a whip to torment the wicked; MORS vel Lethum, death; SOMNUS, sleep, &c. The punishments of the infernal regions were sometimes represented in pictures, to deter men from crimes, Plaut. Captiv. v. 4. 1.

5. BACCHUS, the god of wine, the son of Jupiter and Setnele; called also Liber or Lyons, because wine frees the’ minds of men from care: described as the conqueror of India; represented always young, crowned with vine or ivy-leaves, sometimes with horns, hence called Cornioek, Ovid. Ep. xiii. 33. holding in his hand a thyrsus or spear bound with ivy; his chariot was drawn by tigers, lions, or lynxes, attended by Silenus, his nurse and preceptor, Bacchanals (frantic women, Bacchae, Tryades vel Menades), and satyrs, Ovid. Fast. iii. 715.—770. Ep. iv. 47.

The sacred rites of Bacchus, {Bacchanalia, ORG IA vel Dionysia), were celebrated every third year, (hence called trieterica), in the night-time, chiefly on Cithatron and Ismenus in Boeotia, on Isma•ms, Rhodope, and Edon in Thrace.

An Epitome of the Arts and Sciences: Being a Comprehensive System of the … (Google Books)

Who is Bacchus?

A. He is called the son of Jupiter by Semele, daughter of Cadmus; the story is perplexed and obscured by contradictory accounts given of him. He is the Osiris of the Egyptians, and the Sri Rhama, and Bhagvat of the Hindus. While Ceres taught the cultivation of grain, Bacchus taught that of the vine; he fostered the manners of a rude people, which is signified by the lions and^tigers which he has tamed to draw his chariot. Bacchus js said to have been torn to pieces, which only represents the art of the vintage; he is crowned with grapes, and is attended by noisy worshippers, to indicate the joys of the season and the riches of the harvest; old Silenus follows in his train intoxicated, the same Silenus who was reckoned in the number Of the wise men; who awakened from the intoxication of ignorance, chaunted in sublime strains the formation of the world. This account corresponds with the Hindu Bacchus or Bhagvat. He is by the Romans and moderns made the deity of drunkards, and is drawn as a man with two faces, one old and the other young, because wine taken in excess brings on decrepitude, taken in moderation invigorates and pre; serves the health.

The jolly god oomes in,

His hair with ivy twin d, his clothes » tiger-s skin,
Whose golden claws are clutched juto a kuoty

^. Who was Cybele?

A. She is the reputed mother of the gods and men, and is called Terra or the earth; because in the order of creation, the earth first appeared. She is represented as a majestic woman, her head crowned with towers; in her hand a key, either because the earth contains treasure, or because winter locks up vegetation, which it is one of her attributes to promote; she rides in a chariot, symbolical of the earth, suspended in the atmosphere, and is drawn by lions, because there is nothing, however savage and ungovernable, but motherly tenderness may tame. The towers of her head represent cities, of which she is the goddess. She was called Ops when invoked by the husbandmen; and Uranus as being suspended in the middle of the universe; and as the mother of the constellations. She was also called Vesta; and had temples, in which a pure flame was constantly kept burning. Only the pure and the virtuous were allowed to approach her. The virgins who guarded the sacred fire, were put to death if they suffered it to expire. A similar institution was found in Peru upon its discovery; the Virgins of the Sun suffered death, if defiled. The Hindu goddess Goburra, is also crowned with towers, and has the same attributes.

The answer to a Jewish Narnia

Like I said before, the real reason why you don’t observe Evangelicals do more superhero stories often is because they’re way too cynical to appreciate superheroes. It doesn’t help that not only do Evangelicals tend to doubt others’ good intentions a lot and do tend to be really, really harsh and punitive but that they got it from a certain subset of Greek philosophy that encourages such an attitude.

(I could go on saying that if Islam’s a simplification of Christianity, Christianity’s an amplification of cynicism where there’s no dearth of texts ranging from demonologies to blogs and transcribed sermons bashing a lot of things, really.)

Philosophical cynicism not only involves chastising people a lot (etymologically speaking, cynicism comes from the same root as ‘kynos’ or dog in the sense of a dog that keeps barking at strangers and attackers a lot) but also trying to lead a simple life as possible. The perpetually harsh attitude survives among a number of Christians really, though something most don’t really realise.

It’s not that Christians can’t appreciate and do superhero stories themselves but if Power Mark and Bibleman and a few others are any indication, it’s one thing to appropriate a seculara character it’s another to produce your own. And very few Christians do the latter. Either that the need for superheroes is redundant or that Christians find others suspicious to the point where Evangelicals writing superhero comics is going to be rare anyways.