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What I Learned in Narnia
One rainy day, years ago, a little girl named Lucy discovered that the back of a wardrobe isn't always just the back of a wardrobe. Sometimes, it's a door into another world. In Lucy's case, that other world was called Narnia, and though she was among the first to enter it, she was by no means the last. Millions of children (young and old) have followed her there and met its strange but wonderful inhabitants--Mr. Tumnus, Reepicheep, and Puddleglum, among others. But the lessons of Narnia don't just belong to the world of fiction and fantasy. We may never meet fawns, talking mice, or marshwiggles in our ordinary lives, but the lessons they teach in The Chronicles of Narnia are the very lessons we need to fight the battles we face in our everyday lives. Douglas Wilson begins this series of meditations on C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia with the observation, "This is not intended to be an introduction to Narnia at all, but is rather more like a conversation between good friends about some other good friends, talking about what a good time we all had and why." Wilson highlights the practical themes of mature, Christian living that emerge from these classic tales--nobility, confession, complete grace--a joyful contrast to the thinness of modern life. A must for any Narnia fan, young or old.
176 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2004
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About the author
Douglas Wilson
317 books4,518 followersI write in order to make the little voices in my head go away. Thus far it hasn't worked.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 112 reviews
July 7, 2021
So, so good. Written by a true Narnian.
November 17, 2020
Delightful.
November 22, 2025
Fantastic book! I reread it every year, great stuff especially on authority and obedience, very convicting. His conclusions ring true with Lewis and resonate with those who have read him.
Reread July 2025. Fantastic.
Reread November 2025. It gets better every time. This is not a stale synopsis of commonplace themes, but rather a pastoral book where he convicts, confronts, comforts, and exhorts.
Reread July 2025. Fantastic.
Reread November 2025. It gets better every time. This is not a stale synopsis of commonplace themes, but rather a pastoral book where he convicts, confronts, comforts, and exhorts.
August 18, 2020
Great lessons from the Narnia stories. This would be a good study for kids and teens.
May 20, 2013
Doug Wilson writes in what could be family devotional or Sunday School lesson format, a study of what he learned in Narnia.
There are some really good insights in this book. He hits on several key lessons learned: authority, confession of sin, nobility, spiritual disciplines, love of story, thorough grace, and love for Aslan, love for God. He offers positive and negative examples of each, and hits on each of the books more than once throughout this book.
His lessons are simple enough for children, but important enough for adults.
My favorite sections were on nobility and love of story. I think most of the other lessons one would learn just being in a faithful church. But it is not normal--though I would argue it should be--for churches to impress upon people what it means to be noble or the importance of loving stories. The Bible teaches these things, but they don't get brought out of the text by most preachers. Narnia brings this to life for us, and Wilson makes it clear. None of what he says is a stretch, it is all right there in the Chronicles, easy enough to see. His observations, and pulling them all together from the different stories, makes each point hit home that much harder.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. He tells you right off the bat that you need not read this book if you haven't read the entire Chronicles. I had and I think it helped in following his point. The lessons he learned, and which I have now learned, make me want to commit to re-reading the Chronicles every year for the rest of my life. They are that good.
Highly recommend this companion to the Chronicles of Narnia.
There are some really good insights in this book. He hits on several key lessons learned: authority, confession of sin, nobility, spiritual disciplines, love of story, thorough grace, and love for Aslan, love for God. He offers positive and negative examples of each, and hits on each of the books more than once throughout this book.
His lessons are simple enough for children, but important enough for adults.
My favorite sections were on nobility and love of story. I think most of the other lessons one would learn just being in a faithful church. But it is not normal--though I would argue it should be--for churches to impress upon people what it means to be noble or the importance of loving stories. The Bible teaches these things, but they don't get brought out of the text by most preachers. Narnia brings this to life for us, and Wilson makes it clear. None of what he says is a stretch, it is all right there in the Chronicles, easy enough to see. His observations, and pulling them all together from the different stories, makes each point hit home that much harder.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. He tells you right off the bat that you need not read this book if you haven't read the entire Chronicles. I had and I think it helped in following his point. The lessons he learned, and which I have now learned, make me want to commit to re-reading the Chronicles every year for the rest of my life. They are that good.
Highly recommend this companion to the Chronicles of Narnia.
