Narnia and the Seven Deadly Sins

Like the picture? That's me playing with my kid's Chronicles of Narnia toys. No, I am not going to add another review of the movie to the ten million that have already been written (I did see it and liked it). Instead I wanted to pass on an interesting article by Dr. Don W. King. In case you're wondering he has absolutely no relationship to this Don King.

The article is called "Narnia and the Seven Deadly Sins." The premise of the article as Dr. King explains it is this:

Since Lewis so readily refers to the seven deadly sins in many of his other works, it is my contention that he may either consciously or subconsciously have emphasized one of the seven deadly sins in each one of the seven Narnian books. Let me add here that it is certain Lewis dealt with multiple sins in Narnia; in fact, each book reflects this. Nonetheless, each book does seem to portray one particular deadly sin above the others.

He goes on to explain each one in each book in what I considered a convincing manner. Very interesting and not something I'd ever read before.

My friends Drew and Diane Jones told me about the article because of a series we're doing at our church on money and possessions called Affluenza. This week I'm preaching the first message which will address the danger of greed. Greed is the deadly sin dealt with in Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Ironically, I'm right in the middle of reading this book to Emma and Joshua Quinn. They're too young to see the new movie, but they've loved the first three books. Last night we read how the "beastly" Eustace, after sleeping in a dragon's lair with a greedy dragon heart was magically transformed into a dragon himself. My kids got a big kick out of this.

I'll keep you posted on the Affluenza series. Studying this topic is already deeply challenging my own soul and I pray it will serve others. In the meantime, check out the article on Narnia and let me know what you think. And if you have time to post a comment, take a second and tell me your favorite Narnia book. I think mine is A Horse and His Boy, but I'll let you know officially after I've read them all through again with my kids.