XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien, alt.books.cs-lewis, rec.arts.books   
   XPost: rec.arts.books.childrens   
   From: severian22000@nospam.yahoo.co.uk   
      
   Lots of people have discussed...   
      
   >>> >   
   >>> > Of course, he's not _literally_ Christ.   
   >>>   
   >>> Yes, Aslan is literally Christ.   
   >>   
      
   I'm new-ish to the cs-lewis group (a month or so), so I don't know   
   what's gone before on this particular debate. I know from other   
   sources about the 'allegory/literal' issue, though.   
      
   I have two thoughts which contradict one another.   
      
   If he is literally Christ, why does Edmund need saving twice? I don't   
   mean the physical saving from the witch but the moral salvation which   
   Aslan clearly provides for Edmund and which, if he's Christ, he has   
   already offered him on Earth.   
      
   OTOH, the final paragraph of 'Last Battle' begins:   
      
   'And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the   
   things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful   
   that I cannot write them.'   
      
   I've always taken this to mean that, right at the last, Aslan reveals   
   himself to them as Christ. Is that the generally-held view?   
      
   This is, of course, a round-the-houses way of saying I can't make up   
   my mind.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)