December 17, 2020
It's not often that a book has both edified and cheered me as this one did. I highly recommend it to people who've read the Narnia books--and if they haven't done so recently I recommend they reread them before picking this one up.
December 26, 2017
Sou suspeito para falar. Simplesmente excelente!
April 4, 2023
Fun and insightful.
March 21, 2023
Very good. I listened to this on the Canon + app.
July 5, 2012
Lovely little book, pastorally targeted at younger readers who have read Narnia. This will give lots of edifying "mileage" out of having read Narnia, without spoiling the books by moralizing them.
Wilson progresses from the lesser to the greatest topics, starting with authority and confession and climaxing with grace and love. Reading this in just a day or two, this had a wonderful cumulative effect. Yet the book really makes for great out loud reading to children, with short sections. The best thing about the book is Wilson's warm pastoral tone speaking to children and young people about important and spiritual things, without condescension, scolding or moralizing. We need more examples of this kind of teaching and training of our children.
The frustrating things about this one: Wilson says he is writing to those who have read the Narnia books, but he ends up summarizing almost every story he refers to. This takes up about half the book. Also, he repeats several passages, using them in different places. The reader would have been better served with less summary, and more references and chapters. (Susan not fighting, Rabadash's stubborn pride, the Dufflepuds, etc. are not included). Not than an encyclopedia is needed, but more substance and less summary.
Wilson progresses from the lesser to the greatest topics, starting with authority and confession and climaxing with grace and love. Reading this in just a day or two, this had a wonderful cumulative effect. Yet the book really makes for great out loud reading to children, with short sections. The best thing about the book is Wilson's warm pastoral tone speaking to children and young people about important and spiritual things, without condescension, scolding or moralizing. We need more examples of this kind of teaching and training of our children.
The frustrating things about this one: Wilson says he is writing to those who have read the Narnia books, but he ends up summarizing almost every story he refers to. This takes up about half the book. Also, he repeats several passages, using them in different places. The reader would have been better served with less summary, and more references and chapters. (Susan not fighting, Rabadash's stubborn pride, the Dufflepuds, etc. are not included). Not than an encyclopedia is needed, but more substance and less summary.
December 2, 2013
Narnia will never look the same again.
January 9, 2023
Wilson really does an amazing job of analyzing the Narnia series and showing the narrative themes that Lewis so expertly wove throughout the books. I wish I had been exposed at an earlier age to a deeper view of narrative like Wilson's. Yes, these are just stories, but stories have morals, and they usually convey theology much more vividly than any theological book could ever hope to.
An especially interesting theme is the emphasis throughout the series on personal relationship with Aslan. Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, Jill and Eustace each have a personal relationship with Aslan because Aslan is a person, in a way that is obviously informed by Lewis's understanding of Christ as a person:
"...relationship separates. Characters are good or bad by how they respond to Aslan and, in many cases, how they respond even to the name of Aslan. After simply hearing his name, some characters feel a flood of joy, while others get the creeps. This is one of the most important things that you can learn in Narnia, because the same thing is true in our world. We are all defined, most fundamentally, by our relationship to Jesus Christ. Many people want to pretend that this is not the case. They want good and evil to be defined in a much safer way, by conformity to rules and regulations-whether man's rules or God's rules, it doesn't matter-instead of by this relationship." p. 146
At any rate, this book made me think more deeply in preparation for revisiting the Chronicles this year. It has been too long.
An especially interesting theme is the emphasis throughout the series on personal relationship with Aslan. Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, Jill and Eustace each have a personal relationship with Aslan because Aslan is a person, in a way that is obviously informed by Lewis's understanding of Christ as a person:
"...relationship separates. Characters are good or bad by how they respond to Aslan and, in many cases, how they respond even to the name of Aslan. After simply hearing his name, some characters feel a flood of joy, while others get the creeps. This is one of the most important things that you can learn in Narnia, because the same thing is true in our world. We are all defined, most fundamentally, by our relationship to Jesus Christ. Many people want to pretend that this is not the case. They want good and evil to be defined in a much safer way, by conformity to rules and regulations-whether man's rules or God's rules, it doesn't matter-instead of by this relationship." p. 146
At any rate, this book made me think more deeply in preparation for revisiting the Chronicles this year. It has been too long.
December 9, 2023
Jesus is not a tame lion you know.
