Childlike curiousity

Loved the conversation on the wood between the worlds and the idea of what causes lethargic people. The idea of routine making the adult less curious, we have less new experiences as we grow up. We feel like as we hit a place of routine, work, weekend, kids, it all can become routine. Then the feeling of no surprise or new experience comes over us. Yet everyday is new, like a river, you can't live the same day twice. We get convinced that the world has nothing new to offer us. Yet the new things come in the details of the day, therefore it might be harder to notice but there is newness in each day no matter how routine you think your days are. The world tells us the lie that there is no change and we just have a dull routine, yet this is the opposite of the truth. Th world changes so often no one can keep track, we just need to shake off that lie and look at what is in front of us to realize the newness and beauty in each day. No two days are the same and no two days should be lived the same, with each new day should come a rejuvenated spirit and joy towards the possibilities of that day.

Parables as Theology

Parables as Theology

All throughout the Gospels, Jesus uses parables to help depict the kingdom of God. These parables hid Truth from some, but revealed Truth to others.

"the secret of the Kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that,

"'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,

and ever hearing but never 

understanding;

otherwise they might turn and be 

forgiven!'" (Mark 4: 11-12; Isaiah 6:9-10)

Jesus speaks in parables to:

1. Reveal Truth to His disciples ; they were then stewards of the revealed Truth. 
2. Hide His ministry to non-believers until He fulfilled prophecies made about Him -- until He accomplished all He came to accomplish. 
3. To reveal all who "had ears to hear" and those who did not. 

Myth is something that has power and symbolic meaning. The meaning is what holds the power, not the truth of it. However, Lewis' 'True Myth' is a powerful story that changes lives/cultures, but is also True. Parables help show this. They are stories that are powerful and change the way the Kingdom of God is seen and how lives are lived in accordance to the Kingdom of God, but they are also true depictions of it. 

Tolkien layers

Re-experiencing The Lord of Rings recently. I ponder it's themes and the many different intertwined story lines in the story. One of my favorite themes that is overlapped or has a variety of layers is the saving figures. There are three, Aragorn, Gandolf, and Frodo. It is really cool to me because Tolkien wrote this recognizing no one figure can save the world except for Jesus. Therefore the story needed three different characters that embodied Jesus in different ways. I know there is already a list of what the three each represent but in my mind, Aragorn is the king, the figure that fought and won the war, comes from the bloodline of a great king of middle-earth and ends up reigning over all of middle-earth. Frodo is the struggling part of Jesus, the part that was tempted and beaten down during the Passion. He endured the ring(sin) and destroyed it, then left the world not long after. Gandolf, was the Jesus in battling death, coming back greater on the otherside of it. Understanding the very finite world he lived in and the ability to reach beyond that. I just love how these characters go together, split up, and take on the different challenges Jesus took on. The fact that there were three figures that still could not sum up Jesus and His saving work and the were tied together in such a beautiful and interesting way by Tolkien in this great story.

The Necessity of Beauty

Chronicles of Narnia

October 22, 2016

In Chapter 12 of the Silver Chair, the Witch attempts to lull Eustace, Jill, Puddleglum and the Prince into security through her magic, trying to convince them that the underworld is, in fact, the only world. As her magic fills the room, the children try harder and harder to fight its power, feeling it dull their senses and confuse their logic. As they struggle, different things spark a new fight in them as they remember Narnia. Puddleglum exclaims in his fight against the magic, “I’ve seen the sky full of stars. I’ve seen the sun coming up out of the sea of a morning and sinking behind the mountains at night” (185). What sparks his memory in Narnia is the beauty of it. Despite not having the logic to refute the Witch’s words, he remembers the wonder and the unexplainable sky, remembering the sun rising every morning. It is the beauty of Narnia that revives the children out of stupor, that sparks a feeling. It is not a nice accessory of a rational world but it is essential to their understanding of reality.

Puddleglum continues, “And I’ve seen him up in the midday sky when I couldn’t look at him for the brightness” (185) connecting the beauty of Narnia to his understanding of Aslan. It is not simply the aesthetic of beauty that is essential but it is beauty of Aslan that brings hope. The beauty of Narnia speaks of the character of the creator. It is Aslan that shakes the children from the spelled, dream state of the Witch, to the harsh reality of their situation. The beauty speaks of Aslan and Aslan speaks of truth, truth that is felt rather than argued.

