Is Aslan really meant to be Christ?
Actor Liam Neeson, voice of “Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia” film series, believes the magical lion represents more than Christ. Neeson, who was raised Catholic in Ireland, believes Aslan is all great spiritual leaders rolled into one figure. He said this at a press conference to promote latest Narnia movie, Voyage of the Dawn Treader
“Yes, Aslan symbolizes a Christ-like figure, but he also symbolizes for me Mohammed, Buddha and all the great spiritual leaders and prophets over the centuries,” he said.
A key figure in C.S. Lewis‘ camp was quick to debate the point in the Catholic News Service story linked above.
Walter Hooper, C.S. Lewis’s former secretary and a trustee of his estate, disagreed with Neeson’s assessment.
“Lewis would have simply denied that,” said Hooper, an American Catholic who lives in Oxford, England.
“He (Lewis) wrote that the ‘whole Narnian story is about Christ,’” he told Catholic News Service in a Dec. 2 telephone interview. “It is nothing whatever to do with Islam. Lewis could not have been clearer.
What say you literary and movie fans? Comment on Neeson’s reservations when it comes to Jesus. Is he just trying to be politically correct? Does he have a point?