I think people, when they come face to face with Christ in their life, zealously try to overcomplicate and philosophize their place in the universe and how they contribute to it. To me, the best thing about Narnia, as Wilson points out, is its simplicity. Narnia is built on relationships between those around us, but most fundamentally on our relationship with Aslan (Jesus).
“For in Him we live and move and have our being” Acts 17:28
And we bring nothing to this relationship seeing as he chose us before time began (Eph 1:4) and that that Grace was the best gift we could have ever received (Eph. 2:8)
Wilson does a fantastic job of curating those principles and many more, highlighting why Lewis’s work should be a constant go to for us.
I think people, when they come face to face with Christ in their life, zealously try to overcomplicate and philosophize their place in the universe and how they contribute to it. To me, the best thing about Narnia, as Wilson points out, is its simplicity. Narnia is built on relationships between those around us, but most fundamentally on our relationship with Aslan (Jesus).
“For in Him we live and move and have our being” Acts 17:28
And we bring nothing to this relationship seeing as he chose us before time began (Eph 1:4) and that that Grace was the best gift we could have ever received (Eph. 2:8)
Wilson does a fantastic job of curating those principles and many more, highlighting why Lewis’s work should be a constant go to for us.
June 8, 2024
I listened to the audio lectures while working my way through this book. Both were great. If you are anything like me, you have been shaped and inspired by the Narnia series. I know for most all of us who appreciate Narnia and C.S. Lewis, we could likely write our own book about what we learned in that world. Wilson brings about some of the most clear and profound truths of the Narnia series and encouraged me to read through the series again for maybe the 8th or 9th time.
January 18, 2020
Another great book on Narnia! I had a hard time putting it down. Wilson draws out important character-building lessons from the Narnia series that many may miss. He addresses a younger audience but older folks will gleam some good lessons and insights as well.
"When you let yourself be taken into some of these stories, you will not only enjoy them - you will be shaped by them and taught in many unexpected and useful ways, most of the time without even realizing it." Pg 128
"When you let yourself be taken into some of these stories, you will not only enjoy them - you will be shaped by them and taught in many unexpected and useful ways, most of the time without even realizing it." Pg 128
November 6, 2025
Let’s just say that I ought to read all the Narnia series again…While some characters and events make an obvious reference to the biblical narrative, others go unnoticed by the average reader (me). While short, the book contains enough material to give you a refreshing perspective on God’s character and the appropriate response as His subjects.
June 6, 2021
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has read the Narnia series and would like to think through the many Christian ideas and worldview woven through the books. I benefited immensely as I am now in the midst of my second full read through of the Narnia series.
June 19, 2021
This book, adapted from the audio of some talks given to children, was very good. It was simple, insightful, and made me want to read the Narnia books again for myself, and again to my children, and to keep growing in my walk with the Lord. If any book can accomplish that, it is a success.
May 11, 2019
Excelente livro onde o autor aponta vários ensinamentos retirados das histórias de Nárnia. Recomendo que antes de ler esse livro você leia a coleção do C.S. Lewis - As Crônicas de Nárnia, que é fantástica, pois vai otimizar a leitura desse livro.
May 4, 2020
Livro maravilhoso!! Recomendo muito!
May 5, 2020
Puro deleite! Pegue seu café e saboreie esse livro. Excelente!
December 22, 2020
Simple but incredibly edifying. I wish I had read this when I was in middle school.
April 25, 2021
This book was so good! Easy to understand, right to the point, and of course, full of Douglas Wilson’s dry humor. Thanks for the laughs and the lessons Douglas!
March 31, 2023
Just fantastic a little repetitive in some parts but it doesn’t really take away from the overall quality of the whole book, highly recommended to Narnia and Lewis fans.
August 21, 2022
13: Authority is inescapable. This means that people can use authority rightly or wrongly, but we cannot avoid altogether having people in positions of authority. In the same way, people can submit to authority rightly or wrongly (or to the right or wrong authority), but they will always be submitting to some kind of authority. Authority is something that God built into the world, and by right of creation He is the ultimate authority in it. But since humanity is sinful, we have many ways of either misusing authority or attempting to deny it altogether.
14: The Narnian chronicles contain many different characters who try to abuse authority in many different ways. But in the end, they all have one common thread. The root of all their problems is selfishness and grasping – the opposite of the biblical commands for leaders to be sacrificial and giving.