Watching a sunset many times feels like an unnecessary pleasure, a break from the chaos of life. I often view it as a moment of peace in my hectic day, where I forget about my to-do list or unanswered emails. However, watching the sunset might very well be the most real, lasting, even eternal, thing I do in a day because in watching the sunset I am learning about the one who defines reality.

Scars and Strength

Danielle Benedict: Narnia (2)

   

I valued the discussion we had this past Tuesday on whether or not there is a divine plan and the part that suffering plays within it. It is often said that “pain is weakness leaving the body” as a justification for anguish. Growing up my parents taught me that being tough was admirable and that the strongest survive.  The individuals who experience pain become stronger and therefore better through their trials. Aslan had a long term vision for their lives that the kids could not fully understand in the moment of suffering. If they had not experienced fear and setbacks then Shasta and Aravis would have never gotten to the king in time. They were confused and hurt along the way nonetheless in the end something wonderful happened. Their lives had played out in a manner that led up to exact, predetermined moments that allowed Aslan’s plan to come to fruition.

Aslan was with Shasta from his childhood. He took many forms throughout Shasta’s adventure in order to push him in the right direction. At times Aslan was a protector, comforter, and even a source of fear. I believe there is a divine plan to human life, our days are set before us, and that C.S. Lewis shared these ideals. Suffering is part of the journey. Bad things will happen but they do not need to be the focal point of the story. Just because you lose something you love does not mean it cannot contribute to an overall rich narrative. Time heals most wounds, mental or physical, so let’s look past the injury and towards the scar that shows we were strong enough to endure.

He Speaks!

He Speaks!

Connections with Lewis: Space Trilogy

October 17, 2016

Ransom has been on the run from his captors in a foreign world. Suddenly, he spots movement off in the distance. A sorn! He cowers low in dread, hoping not to be seen. Then, the sorn speaks! A single sound, the uttering of one word changes everything. Fear quickly slips his mind at the excited thought of the possibility of discovering a foreign language. Passion has gripped Ransom, causing him to rise from his hiding with courage and call out back to the sorn. It is the power of language that awakens and compels him to confront the sorn. Without language the sorn is seen as a dangerous alien. With language, there is hope for understanding and connection. It is not only a fundamental human function but a capacity bestowed upon all living creatures. In this moment, Ransom realizes this. The sorn is radically other from a human being; yet it is language that seems to bestow some kind of innate dignity in all things. It is language that creates a sense of approachability to something other than us. Without understanding what the sorn is saying, Ransom is ecstatic by the fact that it speaks. To understand would be a significant plus, without a doubt. But it is not total understanding that first excites and empowers Ransom. It is merely the fact that the creature speaks. Language provokes the hope for connection and understanding before any connection or understanding is reached. It may even be saids that language is the condition for the possibility of relationship and knowledge.  

Airports and Other Worlds

Airports and Other Worlds

Connections with Lewis: Narnia

October 17, 2016

The modern airport is much like a woods between other worlds. It is one of those strange liminal spaces where people from all nations converge for means of travel. Each airplane is it’s own pool, leading to another “world” so to speak. The in-betweenness of these places have a bazaar character or perhaps it is a lack of character that makes these places feel bazaar. They seem to be a no man’s land, leading me to wonder whether a place of passing through can be called a place at all? However, the airport also differs greatly from the woods between the world. Lewis describes the woods between the world in The Magician’s Nephew as a calm, serene place, heavy with tranquility. And let’s not lose sight that it is a woods! My experience in airports have not been so comforting and peaceful. To me, airports are placed of angst and expectation, exploitation and commodity. In a word, airports don’t feel like any place at all. They seem to lack all the essential qualities that one feels in a place, devoid of all personality and meaningful characteristics. It is a place where people pass through because they must, but never truly enter in. It lacks presence. It is the construction of the modern, rational, utilitarian mind, engineered for convenience and commerce. 

