Aslan, in the Chronicles of Narnia, represents Jesus for many reasons. One main reason is that Aslan gives his life to save Edmund in the same way that Jesus sacrificed his own life to save us. Edmund was known as a traitor and the only way to remove that label was to get blood. Similarly, the only way to pay the price of sin is for a sinless person to die. Aslan’s death itself parallels Jesus’. When Aslan gives himself up for Edmund, the White Witch has him tied up and bound to the table, which is meant for a traitor. All the creatures on her side mock and beat Aslan. The White Witch calls him “Aslan the Great”. In the same way, Jesus gives up his life for us. He is nailed to a cross, which is meant for a criminal, mocked and beaten. A sign …show more content…
There are also two girls and two boys, likewise, Noah took two of each animal on the ark. When Lucy first goes to Narnia she meets Mr. Tumnus who takes her back to his house for tea. He then begins to play an instrument and while he plays Lucy starts to see creatures dancing in the fire. When she falls asleep a lion’s face jumps out of the fire and fire goes out. This reminds me of when Jesus rebukes demons and sends them out of people. The White Witch likes to call herself the Queen of Narnia and think she is more powerful than Aslan but she is not. Likewise, Satan likes to believe that he is more powerful than Jesus, but he too is not. After Peter, Susan, Lucy, and the Beavers realize that Edmund is gone and that he most likely is going to the White Witch they frantically pack up and leave the Beaver’s dam. This is similar to when the Israelites flee Egypt in the exodus. Like the Israelites had to cross the Red Sea, the Pevensies and the Beavers cross the Great River while it is un-thawing. The Witch’s wolves are chasing them and drown like the Egyptian soldiers. Mr. Beaver tells Peter, Susan, and Lucy that only Aslan can save Edmund much like only Jesus can save us. When Aslan goes to the Witch’s castle after he comes back to life, he breathes on the statues to make them come back to life. This can be taken two different ways. The first is how Jesus brought people back to life. The second is a metaphor. Our hearts are cold and hard before we know Jesus, like how Narnia is frozen and some of the creatures are stone, but then Jesus comes into our lives and makes us warm and alive. Like how when Aslan came to Narnia it became spring. Lastly, the war between Aslan and the White Witch is like the spiritual warfare going on between God and Satan. She wants the Pevensies and Narnians killed but Aslan is fighting for
After reading this chapter I came to the conclusion that Aslan is “Jesus”. He took his life just as Jesus did for the people. He cares more about the people them himself just like Jesus. After Aslan died he came back alive just as Jesus did. This story was more than just a regular story, it was telling the story of god in a different form.
This truth is displayed in C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, in which case the character Aslan is not even human. In the story, Aslan is an anthropomorphic, male lion that shares many similarities with the biblical description of Jesus Christ. While Aslan is literally a lion, Jesus is described symbolically as a lion (New King James Version, Rev 5:5). While Aslan is not crucified, he sacrifices his life for his people, and is murdered on a stone table (Lewis 155). Also similarly, Aslan undergoes a resurrection from death and reappears as a stronger and larger version of himself (Lewis
The plots and settings of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe only further prove that Narnia is an allegory. Edmund betraying Aslan is the same as us betraying God, yet Aslan as does God, rescues Edmund and is prepared to give his life for him. Aslan knowing he has to die to give Edmund life makes a treaty with the White Witch to sacrifice his life over Edmund’s and naturally, the White Witch is overjoyed and readily agrees, forgetting the “deep magic”. Christ was who died on the cross in payment for our sins and Aslan died for Edmund. On the way to Calvary, Jesus remained silent, as did Aslan. It is said that Aslan could have killed them all with one swipe of his paws and it was said that Jesus could have killed
It is possible to write on the life of Jesus from the information gathered from the bible. I will be dividing my essay into three parts. In the first part of the paper, I will talk about the nature of the gospels, John’s views vs. the Synoptic, discuss if the authors of the gospels are eyewitnesses and how they used written sources. Also I will talk about the Q source. Then I will elaborate on the topic of how Matthew and Luke were similar. Then I will continue on by discussing how the Old Testament uses Moses, Samuel and Elijah to interpret Jesus, and finally whether or not the Sermon on the Mount happened. In the second part of my paper, I will talk about Jesus’s birth and childhood, his miracles, his resurrection, and what Jesus did to cure people, spirits and how they are interpreted to the prophet, magician and the mad man compared to Saul and Elijah. The final part of the paper I will talk about what Jesus talked about as regards to the Kingdom of God vs. the Kingdom of the Romans and what he intended by speaking of the end of the world. I will also speak of the reasons behind the Romans executing him. My sources for this paper will be the New Jerusalem Bible Readers edition as my primary source and lecture notes from Professor Trumbach.
