Chapter 1

Narnia: The Fantasy World of C.S. Lewis

Imaginary lands of white knights, maidens in distress, and firebreathing dragons may sound like a child’s world of fairy tales and bedtime stories. But today, the wonder of fantasy is capturing the imagination of adults as well.

The last episode of The Lord Of The Rings film trilogy earned 11 Oscars and was the second highest grossing movie of all time. The Star Wars movies have generated billions of dollars by using stunning cinemagraphic effects to tell an ancient story that took place “long ago, in a galaxy far, far away.”

The popularity of these films indicates that there’s something in the human psyche that responds to a world of fantasy marked by quest, struggle, defeat, and victory.

But do such stories interest us only because they reflect the common themes of the world we live in? Or do they also resonate with the spiritual reality of a world beyond our five senses?

There’s something in the human psyche that responds to a world of fantasy marked by quest, struggle, defeat, and victory.

Oxford scholar C. S. Lewis found echoes of a spiritual world in ancient stories that changed his life forever. After forsaking atheism to become a follower of Christ, he developed the use of fantasy to parallel what he regarded as the ultimate reality. The series of stories he wrote is now known as The Chronicles Of Narnia.