Passing Through

Danielle Benedict: Outside Reading (3)

Augustine-The City of God (Censures the Pagans)

Augustine describes the lives of Christians as “lives by faith in this fleeting course of time, and sojourns as a stranger in the midst of the ungodly.” A conscious choice to follow Christ despite the chaos that surrounds them. It is a choice to be in the minority and to be potentially misunderstood by those around you. To sojourn means to reside temporarily.  In a Chris Stapleton song, he sings “I’m just a traveler on this earth.” Christians do not see Earth as the end goal but as a place to visit until they reach their final destination, Heaven. God is our helper in this great task of overcoming the “flesh,” or the human body’s desires. We are not meant to lay deep roots in our mortal lives on this planet. If one truly believes in a cause, they will be willing to wander for the sake of the cause.

He wrote that “the good as well as the wicked, though not equally with them, love this present life.” There is equal temptation for us all to rely on earthly substance and to focus on the creation instead of the Creator. The Romans, and many other cultures, put their trust in the gods who supposedly protected their cities.  These were not intimate, personal relationships but instead a transaction of praying for guardianship. Augustine criticizes them for worshiping conquered deities, who had already failed. He is asking: are you praying to or worshiping something that can love you back or is it just a figurine with no genuine power or life behind it? Lewis loves nature and living-beings. He esteems things filled with life over cold creations. One should not focus on just their mortal life “nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God.” 

Myth and Beauty

Outside Reading 

October 16, 2016 

Albert Camus writes in The Myth of Sisyphus of the absurd man who “catches sight of a burning and frigid, transparent and limited universe in which nothing is possible but everything is given, and beyond which all is collapse and nothingness” (60). He describes a paradigm in which there is an understanding that this world is all there is, that death is imminent, and that in order to be authentic we most hold that in the forefront of our mind. This leads us to a life in which we pursue maximum meaning and not the best meaning. It diminishes the value of beauty and, with beauty, myth, by rejecting the hope of an eternity.

C.S. Lewis had an original stance on myth that they were simply “lies breathed silver.” This perspective aligns itself with Camus’ position. If life is simply about maximum meaning, what is the purpose of story or fiction? Its only purpose would be in its entertainment. Yet, Lewis moves past this view of myth as merely entertainment and asserts that myth should reveal truth. This is a truth that might not be rational or able to be understood through mere empiricism. In the Silver Chair, Puddleglum speaks out against the spell of the witch saying that even if Narnia is a play-world, it is a better world than the underground. Herein lies the value of myth: it heralds beauty and adventure and possibility. Myth reveals a better world than the “collapse and nothingness” that Camus articulates even if that world is not always immediately evident. 

Aslan as King

Aslan and Jesus Christ

          In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, there are many allegorical comparisons to Christianity. One of these is the death of Aslan and the death of Jesus Christ as an act of substitutionary atonement. 

          Aslan was willingly humiliated and brought to death by the people of his nation, Narnia, for His own people, the sons of Adam. Similarly, Jesus Christ was humiliated and brought to death on a cross for those who come to know Him. It was for the sake of the atonement of sins that Aslan was killed. To parallel the Biblical description of the Gospel more, Aslan is then resurrected three days after his death, which is escorted by an earthquake. Alongside that, it was also witnessed by two people, much like Jesus' was witnessed by the two Marys. Furthermore, Aslan breathes life into his people, which parallels to the Holy Spirit entering a new believer. This breath of life is so the warriors can wage war against sin and death, or the White Witch; in Christianity, this is spiritual warfare. 

          This story is a very sensitive story for many people, but I believe that C.S. Lewis did a great job of depicting the death and resurrection of Jesus through the story of Aslan. Furthermore, this story that Lewis creates allows for children to be able to relate and understand the Gospel story, and then have recognition of it as they grow older and learn the true characters.

Lucy: Crazy or Courageous?

Lucy: Crazy or Courageous?

          In Prince Caspian, C.S. Lewis allows King Miraz to be the King on Narnia, with Prince Caspian XI dying at his hands. He then raises Prince Caspian X, the true heir of the throne, but refuses to let him know of his father's significance. King Miraz was open to allowing Caspian X to heir the throne until he had a son of his own. It was at this point when Caspian X would never find out his true identity and potential. However, as the story continues, Caspian X is introduced to this fact that he is in fact the true heir of the throne of Narnia, and should be King at the current moment. He then fled from the castle and into the forest to avoid death on behalf of his uncle.

