Aslan's Inaugural Adress

At first glance it may appear that the comment of Strawberry on which we ended the last post was ignored by Aslan who continues to address his creations. But in fact, a close reading of Aslan’s address demonstrates that he addresses Strawberry directly, Aslan is telling the creatures what they need to know.

Creatures, I give you yourselves. I give to you forever this land of Narnia. I give you the woods, the fruits, the rivers. I give you the stars and I give you myself. The Dumb Beasts whom I have not chosen are yours also. Treat them gently and cherish them but do not go back to their ways lest you cease to be Talking Beasts. For out of them you were taken and into them you can return. Do not do so.

In a few short lines, these inaugural words of Aslan to his creatures synthesize parts of Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. In Genesis 1, God gives Adam, “... every seed-bearing plant that is upon all the earth, and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit…” (Genesis 1:29). All of this is given to man as food. In addition, upon creating man, God declares, “They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on earth” (Genesis 1:26). Aslan gives the Talking Beasts, the woods, fruits, rivers, the stars, and even himself (in the bible, God does not give Himself to man, instead, in Genesis 2 God gives Adam a helpmate, we’ll have to try to address this later).

In Genesis 2, God commands man, just as Aslan issues commands. God commands man not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge lest man die (Genesis 2:17) and return to the dust from which he came (Genesis 3:19). Aslan commands the Talking Beasts not to return to the ways of Dumb Beasts from which they have been chosen lest they cease to be Talking Beasts.

It is worth noting a comment of Sforno which brings the Narnian creation story even closer to that of the bible. Clarifying the verse (Genesis 1:26), “Let us make man in our image…,” Sforno interprets that God is advising His Heavenly Court concerning the creature man. This creature had been created with all the rest, but now God sees fit to endow it with His “image” and “likeness.” Like the chosen beasts of Narnia, in this reading the bible also endows with godliness creatures that are first created as one of the beasts.

The two-step process towards godliness is apparently fundamental in creation and requires further explanation.

Returning to Aslan’s commands (remembering that there is at least one more coming up in The Magician’s Nephew), they are the response to Strawberry’s self-doubt. Simple knowledge of oneself and one’s capabilities is not sufficient to fulfill Aslan’s purpose in creating Narnia. Aslan’s commands provide that knowledge. They can be used to distinguish right from wrong, what is proper and appropriate and what is slovenly and unacceptable.

Let’s take a closer look at these commands in our next post.  

Back to Pints with Jack

It's been just about a year since I announced that I was invited as a guest on the podcast Pints with Jack (the interview aired in April and can be listened to here). Apparently, it wasn't bad as I'm happy report that I was invited back,  

For those not familiar, Pints with Jack is a wonderful resource for all things related to C.S. Lewis. Its centerpiece is the podcast hosted by David Bates, Matt Bush, and Andrew Lazo. Every podcast season is dedicated to a different book of Lewis and the hosts do an amazing job exploring and analyzing these works. 

This year the podcast is dedicated to Out of the Silent Planet which is the first of Lewis' Space Trilogy. This is an important book in the development of Lewis' writing in general but particularly for Narnia. Perhaps shockingly many reviewers of Out of the Silent Planet did not realize its theological undertones! This caused Lewis to remark, "any amount of theology can now be smuggled into people’s minds under cover of romance without their knowing it" (note that Lewis uses the classic definition of the term romance).    

Besides the central book of every season, the Pints with Jack podcast hosts review a volume of The Chronicles of Narnia, have dedicated mini-themes related to Lewis, and host a plethora of guests. 

I'm looking forward to discussing with David a new book by theologian P. H. Brazier called, "A Hebraic Inkling" subtitled, "C. S. Lewis on Judaism and the Jews." I must admit that I was not aware of this book until David invited me to talk with him about it and I found its existence somewhat surprising. While there are mentions of Jews and Judaism in Lewis' works, and of course, Lewis eventually married a Christian convert from Judaism, I really didn't think there was much to say on the subject. 

Well, turns out I was wrong, because Brazier has plenty to say. 

