A Family Guide To Narnia: Biblical Truths in C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia

by Christin Ditchfield, Wayne Martindale (Foreword)

Do you read The Chronicles of Narnia sensing that the stories are full of biblical parallels, even if you're not always sure what they are or where to find them? This user-friendly companion to The Chronicles of Narnia is written for C. S. Lewis readers like you who want to discover the books' biblical and Christian roots. Read it, and you'll find that this chapter-by-chapter, book-by-book examination of The Chronicles will widen your spiritual vision.

Genres: Nonfiction, Christian, Christianity, Faith, Reference, Parenting, Christian Non Fiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published July 7, 2003

About the author

Christin Ditchfield (www.ChristinDitchfield.com) is the author of "What Women Should Know About Letting It Go" and 65 other books in a wide variety of genres, from educational to inspirational, fiction and nonfiction. She has also written dozens of best-selling gospel tracts, and hundreds of essays, columns, and articles for national and international magazines such as Focus on the Family, Power For Living, Sports Spectrum, and Today's Christian Woman.

For over twenty-five years, Christin has been speaking at conferences, retreats, banquets, and brunches, encouraging women who love Jesus, teaching them to walk with Him on a daily basis, so that they can experience a richer, deeper, more meaningful relationship with Him.

She hosts the internationally syndicated radio program, Take It To Heart! (www.TakeItToHeartRadio.com) and is a frequent guest on other national radio and television programs, including Family Life Today, Midday Connection, Dr. D. James Kennedy's Truths That Transform, and Live the Promise with Susie Larson.

A former preschool and elementary school teacher, Christin is also the author of many educational books and resources for children and their families, including the best-selling "A Family Guide to Narnia: Biblical Truths in C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia."

She holds a bachelors degree in Christian Leadership and a masters degree in Biblical Theology.

Christin blogs at www.ChristinDitchfield.com

Reviews

[Skrivena stranica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more a spiritual meditation on Bible with the help of Narnia as something to think about, but still useful for finding conections of Narnia and the Bible (some are more of associations than real parallels, but oh well...)

[Lou Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Family Guide to Narnia by Christin Ditchfield is designed to be read alongside the Chronicles of Narnia. For every chapter of each story, there is a Bible study that goes alongside it.
The Guide has different Bible verses that you can look up.
I didn't do an in-depth study, but this book did give me some ideas of how the Chronicles of Narnia reflects the Bible. I found this interesting and helpful. This book was the most Bible-centred of the Narnia themed books I've been reading.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This explains the biblical basis for many events and characters in The Chronicles of Narnia. It goes through all 7 books, chapter by chapter. For each chapter it points out the biblical parallels and principles, with Bible verses. It also includes questions to think about, which sometimes point out a deeper meaning.

I skimmed this because I was looking for deeper explanations of the symbolism of the series, similar to Inside Narnia and Narnia Beckons. I skimmed the Biblical Parallels and Principles sections (the majority of the book) because I understand most of the biblical references while reading the books, and don’t need them pointed out. It’s not a fault of the book; it’s just not what I was looking for.

This would be extremely helpful for those less familiar with the Bible, or for those doing a Bible study based on The Chronicles of Narnia.

Notes
The Horse and His Boy
When Shasta asks Aslan, “Who are you?” Aslan answers 3 times in 3 different voices. Lewis is probably hinting at the Trinity. The deep, low, earthshaking voice represents The Father, the loud, clear, joyous voice represents The Son, and the whisper represents the Holy Spirit.

Prince Caspian
Aslan’s How is reminiscent of Roman catacombs

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The stars as beings echoes the Bible's use of the word “star” to represent angels (Isaiah 14, Luke 10, Revelation 9 and 12).

The Last Battle
With Emeth, Lewis wasn’t trying to say that all religions lead to Heaven. He believed Jesus was the only way to salvation. According to Ditchfield, he meant that, “God is so merciful - He reveals Himself to those who truly seek Him, even if they are coming at it from the wrong direction. This was certainly Lewis’ experience when he met God after thirty years as an atheist.”

Ditchfield’s recommended resources
Journey Into Narnia, Kathryn Lindskoog
The Land of Narnia, Brian Sibley

[Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great companion to the Narnia series...
Christin Ditchfield sheds much light and exposes the inner truths hidden in the Narnia books!!!

If you want to go higher and deeper, then this is it!!!
Full recommendation, C. S. Lewis was a professor in Oxford, and the Christian thinker who defended and explained the Christian faith to millions trough his books...

Let me put it this way, if you love or are interested in Christianity, then go for it!!!
PS:
The audio-book from Audible is also a winner, excellent narrator...

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This devotional was so interesting and insightful. I really appreciate all of the time the author took to find the Biblical tie-ins and Scripture references. This book blew my mind and was a great way to start my devotions in 2020.

[Vernie · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was in grade school, I was so fascinated with this cartoon animated movie shown on T.V. It was THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE.

Years later, I get to meet “Aslan” again this time together with my son---We both watched the Big Screen movie adaptation of the book about talking creatures, Fauns, Dwarfs, Giants, Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy and a very extraordinary Lion.

