In the Dec 2007 edition of Touchstone, Michael Ward gives this fascinating analysis of the intentional design woven throughout the deceptively simple Chronicles of Narnia. Drawing on Lewis's extensive knowledge of medieval cosmology and his use of "transferred classicism," Ward makes a strong case for viewing the Chronicles as much more than mere childrens' literature. Rather, these stories convey some of Lewis's most important beliefs regarding the nature of Christ and human experience in the world.
God is too big for us to see easily, like the large words that escape us on maps. He saves us by becoming local. The children in the story can see the incarnation of Jupiter, in the form of the Kingly, Lion-hearted Aslan, who does away with winter, bleeds for the traitor, and enthrones them at the royal castle; and that is enough.
Lewis’s thoughts about “transferred classicism,” in which God is “disguised as a god,” are also relevant to the question of secrecy. He was ingeniously reversing the normal pattern of his medieval and renaissance sources. He wrote, “In Spenser, as in Milton and many others, Jove is often Jehovah incognito.” In The Lion, the divine figure is Jove incognito.
