As a pre-teen/young teen I decided not to read these because they had to0 much magic. Yes, people-who-know-me, reel in shock! These weren't Christian enough for me! But now I love them... cue the quotes...

"But it is not, as some people think, an allegory" (“Letter to Sophia Storr,” in The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, vol 3, 1113).

"You are mistaken when you think that everything in the books ‘represents’ something in this world. Things do that in The Pilgrim’s Progress but I’m not writing in that way" (Walter Hooper, Literary Criticism, 426).

According to Lewis, an allegory “a composition (whether pictorial or literary) in which immaterial realities are represented by feigned physical objects, e.g. a pictured Cupid allegorically represents erotic love (which in reality is an experience, not an object occupying a given area of space) or, in Bunyan, a giant represents Despair” (“Letter to Mrs. Hook,” in The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, vol 3).

However, just because they aren't Christian allegories doesn't mean they have no Christian meaning at all.

Rather than allegory, Lewis calls the books a "supposal":

"I did not say to myself ‘Let us represent Jesus as He really is in our world by a Lion in Narnia’: I said ‘Let us suppose that there were a land like Narnia and that the Son of God, as He became a Man in our world, became a Lion there, and then imagine what would have happened.’ If you think about it, you will see that it is quite a different thing." (Walter Hooper, Literary Criticism, 426)

"If Aslan represented the immaterial Deity, he would be an allegorical figure. In reality however he is an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question, ‘What might Christ become like if there really were a world like Narnia and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours." (“Letter to Mrs. Hook”)

Personally, I like this view of the Narnia series much more than I do an allegorical view of it. It is nothing like other allegories I have read (namely and ) as it is far too free with the representations and the inclusion of mythical creatures and magic. There are several elements in the books that don't work as allegory:

- Aslan: variously representing God, Jesus and Holy Spirit but never as the trinity.
- Multiple other worlds: about as far from Biblical as you can get. If there were multiple worlds, according to Christianity, a saviour would have to go to each world, which means God would have multiple sons (which means no trinity). If he only chose to send one world a saviour, that would be unjust.
- The various ways of getting in and out of Narnia: no Christian or Biblical precedent.
- All the mythical creatures.
- Father Christmas. Hello?!

To conclude, I prefer the view of these books as fantasy stories with Christian elements far more than the common view of them as allegories. If you want an allegory go read Hind's Feet on High Places then come back and write me two lists: "Similarities" and "Differences". I'll give you one guess as to which list will be longer.

I love these books, and so does my husband. We have an audio book version also which we used to listen to a lot, though sadly we have fallen out of the habit of listening to our various audio books. No doubt we will read these books to our children (or just stick on the audio version...) and so hopefully pass on a love of the series to them.