I have long been of the suspicion that the best theology is lived out; and that this is best documented in the fairy stories many of us have grown up with. The Narnia series, the Tolkein Trilogy, the Wind in the Willows and the Brothers Grimm all exemplify some of the best Orthodox theology. This was recently confirmed for me in a homily my priest gave. Furthermore, Fr. Thomas Hopko told me much the same when I was casting flies with him. With two such giants as back up, what more need I add? The answer being an unequivocal 'nothing'.
Yet, which stories best relay the relations between man and God best for you?
2 comments:
I've always loved the Narnia stories. They are simple and sort of spare in the way they're told, and I think that creates a very evocative world. I have to say, though, that I loved Pauline Baynes illustrations as much as Lewis' writing. I remember collecting the Narnia books hapazardly on family trips over the course of about two years, from the time I was 9 until 11.
Most of all, I loved "The Silver Chair," because of the whole plotline of Prince Rilian not truly being himself, or knowing who his true self really was, until it was revealed to him. But even then, there was nothing that he himself could do to free himself from the bonds of the silver chair. This is I think one of Lewis' most beautiful images for spiritual illumination - becoming truly ourselves... truly the person we were created to be.
In the Silver Chair I most identified with Puddle Glum the Marshwiggle; he is in many ways quite similar to me. As for spiritual illumination, the revelation of the Narnian 'trinity' in A Horse and his Boy was one of those passages that made me say 'ah, wow;' even in re-reading it as an adult that passage held me speechless.
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