XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien, alt.books.cs-lewis, rec.arts.books.childrens   
   XPost: rec.arts.sf.written   
   From: jwkenne@attglobal.net   
      
   Derek Broughton wrote:   
   > John W. Kennedy wrote:   
   >   
   >> It's not really an allegory. Aslan isn't a /symbol/ of Christ; within   
   >> the fictional story, he literally /is/ Christ.   
   >>   
   > Oooh, that annoys me.   
   >   
   > Of course, he's not _literally_ Christ.  That would be a form of blasphemy.   
   > He's purely a symbol.  Yes, an allegory.   
      
   Not so. He is Lord of Life and Death in both universes, and even   
   commands Time itself. He "has another name" in England. He performs the   
   Acts of Creation (which, as educated Christians know, is the work of the   
   Son). At the end, "He no longer look[s] like a lion" (and is referred to   
   with a capitalized pronoun).   
      
   And Lewis is quite clear in his letters.   
      
   It's no more "blasphemy" than it is "blasphemy" when Wallace brings the   
   character of "the Nazarene" into "Ben-Hur" (subtitled, by the way, "A   
   Tale of the Christ").   
      
   I will allow a quibble. I had better said, "the Divine Son incarnate",   
   rather than "Christ".   
      
   --   
   John W. Kennedy   
   "But now is a new thing which is very old--   
   that the rich make themselves richer and not poorer,   
   which is the true Gospel, for the poor's sake."   
      -- Charles Williams.  "Judgement at Chelmsford"   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)