16: [Jadis and Uncle Andrew] both believe they are “above the rules.” They both believe rules are only for ordinary, common people. And this way they try to put themselves above all authority but their own.… You should never trust people who have strong views of authority when talking about people under them, but have very weak views of authority when talking about people over them.… One of the best things C. S. Lewis teaches us is that true authority can only be exercised by leaders who delight in submitting to authority themselves.
23: Aslan sets the pattern of true authority that his followers imitate, and the basic foundation of this authority, and direct contrast to the bad characters we have been reading about, is one of sacrifice and giving.
28: And if, on such an occasion, you find yourself honestly thinking “I don’t know if I can do this,“ then that is a good sign. God has put you there for a reason. He wants you to take up the challenge, and He will give you the ability to do it.
29: King Lune’s speech also shows that it is the king’s responsibility to “take the hit” for his people, whatever the “hit“ might be. Authority should not serve to cushion the king from the world; rather, it is the king who should bear the brunt of every blow. It is the same not just for kings and presidents and congressmen and other political leaders, but also for anyone else who has authority – a husband for his wife, a father for his children, an elder or pastor for his congregation. If you are assigned a leadership role by God, then you step forward and you take up a bigger burden than anyone else. You ought not to say, “Well, now that I am in charge, I’m going to order people around so that I can relax.” That is the opposite of true, humble authority.
31: “But I thought you didn’t believe in the horn, Trumpkin,” said Caspian.
“No more I do, your Majesty. But what’s that got to do with it? I might as well die in a wild goose chase as die here. You are my king. I know the difference between giving advice and taking orders. You’ve had my advice, and now it’s time for orders.” (98)
There is a clear difference between advice and orders. It is the duty of everyone under authority to give their advice when asked, just as it is the duty of those in authority to carefully consider the advice of those below them. But at some point a decision must be made, and that is when those under authority need to be ready for orders. There is a time for advice, but when the time comes for obedience, life is very simple: obey. The lesson may be simple, but that does not mean the application of it is easy. This kind of obedience should not involve grumbling and foot dragging. Obedience should be wholehearted whether you think the task is a good idea or not.
32: but if Caspian orders him to do something that is not just a bad idea, but also morally wrong – like welcoming evil creatures into their army and fighting alongside them – then Trumpkin will refuse to obey. And you should note that he has a good deal of credibility when he says this, because he is not refusing simply because he does not feel like obeying at the moment. On the contrary, we later on see him cheerfully obeying orders that he personally disagrees with. Trumpkin is not at all a mindless slave who will obey Caspian‘s every whim. He is an individual with a high standard of integrity, and he submits to Caspian‘s legitimate authority while knowing that it can cross a certain line and become illegitimate. The key is the common standard of right and wrong that is above them both.
35: “on the other hand, what have been the use of learning the signs if they weren’t going to obey them?…
“Do you mean you think everything will come right if we do untie him?” said Scrubb. “I don’t know about that,” said Puddleglum. “You see, Aslan didn’t tell Jill what would happen. He only told her what to do.” (167)
39: Learning how to truly say “I’m sorry “is one of the most important lessons you will ever learn, and that is because it is basically a matter of learning how to be a genuinely honest and humble person.
40: Two common threads: the first is that confession of sin is all about honesty. The second is that people are constantly tempted to confess others’ sins instead of their own, and that unlearning this natural instinct is a first step toward learning how to confess rightly.
42: Aslan does not demand perfection from his servants, but he does demand honesty about their imperfections.
43: The Moment of Digory’s confession is as central to the story as the corresponding sin. Just as the sin brings the evil Jadis into the innocent world of Narnia, so the confession sets Digory on the path to being Aslan’s servant, and equips him for the task that Aslan assigns to him in order to protect Narnia from that evil. Through Aslan, Lewis shows his readers how a full, honest confession – although it does not erase the earthly consequences of sin – does bring complete forgiveness and heels fractured relationships.
47: There is a type of person who makes a mistake and decides he’s going to mope around afterwards with a little black raincloud over his head… Does he honestly think he is a total, worthless failure? No, he does it because his pride has been hurt and he wants people to pay attention to him. He wants others to gather around him and tell him he is not only not a failure, he is in fact a very wonderful and special person. Instead of humbling himself and offering a genuine apology, this type of person hides behind extreme false humility (“I am worthless”) in order to get an ego boost from those around him.
