Lewis and Analogy

I have to weigh in on Phil's side regarding Narnia.  It certainly is true that C.S. Lewis had some doctrinal problems (I find this is a fairly common thing when a very accomplished person comes to faith later in life).  This means that we should thoughtful in making use of his genius.  But Lewis's contribution was not mainly through doctrinal exposition but through metaphor and analogy.  And metaphor and analogy do not convey truth so much with precision as with power.  Just this week I was explaining the holiness of God to a teenager new to the Reformed faith and I remembered Jill's confrontation with Aslan at the stream in one of the Narnia books.  "I am not safe, but I'm good," really conveyed the idea of God's holiness with power to her.  That is what Lewis does for us.

We seem to be living in a time when everything is backwards.  Metaphor and analogy are made dominant in the pulpit, when what is mainly called for is clear, reasoned exposition.  But then we criticize novels and movies for lacking the precision of doctrinal exposition, when what they should be doing is metaphor and analogy.