The Screwtape Letters is The BEST

Well, The Chronicles of Narnia are really the BEST. But I did just write a column for Tradition on why The Screwtape Letters should be included in what Matthew Arnold called, "the best that has been thought and said." 

Can be found here: link

Narnian Storytellers

For two millennia Jews have looked towards the ‘maggid,’ the itinerant preacher, as a source of inspiration, morality, and ethics. Unlike the rabbi who expounded the law, the maggid used stories and parables, eloquence and passion, to relate values and time-honored traditions. The importance of stories, tales, and those who tell them is constantly emphasized in the Chronicles of Narnia. The first great storyteller in the Chronicles is the Faun Tumnus, who mesmerizes Lucy with stories of forest life. Other storytellers in Narnia (some good, some not as good) are Trumpkin the Dwarf, the Chief Duffer, and the poets in the castles of King Caspian and King Lune.

Lewis appears to greatly favor teaching the art of storytelling, noting, “For in Calormen, story-telling (whether the stories are true or made up) is a thing you're taught, just as English boys and girls are taught essay-writing. The difference is that people want to hear the stories, whereas I never heard of anyone who wanted to read the essays.” In contrasting stories that (presumably) everyone wants to hear with essays that no one wants to read, Lewis is teaching us how to influence, attract, inspire, and teach.

Perhaps the second most influential storyteller in Narnia was Caspian’s nurse. We don’t really know much about Caspian’s nurse. She is the one adult who the child Caspian loved best. She told stories of Old Narnia and Caspian, the boy with no parents and no family who loved him, enjoyed and was inspired by those stories. Of course, the nurse was punished for relating those same stories and was sent away. But Caspian, now alone, holds on to the stories, it is all he has left that connects him to the one person he loved.

Let us take a moment to contemplate the influence unknowingly wielded by the nurse. The future king is in her care. He has servants, men-at-arms, toys galore, but it is the nurse’s stories that he loves most. Stories of heroes and villains, stories of good versus evil, stories where Aslan makes right that which is wrong. Did she mean to educate with her stories? We later learn that she looked like there was dwarf’s blood in her. Was she subtly attempting to connect Caspian with Old Narnia? Or were stories just a good way to get a rambunctious boy to get ready for bed? We’ll never know the motivation, but we are very much aware of the consequences. Stories, dreams, hopes for a better world are what animates the heart of the young Caspian, and they set him on the path of truth.

Of course, the greatest storyteller in Narnia is Aslan himself. For it is he who tells the story of “for the refreshment of the spirit.” And it is he who at some future point in history tell the Great Story “which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

The concept of imitatio Dei, imitating God, is a central one is Jewish thought and outlook. The Talmud invokes the concept in two different contexts, the first with respect to moral character, and the second with respect to specific actions. In Shabbat 133b Abba Shaul says, “Be similar to Him: Just as He is compassionate and merciful, so too should you be compassionate and merciful,” and in Sotah 14a R’ Chama says, “one should follow the attributes of the Holy One, Blessed be He. Just as He clothes the naked... so too you should clothe the naked. Just as the Holy One, Blessed be He, visits the sick, so too you should visit the sick. Just as the Holy One, Blessed be He, consoles mourners, so too you should console mourners.”  

Just as God tells stories, so too you should tell stories.

Narnian Ba'alei Teshuva: Caspian the Tenth

Prince Caspian (the second book of the Chronicles of Narnia, if one is following the proper order) contains a number of stories of spiritual renewal and teshuva. We will first quickly consider King Caspian the Tenth who is brought up in the darkness of Telmarine society, and awakens to its vacuity upon learning of the true origin and destiny of Narnia. Other such stories in Prince Caspian include that of Trumpkin the dwarf who repents his denial of the existence of Aslan, and even Susan repents for her initial doubts of Lucy’s visions.

While perhaps not enlightening concerning the characters themselves, we find it valuable to compare and contrast Caspian with the most outstanding repentant in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Eustace Clarence Scrubb. Both Caspian and Eustace are raised by skeptics. Caspian by his uncle Miraz and Eustace by his parents Harold and Alberta. Miraz outlawed the teaching of, and even the mention of, earlier Narnian history which by his time had retreated to myths and legends. He doubted the existence of lions and talking beasts and scoffed at the idea of a joint rule between brothers and sisters. Eustace, of course, is raised by Harold and Alberta who were “very up-to-date and advanced people.” So advanced and up to date that they leave Eustace with no imagination and little ability to dream.

There is, however, a major factor that differentiates the two. Caspian has a nurse who tells him stories of the olden days while Eustace has none. It appears that it is for this reason, that when confronted with Old Narnia, Caspian immediately is on board and supports them over his fellow Telmarines. When Eustace is confronted with Narnia he doesn’t know what to think. In fact, he’s quite sure it’s all a ruse and only a tortuous and painful procedure teaches him to think otherwise. We will return to Eustace later, but let’s spend a short amount of time on King Caspian the Seafarer, Tenth of that name.