68: but the devil tries to confuse us by slandering nobility; he wants us to think that nobility describes the sort of stuck up, proud person who won’t associate with lesser beings. And that becomes an easy excuse to cover up unrighteousness…
71: The Bible uses similar language in many places. God gave Solomon “majesty” (1 Chronicles 29:25). This was to show the people that Solomon was not just a man sitting on a throne who somehow tricked everyone into thinking he had actual authority. Rather, God gave him the spirit to rule. Nobility is a gift from God, not something that we can just trump up within ourselves.
…Our stereotypes of “nobility” tend to associate it with pride. But that is only true of false nobility; real nobility is always humble. The old expression noblesse oblige, meaning “nobility obliges,” captures this nicely. Rank is more a matter of responsibility than privilege.
75: Lewis is teaching a very important lesson here: evil is not always low and despicable; and in fact the most tempting sorts of evil appear on the outside to be beautiful, powerful, liberating, impressive, and noble. We need to be on our guard against evil that looks noble but is not.
82: In Narnia, manners are a way of serving and giving honor to others; in Calormene, manners are a way of exalting oneself at the expense of others. It is a type of false nobility that exists primarily by degrading others – when you cut down all the trees in the forest except one, that last tree looks pretty tall.
96: We typically think of wickedness as always self-indulgent, always trying to break the rules in order to have fun, always seeking pleasure. Lewis reminds us that quite often the opposite is true: the wicked look down with pinched faces at all the righteous people having a good time. Spiritual disciplines should make you joyful; they are not to be confused with harsh asceticism or dead legalism.
97: Lewis is teaching us the difference between a discipline of joy and a discipline of harsh denial. Aslan has the discipline of joy, symbolized by his bringing springtime, but the witch has the discipline of denial, symbolized by her hundred years of winter. Now Lewis is not saying that following Aslan is always easy and fun, or that following the witch will never get you any pleasure. Both sides have pleasures and hardships, but Aslan puts them in the right order while the witch puts them in the wrong order. Aslan’s ways give lasting and deep joy through (and following) temporary hardship, while the witch’s ways give long-lasting hardships that result from short-lived and shallow pleasures.
98: there is another kind of false discipline that is actually an improper attitude toward true discipline. This attitude excepts the right kind of godly, spiritual disciplines, but it misses the whole point of the discipline. It wants the discipline for its own sake, rather than for the goals for which God intended it… Eustace is not the type of student who gets his test or essay back from the teacher and thinks, “look at what I’ve learned – and I can learn more from my mistakes.” Instead he turns to his classmates and says, “I got an 92 – what did you get?” on the assumption, of course, that the other person probably scored lower. This type of student accepts the discipline of study but forgets that its purpose is learning something, not puffing up your pride by comparing yourself to others or trying to take others down a notch.
Ask any teacher or homeschooling parent, and they will tell you the question they most hate to hear from their students: “Will this be on the test?” They do not like hearing it because it shows that the students will only accept the discipline of study for a very narrow and shallow side of reasons – doing well enough on the test to get approval from their parents and peers.
101: God wants us to work now, resist temptation, be faithful, and practice moderation. He wants us to sacrifice for others, putting them ahead of ourselves. He wants us to give up our lives to gain them, to die in order to rise again to more glorious life. Now it is all too easy to imagine that we only need to do this in the “big things” but may conveniently ignore it in our minor day-to-day decisions. But this lesson of “death and resurrection” for the vast majority of young Christians is not about literally taking a bullet for someone, or even resisting a major temptation like adultery or drug addiction. Remember that those who are faithful in little will be faithful in much.
102: As you begin to seriously pursue the spiritual disciplines, you will sooner or later discover why they are called disciplines. They are difficult, and you will fail in many ways. Because of this, it is important to remember two things: that God is quick to forgive and quick to give us the ability to follow him more faithfully. He is not using these disciplines to crush us. They are grace, not law.
136: The accident happened because Jill despised Eustace and wanted to show off while taking him down a notch. She knows it, but she adds to her fault by not taking responsibility and trying to justify herself instead: “it’s not my fault he fell over that cliff” (19). Note that the fact that she keeps repeating this to herself is proof that it is a lie. If she really were innocent, she would not have had to make a great effort to prove to herself that she is innocent. Jill may have escaped from her troubles back in England, but she has not escaped from the troubles in her own heart. She needs redemption.
