THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE GOYIM

As Narnia film hits theaters, Jews uneasy with strong Christian theme
By Joe Eskenazi (J. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California)

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 6 (JTA) — A potential mega-blockbuster film, financed by a fervent Christian and bursting with Christian overtones, is being mass-marketed to — guess who? — Christians.

Church groups are buying up whole theater showings just like Daddy Warbucks did for Annie. Advance screenings are being held for pastors and ministers, who have given the film their blessing, literally. Catholic publishing companies are putting out companion guides.
And the Jewish community is … well, no one knows quite what to think.

That’s because the film in question isn’t Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.” It’s “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” the special-effects laden adaptation of British author C.S. Lewis’ classic 1950 children’s book....

The story is based on a book many people read as children, only to learn later that “Lion” and the six other books in Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series were full of Christian allegories. ...

Once it’s known that Lewis was a theologian who wrote with a Christian message in mind, the parallels between the Narnia tales and the New Testament easily fall into place. For starters:

• Narnia is a magical kingdom created by the divine King Aslan, but currently in a state of perpetual winter due to a curse of the evil White Witch. The four children (two “Sons of Adam,” two “Daughters of Eve”) stumble in via the enchanted, eponymous wardrobe and become the disciples of Aslan.
• The child Edmund betrays his siblings and Aslan, Judas-style, to aid the White Witch, and is saved when Aslan allows himself to be sacrificed, not unlike Jesus.
• Aslan is resurrected and the White Witch is vanquished. The four children are crowned kings and queens of Narnia. Peter — not a coincidental choice of names — becomes High King.
• In the last of the Chronicles of Narnia, fittingly titled “The Last Battle,” an army of people described in a manner recalling the medieval Turks and aligned with a donkey in a lion costume (a false god, if you will) invades Narnia.
• Those who believe in Aslan pass through a gate into another realm. After a terrifying moment passing through the gate, a beautiful kingdom is revealed. Aslan decrees that he has ended Narnia just as he began it, and the four children, who died in the world of postwar Great Britain, can now live with him forever in paradise along with other believers.