Cashing in on Aslan’s evangelism potential

Last updated on: August 31, 2005 at 2:03 pm by Peter T. Chattaway

Cashing in on Aslan’s evangelism potential 2005-08-31T14:03:00-07:00 Peter T. Chattaway

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What bothers you more about the early hype around the upcoming film version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — the merchandising, or the evangelism? I ask because the Mission America Coalition is now “inviting church leaders around the country” to use this film as “a powerful evangelistic tool.”

I guess I’m so used to capitalists capitalizing on hit movies that it doesn’t bother me when I see toys, comics, action figures, books, cuddly dolls, and other movie tie-ins. (And C.S. Lewis was a “storehouse of marketability” since long before he became a movie franchise, as The Door once noted.) But despite growing up in a very typical evangelical family and a very typical evangelical church, I have never, ever, ever been used to the idea that the key thing about a film or a story is how useful a “tool” it can be.

When The Passion of the Christ came out, there were stories about churches buying out entire theatres and turning off the movie when the end credits began, and then trying to manipulate their audiences into conversions right there and then, instead of allowing the movie to sink in, or allowing people to discuss the film as a work of art with pros and cons. I pray nothing like that happens with The Chronicles of Narnia, but with so many people drawing parallels between these two films, who knows. (Indeed, with Barna encouraging churches to buy blocks of tickets to preview screenings, we may already be headed down this path.)

What makes this particularly interesting, for me, is that I e-mailed Doug Gresham, Lewis’s step-son, a while ago — for a story that turned out differently from what I had expected, so I ended up not using any of his quotes — and we had the following exchange:

Some newspaper stories have called the film “The Passion for Kids” — do you think that’s accurate?

No I don’t think so at all.

Is the Christian element getting too much attention?

I really don’t know. One has to remember that this is not a “Christian” book but rather a book that champions high moral and ethical values. One can find as much Christian symbolism in it as one wants to find, or none at all if that is one’s natural bent.

What should Christians do with a film like this — besides go to see it, of course! 🙂 Use it as a springboard for evangelism, perhaps?

Certainly not that last, that would a bad mistake. But certainly go and see it, and then recommend it to all their friends no matter what their ethnicity, creed or colour. The great thing about truth and quality is that they will carry their own message without us having to labour it.

This is not to say that Gresham is downplaying the film’s spiritual significance, of course; indeed, shortly after that exchange, I came across this story which quotes him as saying, “It’s being made the way the Holy Spirit of God wants it made and that’s what’s important.” I have to say that, to me, that sounds a little too close to Mel Gibson’s “the Holy Ghost was working through me on this film, and I was just directing traffic” comment for comfort; but the point is, there is definitely a spiritual element to this project that cannot and should not be tamed into a mere evangelism tool.

More than ever, I want to write that “ paganismof Narnia” article.

One thing seems certain, at least — if this movie’s a hit, the money that church audiences pour into it will at least go into future Narnia movies, and not to something like, oh, Apocalypto.

SEP 1 UPDATE: On a related note, my colleague Lloyd Mackey has a column up now on Gene Veith’s The Soul of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Veith says The Chronicles of Narnia could have a bigger impact on Christian thought and commitment than The Passion because “You can take your children to Chronicles.”

SEP 2 UPDATE: Thanks to Jeffrey Overstreet for pointing out this brand new letter to the editor at CT Movies:

Your Reel News column states, “It’s not surprising that believers would see [The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe] as not just mere entertainment, but as an evangelistic opportunity.” In stark contrast, C. S. Lewis’ close friend Walter Hooper argues “I was worried that those who talked about ‘teaching’ the stories as Christian ‘theology’ might by such efforts frustrate the spell of Lewis’ clearly worked illusion.”

As a Lewis scholar, I completely agree with Hooper. First and foremost, all seven Narnia books are literary masterpieces that were written to be enjoyed by all, and just as one need not be polytheistic to enjoy the splendor of ancient Egyptian art, or benefit from scientific progress, much of which originated in polytheistic cultures, one need not be Christian to enjoy the Narnia series or any other great masterpiece that happens to have been written by a Christian, especially as great a writer and philosopher as Lewis.

However, the good fellowship that naturally comes from great books and great movies can definitely be used as an evangelistic opportunity. After all, before he became a Christian, Lewis himself shared a love of medieval and ancient tales with his friend and colleague Tolkien, a committed Christian. I believe this solid friendship that began with a mutual love of literature caused Tolkien to be influential in leading Lewis to Jesus. If anything is to be used as an evangelistic opportunity, then let it be the friendship that comes naturally from shared interests such as that of Narnia.

Katrelya Angus

Good points all, Katrelya.

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