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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
September 21, 2006 12:24
The release of the movie The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe provided an opportunity to introduce my son to this classic book, and has led to me reading it to him and thus to my own re-reading it. I read the whole of the Narnia Chronicles as a child, before coming to a personal Christian faith, and at the time I did not grasp the Biblical and Christian symbolism or the wider mythological traditions that Lewis was drawing on. Having heard so many Christians so very excited about the film's release, it caught me off guard reading it again and finding the references to Dionysus, Lilith, and various Jewish and Greco-Roman mythological tradition. As the excellent philosopher-theologian and born again Christian Keith Ward has observed, an openness to mythical thinking is crucial if one is to make sense of the Bible or engage in theological exploration and reflection (see his book God: A Guide For The Perplexed). Unfortunately, I suspect that many Christians, rather than having Lewis broaden their horizons, will only feel disappointment that Lewis is yet another example of a person who, having read widely and thought seriously, is not a fundamentalist, and will further conclude that he is thus not a Christian. I hope that those who re-read the book (as I recently have) will realize that theology involves the use of symbols and metaphors to explore issues of God, transcendence, meaning, and good and evil. Theology without myth is like conversation without language. When we attempt to explore such topics words fail us.
Let me conclude by also pointing out that, while Christian fundamentalists today will flee at the first mention of dryads and centaurs (and perhaps worst of all, Father Christmas), this is not because they are "Biblical Christians" but on the contrary, because they conveniently ignore parts of the Bible. One example is the reference in Acts 17, where Paul quotes from a hymn to Zeus in his sermon to the Athenian crowd. Another is John 1, which states that the Word is the light that gives light to every human being coming into the world. Those who think that they have nothing to learn from Lewis, or from the wider cultural traditions that he draws upon in his stories, are at best people who do not know the Bible very well, and at worst people who wilfully close their ears and hearts to God's light unless it comes to them in a familiar and comfortable form.
Billy Graham - Liar, Lunatic or Lord?
September 23, 2006 15:59
I apologize to C. S. Lewis for this reworking of his famous question about Jesus, but I felt I had to at least ask this question in response to the Thursday, September 21st 2006 edition of "My Answer" by Billy Graham (http://billygraham.org/MyAnswer_Article.asp?ArticleID=3153). Near the conclusion it says "The Bible does, however, say that one sin and only one is unforgivable. That is the sin of turning away from God and refusing the forgiveness and salvation He offers us in Jesus Christ. "
I find this remarkable. In every Bible I've ever read, it talks about the only unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which in its earliest form (The Gospels of Mark and Matthew) is understood as attributing the Holy Spirit's work to a demonic source instead. But anyone who reads Graham's syndicated column will know that somehow, by whatever means necessary, he will find a way to conclude with an appeal to believe in Jesus as the only route to salvation.
I will not comment on the perplexing fact that Jesus himself, after healing "pagans" and various people whose theology is unlikely to be considered adaquate by Christians, sent them on their way without ever telling them the four spiritual laws or making an altar call. But I feel I must at least draw to the attention of anyone who considers this worth thinking about that Billy Graham has here rewritten the Bible to agree with his own theology. Presumably he is not unaware about what the Bible says about the "unforgivable sin" - he has been reading the Bible for a very long time, and so I find it unlikely that he would have never come across this passage. And so the question then becomes this - who can this man be, that he would claim a higher authority even than Scripture itself? Is he a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord?