Moviegoers need not recognize every religious image to enjoy "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" when it opens Dec. 9, says the chairman of Duke University's Department of Religion.
The enduring appeal of the children's book series, which was written by C.S. Lewis and first published in the 1950s, stems from its ability to transport readers to an imaginative world very different from, yet still linked to, our own world, said Wesley Kort, whose books include "C.S. Lewis Then and Now" and "Place and Space in Modern Fiction."
"He didn't think of 'The Chronicles of Narnia' as Christian doctrine sugar coated or disguised Christian dogma," Kort said. "There are similarities between biblical stories and 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.' There are certainly parallels. But he didn't see these narratives as Christian allegory."
The seven books in the Narnia series draw the readers into a complicated world in which the characters are ultimately defined more through their relationships than individual actions and preoccupations, said Kort, who specializes in religion and contemporary culture.
"Lewis wrote stories that brought children, and also adults, into situations where serious moral and spiritual issues are faced," he said. "He thought that this would be helpful to people in their daily lives."
This approach fit well with Lewis' view on religion, in general, and Christianity, in particular, as a liberating power, Kort said.
"He didn't think of Christianity as forcing you to take something into yourself, but as inviting you to be taken into something else “- a world that is bigger and more complex than the world you've lived in," Kort said. "He wanted people to be both more critical and more appreciative of the world they can see and encounter."
The ability to face challenges and imagine positive alternatives was something Lewis valued in his Narnia characters and readers, Kort said. "For Lewis, people who live only on their own terms will find themselves in a world much like the Narnia the children first enter “- always winter and never any Christmas."