In C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Lewis emphasizes the three points of philosophy, themes, and symbolism throughout his writing. Lewis was a strong Christian man, and wanted to make children see and understand all the stories of the Bible. Therefore, he put Christian elements through his books, but with fantasy characters as well. Especially in this story, Lewis conveys the differences between good and evil. Aslan is represented as Christ just as the White Witch represents the sense of evil. Lewis wrote several books in this Narnia series, but The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe became the most famous and recognized of his novels.
Unfortunately due to Edmund’s treason the Witch confronts Aslan and claims her right to Edmund’s blood as described in the laws (Deep Magic) of Narnia. “As a traitor Edmund stands condemned” (Ditchfield 62). This is also the case in the Bible; “All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law” (Romans 2:12). Another Biblical text explains, “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). The White Witch warns Aslan of the consequences of ignoring the laws of Narnia. “If this is not accomplished, Narnia will be destroyed with fire and water, which immediately reminds biblically literate readers of Noah’s flood and the prophesied final destruction of the Earth by fire” (Hinten 18). Edmunds sin can’t go unpunished and the penalty is
I view Aslan as Jesus in Narnia! They created worlds and inhabitants (Lewis 107 and
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fiction in which one of the main characters, the sturdy lion Aslan, has the most power and authority. There are tons of images of Aslan from the book and the movie that relate to Jesus in Bible. The most outstanding images are the death of Aslan on top of the stone table which represents the crucifixion of Jesus, Aslan’s rebirth which is similar to the Resurrection of Jesus, and Aslan’s offering the stone statues life just as the figure of God made everything. Shortly, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe includes a number of biblical images that are the details from the Bible which were reflected by the book and the movie.
Aslan was the two lions chasing Shasta and Bree, and he was the cat at the tomb protecting Shasta. He disappeared when he told Shasta’s story. God could make certain things happen, such as he could save you from a lion. God can quickly control anything he would like. Isaiah 40:26 states “Lift your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all of these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” “God want his disciples to rise to heaven. Aslan like God, wants his people to rise to greatness. This is the book when Aslan symbolize as
Aslan is portrayed as an all-knowing, perfect, and above all else, brave lion, but when when he decides to forfeit his life in order to deliver Edmund from death, the grief is crushing. He is overcome with sorrow even though he knows he will rise again; one could even compare his suffering to the death of the historical figure Jesus Christ who is depicted weeping about his sacrifice. “Presently he stumbled and gave a low moan…’I am sad and lonely”’( ) After his death and Edmund’s and everyone else’s crimes were atoned for, he was reborn with more strength than before, and he was so elated that he was literally jumping for joy. Aslan was so jubilant, so vital, that he led the girls in a game of chase before saving Narnia from the Witch. “There shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen them before, shaking his mane, stood Aslan himself… ‘Oh, children,’ said the Lion, ‘I feel my strength coming back to me, Oh, children, catch me if you can!’”(162-163) the fore loaning and