          King Miraz goes out searching for Caspian, when his tutor, Doctor Cornelius arrives and warns him of what is about to come. They then fled to Aslan's How, where the Telmarine soldiers followed them. However, they would not accept defeat, no matter how close they were to it at the time. The Narnians, who Prince Caspian was currently with, were debating on whether or not they should use Queen Susan's horn, and what the effects of it may be.

          Along the way, Lucy claims to have seen Aslan, and she wants to follow Him, but no one with her wants to, and says she is just imagining things. Aslan then calls Lucy and gives her specific instructions on how to deal with the others, and she follows them. Reluctantly, they obey her demands and eventually see Aslan's shadow up ahead, which finally brought truth the Lucy's claims. 

           It is at this point where I see a parallel with many modern-day Christians. Lucy sees Aslan, who represents Jesus Christ, and desires to follow Him into the unknown. However, nobody else has physically seen any sign of Him, so they are scared to follow Him and Lucy, and instead just want to stick to their course they have long been on. It is here where I see many of us. We are scared to follow Christ into the unknown; it's too frightening to move away from the path we have designed ourselves and onto the path where the future is not yet revealed. However, like Lucy, this is where we are called to and destined to go. It is impossible to be courageous without fear in our lives. Where courage exists, there will also be those who consider you to be crazy. 

The Magician's Nephew: Uncle Andrew and Adam

Comparison of Uncle Andrew and Adam

          In The Magician's Nephew, C.S. Lewis draws a comparison between Uncle Andrew and Adam from Christianity by saying that they both bring death into a world that knew no death. For Adam, man brought sin into the world, and sin is what brought death (Romans 5). In the story, Uncle Andrew did not directly bring death to Narnia, but he did bring with him the concept of it. His initial reaction was to kill Aslan, who depicts Jesus Christ throughout the Chronicles of Narnia. Later on in the story, he yet again brings up killing Aslan, saying that he wishes he had a gun with him so he could get a shot. This depiction of Uncle Andrew allows people to see a relationship between man and sin.
          It is interesting because Lewis is attempting to appeal to children with this story, and what better way to do this than to use animals? His depiction of the gospel throughout the Chronicles of Narnia allows for the younger generation to hear the story through allegory, but become familiar with it nonetheless. For example, the death of a lion is more important to a child than the death of a man, who at the time more than likely means very little to the child. Without scarring children and their thoughts of Christianity, Lewis uses Uncle Andrew to help depict sin and the introduction of death into this world that once knew no death. Lewis uses the same method for introducing much of Christianity. Children are able to read and listen to his stories in the Chronicles without being bored by mundane Christian sermons on who Jesus is. Lewis makes the story of the Gospel come alive for the children, and begins doing so in The Magician's Nephew.

Do Not Apologize

Danielle Benedict: Outside Reading (2)

Plato-The Apology

"Someone will say: And are you not ashamed, Socrates, of a course of life which is likely to bring you to an untimely end?

To him I may fairly answer: There you are mistaken: a man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only to consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong--acting the part of a good man or of a bad.”

Socrates was formally charged with warping the minds of the local youth and failing to acknowledge the city gods. He was sentenced to drink a lethal poison, hemlock. Now that the end of his life is in view, Socrates is being asked if he has any regrets. Would he want a “do over” or is he sure that it was all worth it? That is an immensely hard question: was your life worth anything of substance or was it a waste? At points in each of our lives, I am sure we have felt both sides of that question. What are you doing with your existence and will it matter once you are gone? Will people tell stories of your choices? Lewis wrote these stories of characters with capacity to sacrifice for the greater good. To quote J.R.R. Tolkien, “there is some good in this world, and it's worth fighting for” (The Two Towers). Socrates believed what he was doing was right and followed that conviction up until his execution.

When individuals realize that their life is about more than themselves and their personal desires that is when significant changes occur, such as moral revolutions and physical revolts. The idea of laying down self for something greater terrifies most. Others will always criticize a course of action that is different than the norm. They are especially likely to poke fun at someone, like Socrates, who has “lost” during an attempt to shake things up. Socrates is at peace because he has confidence in his actions and feels no shame even during the trial. He put it most eloquently when he said: “God orders me to fulfill the philosopher's mission of searching into myself and other men, I were to desert my post through fear of death, or any other fear; that would indeed be strange.”