In the summer of 2008, I was privileged to attend a three-day seminar with Michael Ward in which he talked about his view of C. S. Lewis’s organizational scheme for the Chronicles of Narnia, a view then recently published in his book Planet Narnia. “I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist,” he said, “but I believe I have discovered the secret to these books, a secret Lewis seems not to have shared with anyone during his lifetime.” Ward was sitting in bed one evening studying Lewis’s Poem “The Planets” when he read, in the section on Jupiter: “Of wrath ended / And woes mended, of winter passed / And guilt forgiven, and good fortune / Jove is master.” He sat up suddenly and thought, “That’s the plot to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe!” He then started thinking of whether the other six classical planets corresponded to the other six Narnia books.
I highly recommend Ward’s book if you like Lewis’s children’s series. If you don’t care to read a somewhat lengthy rendition of an Oxford dissertation, you could also try Ward’s condensation of the ideas in The Narnia Code, which was, I believe, written for use in adult Sunday School classes. In any case, I have used it in adult Sunday School classes.
In his capacity of professor of Renaissance literature, Lewis had professional interest in the symbolic history of the planets. As a lay theologian, he regarded the gods associated with the planets as conveying partial truth. As his friend J. R. R. Tolkien told him, “Myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light.” (Quotation from Humphrey Carpenter’s biography of Tolkien.) So Jupiter’s qualities are only some of the qualities of Jesus Christ, and insofar as we can see Jupiter, the king of winter passed and guilt forgiven, as worthy of respect, we must realize that Christ is worthy of honor and praise for this and for so much more.
Prince Caspian is heavily influenced by the myths of Mars. There’s more war in that book than in any of the other six. We are meant to lionize (pun very much intended) Caspian and all the Old Narnians who win the battles in that book; in doing so, we honor the image of Mars in them. So, too, we honor Christ as the Lord of Hosts with a sword in his mouth.
Mars’s martial qualities are well known to all of us. After all, those "martial" qualities are named after him. Much more surprising to me is Lewis’s indication in his poem of a connection between Mars and trees. However essential that aspect might or might not be to the common understanding of the myth of Mars, Lewis notes it, and sure enough, Prince Caspian is full of woods and forests.
Michael Ward has convinced most people in the world of Lewis scholarship of the validity of his theory. He has thoroughly convinced me, and he has certainly changed the way I read and think about those books. Essentially, Ward says that rather than waiting for Aslan to show up, we are to recognize Christ’s presence on every page.
In turn, my altered thinking about Lewis’s Narnia books has improved the way I think of Jesus. Seeing Him as the synthesis of seven mighty mythical gods (and more!) make me more able to see Him at a glance as grander and more awesome than I normally do. And understanding more about Lewis’s desire to have Aslan permeate the very atmosphere of each of the Narnia books helps me to see Christ permeating our world. In other words, Michael Ward has helped me, in biblical terms, to magnify the Lord.
I’ve also come to see more clearly Jesus Christ as an exemplar of all that we might do for a vocation. In what situations or jobs do you follow Jupiter? Are you a government official? A boss? A parent? Any kind of authority figure? King Jesus shows you how to be a righteous leader. In what contexts do you follow Mars? Are you in the military? A police officer? A firefighter? Jesus shows you how to be courageous. Or turning to the relationship between Mars and trees and carpentry, do you craft or build anything? Jesus shows you in the wonders of the physical world how to craft with loving attention to detail.
Enough for now. More in a few days about the other books in the series.
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