137: This conversation is, first of all, a wonderful example of Aslan’s refusal to negotiate with those who need his grace. You can imagine this conversation going quite differently with the modern evangelical version of Jesus in place of Aslan…
142: In these three conversion stories of Edmond, Jill, and Eustace, we see the foundational importance of Aslan’s sacrifice and death. But we also see that when he died, those who follow him “died” also.
152: the further in you go, the larger it gets. In the same way, the more we know and love God, the more we see to know and to love.
154: The effect of Aslan on Shasta is fear and awe mixed with joy: “a new and different sort of trembling came over him. Yet he felt glad too… No one ever saw anything more terrible or beautiful” (165-166). Aslan is terrible and lovely at the same time, which is a fact that many Christians today struggle with. Some veer in one direction, emphasizing the loveliness of God without any of the terror, and they end up with a weak, sentimental goo – religion with no backbone. Others see only the terribleness of God, the hellfire and judgment, and tend to torture themselves and others with guilt, making everyone miserable and eventually driving people away from God altogether. Lewis reminds us that the beauty and terror are united and inseparable. God is the God of those who both fear and love Him.
164: Shift succeeds, for a time, in creating what many modern people would call “an advanced, liberal religion that blends the best from two great traditions of faith.” Instead of Aslan versus Tash, he proclaims the name of “Tashlan.” In the same way, we have many modern Shifts saying that Jesus and Allah and Buddha are really just different names for the same basic idea. The fact that the Calormenes sacrifice people on Tash’s altar (37), while Aslan sacrifices himself for his people, is put aside as merely a minor disagreement. This is the lie of all lies.
14: The Narnian chronicles contain many different characters who try to abuse authority in many different ways. But in the end, they all have one common thread. The root of all their problems is selfishness and grasping – the opposite of the biblical commands for leaders to be sacrificial and giving.
16: [Jadis and Uncle Andrew] both believe they are “above the rules.” They both believe rules are only for ordinary, common people. And this way they try to put themselves above all authority but their own.… You should never trust people who have strong views of authority when talking about people under them, but have very weak views of authority when talking about people over them.… One of the best things C. S. Lewis teaches us is that true authority can only be exercised by leaders who delight in submitting to authority themselves.
23: Aslan sets the pattern of true authority that his followers imitate, and the basic foundation of this authority, and direct contrast to the bad characters we have been reading about, is one of sacrifice and giving.
28: And if, on such an occasion, you find yourself honestly thinking “I don’t know if I can do this,“ then that is a good sign. God has put you there for a reason. He wants you to take up the challenge, and He will give you the ability to do it.
29: King Lune’s speech also shows that it is the king’s responsibility to “take the hit” for his people, whatever the “hit“ might be. Authority should not serve to cushion the king from the world; rather, it is the king who should bear the brunt of every blow. It is the same not just for kings and presidents and congressmen and other political leaders, but also for anyone else who has authority – a husband for his wife, a father for his children, an elder or pastor for his congregation. If you are assigned a leadership role by God, then you step forward and you take up a bigger burden than anyone else. You ought not to say, “Well, now that I am in charge, I’m going to order people around so that I can relax.” That is the opposite of true, humble authority.
31: “But I thought you didn’t believe in the horn, Trumpkin,” said Caspian.
“No more I do, your Majesty. But what’s that got to do with it? I might as well die in a wild goose chase as die here. You are my king. I know the difference between giving advice and taking orders. You’ve had my advice, and now it’s time for orders.” (98)
There is a clear difference between advice and orders. It is the duty of everyone under authority to give their advice when asked, just as it is the duty of those in authority to carefully consider the advice of those below them. But at some point a decision must be made, and that is when those under authority need to be ready for orders. There is a time for advice, but when the time comes for obedience, life is very simple: obey. The lesson may be simple, but that does not mean the application of it is easy. This kind of obedience should not involve grumbling and foot dragging. Obedience should be wholehearted whether you think the task is a good idea or not.
32: but if Caspian orders him to do something that is not just a bad idea, but also morally wrong – like welcoming evil creatures into their army and fighting alongside them – then Trumpkin will refuse to obey. And you should note that he has a good deal of credibility when he says this, because he is not refusing simply because he does not feel like obeying at the moment. On the contrary, we later on see him cheerfully obeying orders that he personally disagrees with. Trumpkin is not at all a mindless slave who will obey Caspian‘s every whim. He is an individual with a high standard of integrity, and he submits to Caspian‘s legitimate authority while knowing that it can cross a certain line and become illegitimate. The key is the common standard of right and wrong that is above them both.
