prixmium | (Reply)

What I meant by distinct is the different personage. There is definitely the sense that there is a universal monotheism and that Aslan and his father are aspects of the same essence, mcuh in the same way as the Christian belief in the Trinity posits different persons within the same God. But that there is some greater sense of removal, too, because these persons of God(ness) are those which have purview over a different reality which is, except for in some specific places and times, separate from our own. Those walls are usually closed, etc. I am not trying to make the argument that Aslan isn't the manifestation of a singular divine force that is supposed to exist across the Narnian multiverse but that it isn't exactly the same. But I don't know about that bit of The Last Battle, but I find it kind of... weird... if Aslan suddenly is Jesus, as it would seem to me that the notion in The Last Battle is that, in a way, all those who died in it on Earth were more-suited to the Narnian... slice of afterlife anyway. They kind of effectively die twice as I understand it?

But to be honest, you know better than I do. I was primarily interested in the movies, and I only started to read the books in high school and never got all the way through the series because I got distracted. Funnily enough, The Horse and His Boy was the one that was most engaging to me, and as I recall I have never read The Last Battle or The Silver Chair.

There's a certain type of Christianity that is very literal and Biblical, but I don't think that's how Lewis saw things, at least judging by his books.

According to the "Religion in Narnia" Wikipedia page, Lewis was aware that he was weaving in religious concepts but that they weren't built as direct allegories, which he viewed something more along the lines of The Pilgrim's Progress where the characters are much more literal personifications of Despair or the like. He saw the characters as more articulated than that, I guess, though I would maybe poke at that given that I think his characterization is weak.

I will address your other two points later if you like as I must run along to teach now!