How does Caspian, the boy everyone thought would be the next leader of the Telmarines in Narnina, morph into the champion of Old Narnia? What process allowed him to abandon his own people’s morality and ethics for that of (what is effectively) a foreign culture. The answer is, the stories of his nurse. Those stories made a far deeper impression on the young Caspian than all of his later studies in history, cosmography, and heraldry. Those stories remained alive within Caspian even as his nurse was dismissed and Dr. Cornelius took her place, and, under his tutelage the stories were transformed into history, ethics, and theology. Thus, it is the nurse and the tutor who gain the trust of the young Caspian and shape his worldview from that of a typical aristocratic Telmarine, into that of a savior for Old Narnia.

It is interesting to note a possible parallel between Caspian and Moses, the greatest of all prophets. Both were raised in the castle of the enemy of the Chosen People. Both were taught of the true worth of the downtrodden and what would be their glorious end: Caspian by his nurse and Moses either by his nursemaid (his genetic mother) or his adopted mother the daughter of the Pharaoh. Both run from the castle as they are likely to be sentenced for death, and reemerge as the champion for those downtrodden people they were taught to respect. Both initially doubted the success of their ultimate goal but were convinced to take on their leadership position. Finally, both were turned away from their Promised Land, Moses on the banks of the Jordan and Caspian at the edge of the Silver Sea.

What catalyzed Caspian? What propelled him to go to war with a band of woodland creatures against a great national power? The stories of his nurse. Stories are powerful, stories allow children to dream and adults to strive to reach those dreams. So, in our next post we will take a quick detour to explore the storyteller: Caspian’s nurse, or perhaps, C. S. Lewis.

Musings on Midrash and Narnia

The Jewish canon includes many works of midrashic literature composed of sayings of the Sages on the bible. Some midrashim are halakhic, deriving law from the nuances of the biblical text. Others are aggadic, analyzing and amplifying the stories and sayings of the bible. A characteristic of the midrash is to tell stories, some fantastical, about biblical figures. Some of the most famous of this genre are the story of Abraham destroying the idols in his father's shop and subsequently being thrown into the fiery furnace by the evil King Nimrod. Another is the argument that broke out amongst the mountains concerning upon which God should give the Torah to the Jewish people. Much ink has been spilled about whether these stories are "true." In my humble opinion they are all true, they are imbued with religious themes and teach morality and ethics, but they may not record historic fact.   

At the behest of my kids, I have been reading "The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel," and, yesterday, I started thinking again about stories and specifically children's stories. I tend to enjoy books and movies geared for middle-school aged children and teenagers. Perhaps it's just that I don't want to grow up. Or perhaps I don't want to lose the wonder, joy, and dreams endemic of childhood (as we discuss here).

All properly raised children (as opposed to the likes of Eustace Clarence Scrubb) dream of magic and riches  - finding a world behind a wardrobe and being crowned king, or discovering they have a silver aura making them the fulcrum of human history. As we grow older, we enter the "real world" and accept that these things are not going to happen... 

And by doing so we render a disservice to children. Of course no child will be visited by a giant who tells them they are a wizard, but every child can become a savior. And while no one has neighbors who are actually celestial beings fighting against the darkness of IT, every child can become a champion of goodness. 

As we analyze the Chronicles we have noted the fundamental religious and moral themes that Lewis has incorporated into the stories. This makes the Chronicles true despite their actual impossibility. 

Or maybe I've just watched too many Disney movies... 

Narnian Ba'alei Teshuva: Edmund (Part 3)

Edmund himself initiates his process of repentance. True he does so only when having found himself in a much worse scenario than he had expected. He had assumed he would be welcomed by the Queen of Narnia a son, but instead was worked as a slave. Certainly this situational repentance does not fit Maimonides' definition of a full repentant: one who finds himself in the exact situation of when he sinned and this time chooses against sin. Nonetheless, that first opening is vital as it allows God to expand His presence in a person's heart, as explained in the midrash in the name of R' Yassa:  

The Holy One Blessed be He said to Israel, my sons! Open to me in repentance even a doorway like the eye of a needle and I will open to you doorways that even wagons and carriages can pass through.

Summarizing, God promises that if one is willing to open their hearts to repentance even by the smallest of amounts, He will open their hearts the rest of the way. Edmund opened his heart slightly. First, he felt bad only for himself, but that emotion led him to differentiate between good (his siblings) and evil (the White Witch). Having identified evil, he began to sympathize, perhaps even empathize with the poor animals turned to stone by the White Witch. Finally, Aslan brings him the rest of the way,  to become a true repentant. 

Having achieved a full turnaround it is indeed not necessary for others to talk to Edmund about his past. This too is famously codified by Maimonides: 

It is, nevertheless, a grievous sin to say to the penitent: "Remember your erstwhile conduct", or to remind them in his presence so as to put him to shame, or to mention things and subjects similar to them so as to remind him of what he did.