So, I don't want to give anything away at this point, but please tune in and we'll probably expand on everything here after the podcast comes out (scheduled once again for April).

We Know

As we have discussed previously, Aslan’s declaration of Narnia consists of three parts: a call awakening Narnia, a series of four commands, and a descriptive fulfillment of Narnia’s awakening with the proclamation to be walking trees, talking beasts, and divine waters.

The response of Narnia’s sentient creatures (talking beasts, dwarfs, dryads, river gods) appears to parallel Aslan’s opening declaration. They salute Aslan and acknowledge and pledge to fulfill his four commands.

The creatures then make one additional assertion, “We know.” 

From the perspective of formulation, this statement is consistent with the creature’s acknowledgements of Aslan’s commands, “We love, we think…” But Aslan does not command the creatures to “Know” as he does to love and think. So, to what end is the creature’s assertion that they know?

Structurally, “We know,” is then in response to the third and final part of Aslan’s declaration, “Be walking trees. Be talking beasts. Be divine waters.” To the creatures to “Be” is to “Know.” The creatures may be reassuring Aslan that they know who and what they are. They know they are walking trees, they know they are talking beasts, and they know they are divine waters. The creatures even know that they love, think, and speak and perhaps even that they do so for Aslan’s command has instilled those capabilities within them.

Is such knowledge enough? 

Is knowing one’s origin and one’s capabilities (as instilled by Aslan) sufficient to fulfill Aslan’s purpose in your creation? 

Is that all that Aslan means when he calls for Narnia to awaken?

It is Strawberry who meekly raises some doubt. Though only as a dream, he has a dim recollection of another world. A world where there seem to be other things to know, but less capability to do so. He faintly remembers work, social interactions, punishments, but also rewards. The work is hard, the social rules mysterious, the punishments painful, but the sweet rewards wonderful.

So he humbly adds, “But please, we don't know very much yet.”

In this new country is there more to know?

Hail Aslan

Hail, Aslan. We hear and obey. We are awake. We love. We think. We speak. We know. 

The response of the talking beasts and other creatures of Narnia to Aslan, is very much in parallel to Aslan’s command. Aslan calls Narnia into being and commands them, the creatures salute him in return and pledge their service. They acknowledge Aslan’s commands to love, think, and speak, and their own capacity to do so.  Finally, they claim to know which does not appear to have a parallel in Aslan’s commands. This latter point will have to be addressed later, for now we concentrate on the creature’s response to being awakened, “We hear and obey.” 

In our last post we noted that the structure of Alsan’s opening speech to the new world of Narnia emphasizes the commands. To “be,” as Alsan asserts, is to be commanded. The creatures submit to being commanded (not necessarily the specific commands as they acknowledge each of those separately) by responding, “We hear and obey.” Aslan commands, the creatures hear his will, and execute. 

The biblical account, however, is different. After Moses descends from Mount Sinai, he tells the Children of Israel the "words of God and his statutes." The Children of Israel simply respond (Exodus 24:3), “We will do,” similar to Lewis’ “we obey.” However, there is no “we will hear.” An explanation as to why not to include a step prior to obedience is as follows. Stating “we will hear” as in we register the sound as comprehensible speech, is a given. Of course, one cannot obey if the command does not register. “We will hear,” may instead imply comprehension, understanding, and agreement. But none of these are necessary. God’s command is sacrosanct and must be obeyed even in the absence of agreement or even comprehension. The straightforward response, "We will do," leaves no room to do anything else.

Interestingly, the Children of Israel do proclaim “we will hear” a few verses later (24:7). After Moses' reading of the Book of the Covenant the Children of Israel declare, “All that God speaks we will do, and we will hear.” This appears to be in the wrong order! Hearing should be before obeying. Ibn Ezra sites two explanations for this order: (1) we will fulfill God’s current commands and hear His future commands, (2) we will perform his positive commands and do (or guard) his negative commands. But perhaps a more straightforward explanation flows from what we said above. Comprehension and understanding of God’s commands has its place, but not at the expense of fulfillment.