35: “on the other hand, what have been the use of learning the signs if they weren’t going to obey them?…
“Do you mean you think everything will come right if we do untie him?” said Scrubb. “I don’t know about that,” said Puddleglum. “You see, Aslan didn’t tell Jill what would happen. He only told her what to do.” (167)
39: Learning how to truly say “I’m sorry “is one of the most important lessons you will ever learn, and that is because it is basically a matter of learning how to be a genuinely honest and humble person.
40: Two common threads: the first is that confession of sin is all about honesty. The second is that people are constantly tempted to confess others’ sins instead of their own, and that unlearning this natural instinct is a first step toward learning how to confess rightly.
42: Aslan does not demand perfection from his servants, but he does demand honesty about their imperfections.
43: The Moment of Digory’s confession is as central to the story as the corresponding sin. Just as the sin brings the evil Jadis into the innocent world of Narnia, so the confession sets Digory on the path to being Aslan’s servant, and equips him for the task that Aslan assigns to him in order to protect Narnia from that evil. Through Aslan, Lewis shows his readers how a full, honest confession – although it does not erase the earthly consequences of sin – does bring complete forgiveness and heels fractured relationships.
47: There is a type of person who makes a mistake and decides he’s going to mope around afterwards with a little black raincloud over his head… Does he honestly think he is a total, worthless failure? No, he does it because his pride has been hurt and he wants people to pay attention to him. He wants others to gather around him and tell him he is not only not a failure, he is in fact a very wonderful and special person. Instead of humbling himself and offering a genuine apology, this type of person hides behind extreme false humility (“I am worthless”) in order to get an ego boost from those around him.
68: but the devil tries to confuse us by slandering nobility; he wants us to think that nobility describes the sort of stuck up, proud person who won’t associate with lesser beings. And that becomes an easy excuse to cover up unrighteousness…
71: The Bible uses similar language in many places. God gave Solomon “majesty” (1 Chronicles 29:25). This was to show the people that Solomon was not just a man sitting on a throne who somehow tricked everyone into thinking he had actual authority. Rather, God gave him the spirit to rule. Nobility is a gift from God, not something that we can just trump up within ourselves.
…Our stereotypes of “nobility” tend to associate it with pride. But that is only true of false nobility; real nobility is always humble. The old expression noblesse oblige, meaning “nobility obliges,” captures this nicely. Rank is more a matter of responsibility than privilege.
75: Lewis is teaching a very important lesson here: evil is not always low and despicable; and in fact the most tempting sorts of evil appear on the outside to be beautiful, powerful, liberating, impressive, and noble. We need to be on our guard against evil that looks noble but is not.
82: In Narnia, manners are a way of serving and giving honor to others; in Calormene, manners are a way of exalting oneself at the expense of others. It is a type of false nobility that exists primarily by degrading others – when you cut down all the trees in the forest except one, that last tree looks pretty tall.
96: We typically think of wickedness as always self-indulgent, always trying to break the rules in order to have fun, always seeking pleasure. Lewis reminds us that quite often the opposite is true: the wicked look down with pinched faces at all the righteous people having a good time. Spiritual disciplines should make you joyful; they are not to be confused with harsh asceticism or dead legalism.
97: Lewis is teaching us the difference between a discipline of joy and a discipline of harsh denial. Aslan has the discipline of joy, symbolized by his bringing springtime, but the witch has the discipline of denial, symbolized by her hundred years of winter. Now Lewis is not saying that following Aslan is always easy and fun, or that following the witch will never get you any pleasure. Both sides have pleasures and hardships, but Aslan puts them in the right order while the witch puts them in the wrong order. Aslan’s ways give lasting and deep joy through (and following) temporary hardship, while the witch’s ways give long-lasting hardships that result from short-lived and shallow pleasures.
98: there is another kind of false discipline that is actually an improper attitude toward true discipline. This attitude excepts the right kind of godly, spiritual disciplines, but it misses the whole point of the discipline. It wants the discipline for its own sake, rather than for the goals for which God intended it… Eustace is not the type of student who gets his test or essay back from the teacher and thinks, “look at what I’ve learned – and I can learn more from my mistakes.” Instead he turns to his classmates and says, “I got an 92 – what did you get?” on the assumption, of course, that the other person probably scored lower. This type of student accepts the discipline of study but forgets that its purpose is learning something, not puffing up your pride by comparing yourself to others or trying to take others down a notch.
