I’m agnostic and I love this guy’s “Lewis Lectures” make sure to check out his other lectures on the rest of the series!

I read this book earlier this year 2023 on the run up to the crowning of Charlies the third back in may. I think Jill and Ed and Lucy's cousin helped me to come to term's with a mistake I made in childhood.

The discussion of the Platonic nature of reality and the solidity vs ephemeral dichotomy really gelled some concepts for me. Very thought provoking!

17:59 2555 years. Note, the Narnia books were published from 1950 to 1956. Over seven years. 7 * 365 = 2555.

This book was amazing

One can argue that the character of 'Emeth' is _useful_ as it enables individuals outside Christian tradition to identify with it and turn to Christ without being appalled by _confessionalism_ ('there is a splinter in Your eye'). Whether one finds themselves within secular culture or another 'religion of the book', one can recognize Christ without being dragged in to _the very real politics of religion_ , e.g. an orthodox Jew can love God and understand fully that the Messiah is not just an ideal, but severely mistrust Rome - and the 'Christian' West _for good historical reasons_ - it is by the virtues of the first that that person will _likely_ encounter the _resurrected_ Christ at some point, but may not fully recognize the encounter until after their death due to limitations or simply differences in doctrine (e.g. considering accounts as that of 'Metatron' in Enochian literature, strikingly resembling inspirations of the trinity). And it is this 'benefit of doubt', the Elizabethan not 'to look into the hearts of men' - briefly formalized in the *Declaration of Indulgence of 1687* - that post-Reformation Christian culture can even exist without the perpetual civil wars of the 16th and 17th century - until only members of the 'true body of Christ' were left standing - which is the exact opposite of the _immanent_ 'kingdom of God' to which the faithful takes refuge in persecution. Churchlife is all well until one's voice is reduced to _'a clanging cimbel'_ .

Great job! Insightful. Too bad you cut the last lesson short, however...

Interesting review.

*Narnia is the world of **_imagination_** , entered **_playfully_** through a wardrobe* . However, the shapes of imaginations are reflections or 'shadows' either of actual perceptions, forming 'impressions' and memopries or valid, _active_ 'associations' of their attributes, even 'Chimera' have _distinct_ causes for their _unique_ experience or _individual_ interpretation, hinting at a layer of 'inspiration' by 'forms' and 'inherent laws' with the 'liberal art' of mathematics as an _'materialization'_ - a creative field which can be traversed down to executing crafts and technologies in 'sensual matter' or attentively exercisized within the material of imagination - exploring thoughts and ideas in their psychology, formal logic and 'metaphysical substance' - like epic and poetic writing, philosophy or religious contemplation. In that regard, fictional Narnia is only one - Lewis' individual - variation of an omnipresent, inherent theme of creation. It is unsatisfactory to limit oneself to the Platonism of the 'spritual forms' without looking into the vast matter, they shape - and to keep a humane balance between these sphere's - but everyone begins somewhere...

Lewis was an Anglican. Like all the orthodox churches…Eastern, Catholic, Anglican etc… he didn’t believe that the book of Revelation was some sort of hitchhiker’s guide to the end times. The book that started off the popularity of the rapture etc, etc was only written in the 1960s. I don’t remember the name of the author but the book was called The Late, Great Planet Earth.

14:49 I think a fair view of the Catholic view would be sth between how you describe Post-Millennialism and how you describe A-Millennialism. St. Augustine* says the rule of the resurrected in the thousand years is the reign of saints in heaven, but it also translates into conditions where the Catholic Church can save more souls, since one of the things asked for in Apocalypse 6 was revenge on the persecuters. And it was granted through Constantine. On the other hand, "at the end of the thousand years" we expect to find Catholicism losing the grip ... Sweden and England going to Reformation, France and Russia to Secularism, finally a large darkening within what is still perceived as Catholic dioceses. And at the end of that process, we do find an individual Antichrist. * Still referring to Apocalypse 20 as per De Civitate Dei.

14:14 Calormen and Narnia are so to speak Babylon and Israel of the Narnian world. C. S. Lewis has basically created a world where the difference between OT and NT are eradicated, or if anything, NT is even more nationalistic than OT. Unlike in our world, where OT from Moses to Calvary is nationalistic, while NT is internationalistic. This difference about what one might call "covenant theology" means the non-conversion of Calormen is not really relevant.

Lewis’s view of the ‘righteous pagan’ was also held by Justin Martyr and Billy Graham. While it’s definitely controversial and debatable, it’s not a salvation issue like how many ppl make it out to be

12:28 I think CSL like most Anglicans and like most Catholics (Tolkien was an exception, reviving premillennialism of St. Justin martyr) would have been _post-millennialist_ on the lines of St. Augustine, who, De Civitate Dei, taught that Apocalypse 20 doesn't start where Apocalypse 19 leaves off, but where the Gospels leave off, the First Resurrection being that available to souls by Baptism and Confession. Only end verses of Apocalypse 20 refer to previous chapters. At least this seems fairly consistent with what was expressed in The Last Battle.

47:01 Jethro is not an Emeth. He is not an Israelite, but he is a priest of the true God. So he's more comparable to the Hermit of the Southern March. Ninivites start off as unbelievers, but become believers. The Christian community of Mossul (yes, that is just across Tigris from ancient Ninive) goes back to Hebrew believers going back to Jonah. Naaman obviously has said _in his earthly life_ he will serve only the true God. Emeth remains problematic, so do the whiskers of Aslan in HHB. Why? The Incarnation is unique. God is not assuming another incarnation for another world. We see Christ as a lamb, as a lion, an ox, an eagle, but these are appearances, not other incarnations. This also is a problematic point in CSL's theology.

You are missing the point. The Emmith incident is straight from the Sheep and the Goats. Your actions, not who you believe in, are what set the standard. You can believe in Jesus all you please, but if you are treacherous, you will not be accepted. If you worship someone else, but do what the sheep do, you may be serving Christ without knowing it. Who you worship matters less than what you do. I'm not arguing universalism here, either. To do as the goats do invites condemnation without true repentance. It is just that I think you can get condemned even if you are 'saved', especially in the Pauline way of 'salvation' as opposed Jamesian.