Of course, It is a different experience when I get to read the books. But depending on what age, each reader would understand or view The Chronicles of Narnia books differently. One would find C.S Lewis books-- a way to ignite the imagination, simply a fantasy book made for children. While another will find that underneath those stories are hidden gems of truths taken from the bible.

Therefore, I found this guidebook “A FAMILY GUIDE TO NARNIA” very handy. The author have done a very splendid job of analyzing and presenting each books in The Chronicles of Narnia with fresh biblical insights.

What I get from reading this guide book are the following:

A greater appreciation of the works of C.S Lewis
A familiarization with the characters, their strengths and their weaknesses
Reading it side-by-side with any of the Narnia books and the bible can be truly an enlightening experience for the whole family.
Each chapters of this guidebook are divided accordingly in relation to the 7 books of The Chronicles of Narnia and it comes with brief introduction.

Furthermore, parents can used this as a teaching tool to their children regarding biblical principles. It is indeed a must read book especially if you are a big fan of Narnia.

[Ethan West · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I struggled with this book being kind of repetitive in its points and being very minute it its interpretations of the stories. It was like saying someone in Narnia walked in a field and so did someone in the Bible and that is a Biblical Truth. I was able to get over that and by the end of the book it was much more enjoyable. I still think that it would have been better to take fewer Biblical truths and draw them out over the course of the book rather than having several truths with each chapter of each book. However, I am not a writer so I don't know much.

[Colleen Aguirre · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it!!!

The Chronicles of Narnia series have been my top favorite books for years and I'm glad to have found this book. The author goes through each book in the Narnia series individually, breaking down each chapter and carefully lining them up with scriptures and asking questions. There are typos here and there, but they're no big deal. It's an easy enough read for kids to understand, but not enough to bore teen and adult readers.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

We used this guide with 3 of the Narnia books for tie ins with the Bible and highly recommend it. I always pre-read the chapter and reviewed the tie ins because I didn’t always see the relevance the author did, but usually used about 75% of the verses/passages from the Bible. We read the rest of Narnia without the guide as we did other things for our Bible time.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

While it doesn’t stand on its own as a narrative, it’s an excellent companion to the series! My children were very engaged as I read each excerpt as a postscript to finishing a chapter of the actual books.

[Kristine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book.

This is such a wonderful accompaniment to The Chronicles of Narnia. I just finished reading it aloud for the first time and can’t wait for my child to be old enough to incorporate it in his education.

[Ashley Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very insightful companion guide to Narnia! I thought some connections were a bit of a stretch, but overall I liked finding the deeper meanings behind the words of Lewis.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Companion Guide

This book is a wonderful companion guide to all seven of the Narnia oks with plenty of Scripture and great explanations.

[JJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finally read this. Better read right along with each book. Even so I couldn’t make it work and provide deeper meaning.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book when I had to write an essay on the Narnia series. It was very useful and pretty informative. But some of the symbolism and parallels were a bit of a stretch, and others were a lot of a stretch.

[Emily Kobes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have a set of Chronicles of Narnia and a Bible ready, because we are about to get serious. A Family Guide to Narnia: Biblical Truths in C.S. Lewis's the Chronicles of Narnia by Christin Ditchfield is a wonderful bible study for Narnia fans and non-fans alike. C.S. Lewis was an amazing man and writer and devout Christian, so it makes sense that his books are woven with so many Biblical parallels. Of course, some of the parallels are more obvious to identify than others, but this book points them out clearly. It shines a light into the core of the Chronicles and uses quotes from the series and many Bible verses to prove its point. The devotional is very uplifting for it shows how God’s love, grace, justice and mercy was woven into a series of seven personally treasured books.
Though being a devotional pointed towards children, it does not pick apart the seven books as thoroughly as one might want, but still the devotional will make you want to love God more.

[Dustin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Must remember that this is designed for children, else I may give it less stars. Thought it started out good, then during Lion and Caspian felt that the Biblical 'parallels' were real stretches. Thought it got better during Dawn Treader, but then the author - in the chapter where Caspian remarks how Narnia is a flat world - tells of how for thousands of years people thought the earth was flat. This is not true and it's bad enough that anti-theists spread this lie, we don't need Christian authors doing the same.

[Jen · Rating 1 out of 5]

i was disappointed that this book took biblical quotes out of text to draw a line between the similarities of the scrpitures and the works of Lewis' Narnia books when in fact if one has even a bit of knowledge of the Bible it can be the connection can be seen quite clearly.

[Lynn Alan Heath · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Twisted Truth

In the Lord's prayer Jesus says, "Sanctify them by Your truth, Your word is truth" (John 17:17). The Scriptures may be understood by anyone with an open heart and mind. The Scriptures will interpret themselves and there is no contradiction in the word of God.

[Clement]

good

[Marina Lim · Rating 4 out of 5]

so much biblical truths! amazing how c.s lewis was able to use all of those, and create a wonderful story at the same time.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book to read with your kids and discuss.

[Murph Hutson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but could have been much more in depth.

[Adriane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of themes and wide selection of scriptures, along with a few interesting facts along the way.

[Manna_Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

We enjoyed reading through this Narnia companion. We read it as a devotional and Bible study aid as we read the series. Insightful information.

[Priscilla Sage · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's missing