The Lion of Never-never-land and Philosophy
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One should never enter a bookstore without expecting the possibility that Yet Another Book That MUST BE BOUGHT will be waiting inside. A few nights ago, I walked into a corporate, chain bookstore that shall remain nameless (so that I can still face my former coworkers at Joseph-Beth Booksellers). A table of Narnia and Lewis books did not surprise me. A much-anticipated film adaptation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first book in the Chronicles of Narnia, is due for release December 9.
Even though it was a merchandising table, I was hoping against hope to see something by Kathryn Lindskoog, perhaps The Lion of Judah in Never-Never Land, which provides a clef for the theological allegories of the books, or perhaps The Lewis Hoax, which presents a compelling case against the literary executor of Lewis’ estate. Neither book have I read, but I long ago added them to the queue of Books I Must Read Someday. Unfortunately, both titles remain out of print.
While browsing this table of Narnia merchandising, I came across The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy and noticed that one of the editors is Jerry Walls, a professor of Philosophy of Religion at Asbury Seminary. This certainly piqued my interest. Looking inside, I found an essay on Narnia and time by Michael and Adam Peterson.
Mike was my advisor and professor at Asbury College nearly ten years ago as I was studying philosophy there. It’s no exaggeration to say that his classes are the reason I switched majors from music to philosophy. His son Adam is currently an instructor at the college, as well.
Needless to say, I just had to buy it. Now, finding time to read it; that’s a different beast entirely.
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3 Responses to “The Lion of Never-never-land and Philosophy”
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November 19th, 2005 at 3:53 pm
We (being the PR office at Asbury) are staging a ‘Narnia Night’ that will feature Dr. Devin Brown and Jerry Walls speaking about thier books on Narnia.
Should be interesting, I’ll let you know how it goes.
November 21st, 2005 at 12:36 am
i can’t believe Adam is faculty now. i knew him when he was in pre-school. yikes!
December 3rd, 2005 at 12:10 am
It appears that Lindskoog’s The Lion of Judah in Never-Never Land essay was republished in 1998 as Journey into Narnia and it now includes a “study guide”. It is worth reading. It manages to tie together the diverse writings of Lewis and present his consistent concepts of God and Man.