C.S. Lewis wrote The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe because he wanted to write a children’s book “as a gift for his godchild” (Palmer). It began for him with a series of pictures that came into his mind. “Lewis stated, ‘Everything began with images; a faun carrying an umbrella, a queen on a sledge, a magnificent lion” (Kennedy). A fairy tale was forming in his mind and “‘At first there wasn't anything Christian about them; that element pushed itself in of its own accord’” (Kennedy), As the story progresses and Lewis’s characters and storyline begin to develop a seemingly clear relationship formed between The Bible and this novel. “Given Lewis’s strong Christian faith, that is not surprising. In fact, once the story was established, Lewis said he ‘...saw how stories of this kind could steal past a certain inhibition which had paralysed much of my own religion in childhood’” (Kennedy.) Even though C.S. Lewis started off writing a children's novel, many people perceive it to be a novel written in parallel to the Bible. Lewis has used Biblical references and a classic storyline to prove that good will alway triumph over evil. Aslan is labeled as a divine figure in the novel; he is also known as the son of the Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Aslan’s death and resurrection is like that of Christ. The four children are all considered important to in the world of Narnia, but in the real world they are
C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of books that contain a countless amount of biblical allusions. In each of the seven total books of the series, there are references to both characters and major themes in the Bible. For example, in the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, there are many allusions to the Bible such as when Edmund betrays not only his brother, Peter, and two sisters, Susan and Lucy, but also Aslan in order to stay with the Wicked Witch in her palace. This is similar to the story of Judas and the way that he leaves the disciples and betrays Jesus. Furthermore, in the same book, Aslan is killed by the Wicked Witch for the sake of Narnia similar to how Jesus is crucified for the sins of his people. Additionally, both
Two thousand years ago, the birth of Jesus, arguably the most influential man the world has ever seen, altered history forever. Christians know him as the Messiah, the son of God who came to save all of mankind, and for others, he may just be a great teacher and person of history. It is the latter that Reza Aslan attempts to shed an unbiased light on by comparing the Jesus that modern Christians believe in to the Jesus that Aslan believes would have fit into first-century Palestine: a violet revolutionary, dedicated to the eradication of the Roman government in Israel and the deposition of the rich priestly class. Aslan paints a portrayal of Jesus using knowledge of the time period, Scripture that has been taken out of context and misinterpreted, and most of all, the author’s imagination and powerful rhetoric to cover up his faulty argumentation. In his book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, Reza Aslan recreates an interesting but purely speculative image of the historical Jesus through exploring the political and social history of first-century Palestine, the life and teachings of Jesus, and the development of early Christianity.
Since the four children can be seen as symbolisms of human beings, their relationship with Aslan shows a lot about the grace, mercy and overall character of God. One of the main examples where this is seen is the grace that Aslan showed to Edmund who was a traitor. Despite Edmunds’ choice to prioritize Turkish delight over his family and his right as one of the king of Narnia, Aslan still accepted Edmund into his army and not only that Edmund still inherited the kingdom of Narnia not by his own works but by Aslan’s
Then there's Aslan, the son of the Emperor and the true king of Narnia. Aslan symbolizes all that is good and stands for a literal representation of Jesus Christ. When Jadis comes to speak with Aslan, she comes demanding Edmund, the son of Adam. She cites the Emperors deep magic, which states that traitors must forfeit their lives to her. However, Aslan feels responsible for the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. Thus, he trades places with Edmund and sacrifices his own life to atone for Edmunds sins. When Aslan died, “he was really a mass of cords”, bound to a stone table. At this point, it becomes clear that Lewis is drawing parallels between Aslan’s sacrifice and Christ's Crucifixion. This is evident because like Aslan, Christ sacrifices his own life, and was bound to a cross when he died for the sins of others. In addition to Christ's crucifixion, Aslan rebirth into Narnia can be directly related to the resurrection of Jesus. Lewis creates this illusion through Aslan, when he says that “a willing victim who had committed no treachery is killed in a traitor’s stead, Death itself would start working