PWJ: S3E6 – Bonus – "Introduction to The Narnia Code"

Matt and I didn’t manage to get together to record this week, so I thought I’d do a solo episode today. Last month I was on the Talking Beasts podcast discussing Dr. Michael Ward’s The Narnia Code and therefore thought it would make a good subject for today’s episode.

S2E6: “Introduction to The Narnia Code” (Download)

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Timestamps

00:56 – Drink-of-the-week
01:09 – Quote-of-the-week
21:10 – Last Call and clip from “Talking Beasts”
24:00 – Closing remarks

YouTube Version

Show Notes

• I explained that Matt and I didn’t manage to get together to record this week, so I thought I’d do a solo episode about The Narnia Code.

• The quote-of-the-week was from Scripture:

The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. – Psalm 109

Psalm 19

• My drink-of-the-week was tea.

• The Narnia Code is the popular book written by Dr. Michael Ward. This is a more popular version of his scholarly work, Planet Narnia. It was also turned into a documentary.

• Dr. Ward refers to The Chronicles of Narnia as “The Narnia”, which I rather like.

• Why is Father Christmas in Narnia? Why has the Narniad endured?

• Dr. Ward’s thesis is that Lewis modelled his chronicles on the seven heavens of the medieval cosmos:

Jupiter – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Mars – Prince Caspian
Sun – The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Moon – The Silver Chair
Mercury – The Horse and His Boy
Venus – The Magician’s Nephew
Saturn – The Last Battle

Lewis claimed that the seven heavens were “spiritual symbols of permanent value”.

Lewis described Jupiter as “cheerful and festive; those born under Jupiter are apt to be loud-voiced and red-faced”

• To get an idea of what Lewis did, I encourage listeners to listen to these two pieces from Holst’s The Planets: Jupiter and Mars. Each have their own feel and personality.

• I spoke about the different senses of Scripture which were greatly emphasized during Medieval Times: literal, moral, allegorical and anagogical. Lewis was steeped in this medieval culture so it seems natural that his books would have several levels of meaning.

• In a letter to his life-long friend, Arthur Greeves, he wrote “As is proper in romance, the inner meaning is carefully hidden.”

• I suggest that Lewis uses Narnia in the same way that Aslan uses it:

“It isn’t Narnia, you know,” sobbed Lucy. “It’s you. We shan’t meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?” “But you shall meet me, dear one,” said Aslan. “Are -are you there too, Sir?” said Edmund. “I am,” said Aslan. “But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

• I include a clip from my appearance on The Talking Beast podcast.