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Perhaps the most famous book by C.S. Lewis is The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe—the first published book in Lewis’ popular children’s fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. Throughout the series, the Christian apologist helps children and adults alike see the truths of Christianity in a fresh light.
Through his imaginary world, Lewis masterfully paints afresh stories from the Gospel, tales of discipleship, and lessons in the Christian faith. He believed that through these stories he could sneak past obstacles and barriers that people might have that prevent them from listening to the Good News. As Lewis put it, he hoped to “steal past watchful dragons” and so share the Christian vision of reality through story.
His tactic has proved successful as many people can attest to how reading Lewis’ stories was the first step in converting to the Christian faith or going deeper in their existing faith. In fact, Lewis wrote these books not only for children but for adults as well. In a letter to his Goddaughter, Lucy, which is quoted at the beginning of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis quips, “But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”
One of my favorite illustrations of how Lewis “steals past watchful dragons” and includes Christian truths in his books comes at the beginning of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, when Lucy Pevensie first enters the world of Narnia and her siblings struggle to believe her tales. Here, we see a clear retelling of Lewis’ famous defense for the divinity of Christ, often called the Trilemma.
In his Trilemma, Lewis points out that we have three options when faced with the question of the identity of Christ. Jesus claims to be God in the Scriptures—he could be lying, deluded, or telling the truth. Those are the only options on the table. Lewis notes that many people opt for a nebulous fourth option—that Jesus was a good man and moral teacher. However, a man who claims to be God and is not would be anything but a good man and moral teacher. If he claimed to be God knowing he is not, he would be evil, or if he claimed to be God and truly believed it, he would be insane. He can only be a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord—those are the three options and we must make our choice.
C.S. Lewis masterfully illustrates this exact scenario in an imaginary way to help readers grapple with the Trilemma, even if unknowingly at first. After Lucy has entered the world of Narnia, she tries to convince her siblings of the quite unbelievable fact that there is an entire world that can be entered through a wardrobe. Naturally, her siblings doubt Lucy’s claim, despite Lucy’s insistence that she is telling the truth.
Her two oldest siblings, Peter and Susan, seek the help of the Professor, the owner of the great home in which they are staying, and a learned man they trust can help them reason with Lucy. After Peter and Susan tell the Professor the claims of Lucy, he replies, “How do you know that your sister’s story is not true?”
The children protest thinking that it is impossible and illogical for Lucy’s story to be true. The Professor explains, “There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn’t tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad. For the moment then, and unless any further evidence shows up, we must assume that she is telling the truth.”
You can easily hear an echo of Lewis’ argument for the divinity of Christ from his Trilemma and that is exactly the point. Readers of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe know the truth of Lucy’s story and so they see the reasonableness of the Professor’s logic. Lewis hopes that they might equally see the reasonableness of the Trilemma when applied to Christ.
To Christ’s claim, just like Lucy’s claim, there are only three possibilities. Either he is lying, he is mad, or he is telling the truth. Readers of the Narnia books, young and old alike, will hopefully be better able to see the reasonableness in saying that Christ was telling the truth, and that he truly is God, because they can see that reason in action through the stories of C.S. Lewis.
Hunter Leonard is a passionate Catholic with an intense love for learning about and sharing the Faith. He holds an M.A. in Theology from the Augustine Institute and a B.A. in Creative Writing from California State University at Northridge. Hunter's essays, articles, and poems have been featured at Busted Halo, St. Austin Review, Crisis Magazine, and Voyage Comics. He is a staff columnist at Catholic Stand and works at Flocknote to help parishes and dioceses build a more connected Church.
Hunter is also the author of the brand new children's book, When God Speaks, published by OSV Kids. You can find all of Hunter's books and articles at www.sacredvision.org.