Ask any teacher or homeschooling parent, and they will tell you the question they most hate to hear from their students: “Will this be on the test?” They do not like hearing it because it shows that the students will only accept the discipline of study for a very narrow and shallow side of reasons – doing well enough on the test to get approval from their parents and peers.
101: God wants us to work now, resist temptation, be faithful, and practice moderation. He wants us to sacrifice for others, putting them ahead of ourselves. He wants us to give up our lives to gain them, to die in order to rise again to more glorious life. Now it is all too easy to imagine that we only need to do this in the “big things” but may conveniently ignore it in our minor day-to-day decisions. But this lesson of “death and resurrection” for the vast majority of young Christians is not about literally taking a bullet for someone, or even resisting a major temptation like adultery or drug addiction. Remember that those who are faithful in little will be faithful in much.
102: As you begin to seriously pursue the spiritual disciplines, you will sooner or later discover why they are called disciplines. They are difficult, and you will fail in many ways. Because of this, it is important to remember two things: that God is quick to forgive and quick to give us the ability to follow him more faithfully. He is not using these disciplines to crush us. They are grace, not law.
136: The accident happened because Jill despised Eustace and wanted to show off while taking him down a notch. She knows it, but she adds to her fault by not taking responsibility and trying to justify herself instead: “it’s not my fault he fell over that cliff” (19). Note that the fact that she keeps repeating this to herself is proof that it is a lie. If she really were innocent, she would not have had to make a great effort to prove to herself that she is innocent. Jill may have escaped from her troubles back in England, but she has not escaped from the troubles in her own heart. She needs redemption.
137: This conversation is, first of all, a wonderful example of Aslan’s refusal to negotiate with those who need his grace. You can imagine this conversation going quite differently with the modern evangelical version of Jesus in place of Aslan…
142: In these three conversion stories of Edmond, Jill, and Eustace, we see the foundational importance of Aslan’s sacrifice and death. But we also see that when he died, those who follow him “died” also.
152: the further in you go, the larger it gets. In the same way, the more we know and love God, the more we see to know and to love.
154: The effect of Aslan on Shasta is fear and awe mixed with joy: “a new and different sort of trembling came over him. Yet he felt glad too… No one ever saw anything more terrible or beautiful” (165-166). Aslan is terrible and lovely at the same time, which is a fact that many Christians today struggle with. Some veer in one direction, emphasizing the loveliness of God without any of the terror, and they end up with a weak, sentimental goo – religion with no backbone. Others see only the terribleness of God, the hellfire and judgment, and tend to torture themselves and others with guilt, making everyone miserable and eventually driving people away from God altogether. Lewis reminds us that the beauty and terror are united and inseparable. God is the God of those who both fear and love Him.
164: Shift succeeds, for a time, in creating what many modern people would call “an advanced, liberal religion that blends the best from two great traditions of faith.” Instead of Aslan versus Tash, he proclaims the name of “Tashlan.” In the same way, we have many modern Shifts saying that Jesus and Allah and Buddha are really just different names for the same basic idea. The fact that the Calormenes sacrifice people on Tash’s altar (37), while Aslan sacrifices himself for his people, is put aside as merely a minor disagreement. This is the lie of all lies.
November 8, 2022
I enjoyed this very much. I took it in bite-sized pieces over the course of a month. It felt very much like a class (in the best sense of the word). It would be great fun to take this work and turn it into a course of some kind. I certainly plan on weaving it into the Narnian lessons with my children and students.
December 22, 2022
Really enjoyed this. Wilson draws helpful lessons from the Chronicles of Narnia.
November 30, 2018
Muito bom!
January 25, 2019
Excelente livro! Douglas Wilson me ajudou a aprender mais algumas coisas em Nárnia que haviam passado despercebidas aos meus olhos. Leitura cativante e inteligente, que prende do início ao fim.
November 5, 2019
Wilson's handling of Narnia's spiritual and theological themes is excellent, and the portions chosen entirely appropriate. Especially enjoyed the chapters on nobility and Love for Aslan.
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