Nonetheless, repentance of sins between man and his fellow is not achieved by talking even to God Himself. One must confront the person he sinned against and ask for forgiveness (Maimonides, Hilkhot Teshuva 2:9). Hence, despite Edmund's achievement of repentance and Aslan's assertion that there is no need to talk of the past, that is only with respect to the sins against Aslan. However, Edmund must still seek forgiveness from his sibling who he betrayed.  

This also allows us to understand when Aslan himself brings up Edmund's past, urging Lucy to go on and heal others by rebuking, "Must more people die for Edmund?" Aslan himself does not hold a grudge having accepted Edmund's repentance completely. However, Edmund still owes an apology and must ask for forgiveness from each individual whose life was lost, or even made more difficult, due to his treacherous actions.  

Can Edmund ever hope to achieve such forgiveness? How can one who directly harms hundreds or thousands of unnamed individuals find every single one of them and beg for absolution his sin? The answer, of course, is that he cannot. Yet, perhaps there is another way. One who has harmed a society can, achieve repentance by improving that society. Hence, Edmund becomes King Edmund the Just, "great in council and judgement." In this way, by contributing to society and to any part of society who approaches him, can Edmund achieve full repentance.  

Narnian Ba'alei Teshuva: Edmund (Part 2)

In our last post, we listed a few questions with respect to the repentance experienced by Edmund and suggested that perhaps a Jewish perspective on teshuva would help us interpret the story. In this post, we start that interpretation.

The Talmud (Pesachim 54a) tells us that there are seven ideas or concepts that precede Creation. These are: Torah, Repentance (Teshuva), the Garden of Eden, Hell, God’s Throne of Honor, the Temple and the name of the Messiah. All of these are integral to God’s plan for the universe. A universe in which humans have guidance from God but free will enables reward and punishment. However, none of these concepts arise from cosmology and the laws of nature.

The White Witch understood the laws of nature. Not just the physical laws, but she also understood the principles of sociology and civilization. A traitor, one who rebels against his master or his clan, must be expelled. What other option is there? How could anyone look such a person in the eye and again accept him as a fellow? How could a civilization take the risk of not punishing such a breach?

God, however, peers back before Creation where He has formulated the concept of repentance, teshuva. A regretted action can be nullified and the breach can be repaired as if it never occurred. The Stone Table, the tablets on which the laws of nature are recorded, cracks under the divine mandate: man’s ability to violate the arrow of time, to go back and erase an action.

Edmund experienced all of this. His sin was wiped away so thoroughly that he did not even comprehend that the discussion of the traitor centered on him. But he clearly had help: he was saved from the clutches of the White Witch by Aslan’s search and rescue party and was then brought to understanding via a conversation with Aslan himself. However, this too has its sources in Jewish lore as we will discuss in our next.

Narnian Ba'alei Teshuva: Edmund

The first character in the Chronicles to experience spiritual renewal is Edmund. Having been saved from the White Witch and after a talk with Aslan, Edmund utterly rejected his former ways so much so that Aslan asserted, there was no further need to talk about the past. 

Yet, the unmerciful, non-spiritual, world is not so easily appeased. The White Witch demands that Edmund be killed as a traitor, and, by law, she is correct. One who has sinned cannot escape justice and punishment simply due to a change of heart. Only because the White Witch is willing to accept a replacement is Edmund saved. The trade, of course, is for Aslan himself and his subsequent murder is clearly symbolic of the Christian worldview that the death of God’s Son achieves Grace for humanity. For it is only through this willing sacrifice that man can rise from the carnal and achieve salvation.

Edmund himself recognizes the truth of this and later describes Aslan to Eustace saying, “He is the great Lion, the son of the Emperor-beyond-the-Sea, who saved me and saved Narnia.” 

There are, however, some points to note: 

1. Though salvation only comes to Edmund due to the sacrifice of Aslan, Edmund himself already showed signs of remorse before this. Upon reaching the palace of the White Witch and having betrayed his siblings, Edmund is finally confronted with the true evil of the White Witch. He is filled with remorse, and looks back at his former actions as the lie that they truly are. Would Aslan have saved Edmund without this penitence? Would the sacrifice have been made for one not worthy of Grace?

2. Despite Aslan’s statement that there is no need to talk to Edmund about the past, Edmund apologizes to all of his siblings, and his apology is accepted. Is this part of achieving Grace or simply an act of politeness? 

3. Aslan pressures Lucy into visiting others of the wounded by rhetorically asking, “Must more people die for Edmund?” This clearly invokes the past even though there is no need to speak to Edmund about it. 

4. Edmund grows up to become King Edmund the Just, “great in council and judgement.” How much of this growth can be attributed to his experience as a traitor and a returnee?

While not able to address all of these issues, perhaps the Jewish view of teshuva, repentance, can shed light on the salvation of Edmund.