C.S. Lewis's The Silver Chair: A Deep Dive St. Philip's Church: Charleston, SC

The Silver Chair concludes with a beautiful and touching completion of the Quest and reunion with Aslan. Closing themes include the following: (1) Joy and order are hardwired into Narnia (The Great Snow Dance of Narnia that Jill encounters when she climbs out through the hole from the Underworld is a glorious and ordered and precise dance of exceeding joy in which the creatures revel); (2) Being in the Will of Aslan confers Goodness and authority (Seeking after Aslan and purposing to do his Will changes those who follow him and changes them forever in every aspect of their being); (3) Evil never sleeps and has its own unique strategy for every age (The Witch, masquerading as the Lady of the Green Kirtle, lures Prince Rilian into her thrall after having killed his mother years before, just as the White Witch centuries before in Narnia purposed to bring Evil into Aslan's newly formed creation); (4) Aslan is with us in our deepest sorrows and will bring us Home (As the elderly King Caspian's ship comes to Cair Paravel, there is great joy that the aged king will finally get to see his long-lost son, Prince Rilian, again. After they embrace, just as Caspian raises his hand to bless Rilian, Caspian dies. The exuberant joy turns to terrible sorrow at his passing, and as Jill and Eustace are overcome with grief they are brought into the presence of Aslan); (5) Aslan’s blood gives us resurrection life (Aslan's blood plus the living water enables eternal life with Him in Aslan's country); and (6) Aslan cares about injustice and the wrongs we suffer (Rather than end the story with life in Aslan's Country, Lewis has more to say to us about God and his concern for justice in this world as well, shown as Aslan helps the children right some wrongs at Experiment House).

Having defeated the Queen, the characters are now trapped in Underland. In these chapters, more themes emerge: (1) Evil seeks to destroy everything within its sway (We live in an age that wants equally to deny the existence of Evil or to appease or compromise with it, but Evil will not compromise); (2) When you are following Aslan, He will sometimes assure you of his presence in miraculous ways (The touching scene in which Rilian's old black shield miraculously transforms into gleaming silver with a bold red likeness of Aslan at its center is a beautiful example of how God sometimes works to miraculously show us His presence when we are seeking to follow Him); (3) Focus on Aslan leads to repentance and true identity (In an extremely poignant scene, Rilian leads the children and Puddleglum in worship, which as they draw close to Aslan convicts them of their sin, causes them to confess to one another, and to remove their masks as they worship Him); and (4) Freedom from slavery leads to speech, joy, and desire for one’s homeland (Lewis beautifully depicts how slavery, whether it be to a sorceress, an addiction, or a false worldview, robs us of speech and joy and displaces us from our homeland).

The story reaches a dramatic climax in the Queen's castle, and Puddleglum gives a memorable speech. Themes in this chapter include: (1) Enchantment leads to slavery (That which enchants us can so alter our perceptions that we lose ourselves and our values to the object of our desires), (2) What is Reality—Plato’s Allegory of the Cave--redux (The Witch presents one narrative of Reality, while the Prince, Jill, Eustace, and Puddleglum argue for another and better narrative); (3) Pain can clarify Truth (The suffocating enchantment is breached by Puddleglum's heroic act of putting his foot into the fire, and with newfound clarity Puddleglum gives his rousing speech about Truth, through which Lewis expresses the ontological argument derived from Anselm and Descartes about a Reality bigger and better than what we can imagine); and (4) Evil wants to destroy and will brook no compromise (When Evil does not get its way, it will immediately seek to kill and destroy).

The children and Puddleglum tread the perilous paths of the Dark Realm. More important themes emerge: (1) The vital role of encouraging fellowship (Only through bearing one another's burdens and encouraging one another are the children and Puddleglum able to continue); (2) Scripture and layers of meaning (As the children are tempted to disbelieve the Signs, Puddleglum encourages them to remember that Aslan as eternal speaks through the Signs with many layers of meaning); (3) What is reality—Plato’s Allegory of the Cave (As the children and Puddleglum spend what seems to be an endless succession of days in the Dark Realm, their view of Reality begins to change and they begin to doubt the existence of Aslan and the world above); and (4) Trusting Aslan and the Signs (Even when filled with doubts and fears, the children and Puddleglum make the hard choice to believe and follow Aslan's Signs).

As the children stray from the Signs, disaster ensues. Important themes from these chapters include: (1) The reality of Evil and its seductive beauty (Our culture wants to say that there is no such thing as evil; however, the Biblical witness is clear that Evil is real and can masquerade as beauty); (2) Safety in wise counsel (Puddleglum's wise counsel literally saves the children's lives and stops the Quest from failing); (3) The danger of being wise in your own eyes (Jill exclaims "Bother the Signs!" She wants her own way, and she wants it now. There will be dreadful consequences from this over-inflated sense of self-worthiness and rejection of Aslan's way); (4) Comfort is often the enemy of the Quest--redux (The children's desire for comfort causes them not only to neglect the practices that will enable them to complete the Quest, but also to become totally derailed and preoccupied by things that have nothing whatsoever to do with the Quest); (5) The danger of naiveté in the face of Evil (Because they so desperately want what the Lady seems to be offering (warmth and comfort and respite), they let their guard down and trust her, to their peril,even though they have ample reason to be suspicious); (6) The slippery slope of neglecting the Signs: Compromise (When we neglect the Signs and compromise rather than fleeing temptation, we can end up in environments where doing the unimaginable not only becomes possible but seems normal); and (7) The importance of conviction and true repentance (Jill, Eustace, and Puddleglum are truly and deeply convicted of their failure/sin and resolve to get back to the Quest: metanoia).

As the quest begins, the action heats up, and we explore more important themes: (1) Identity and Courage (Eustace models boldly standing up for what is right and true, even in circumstances where that could have been dangerous); (2)Sins (small and large) have consequences--redux (Jill and Eustace are deeply concerned because they have utterly and irretrievably blown it in terms of following the first of Aslan's signs because of their sinful choices); (3) Comfort is often the enemy of the Quest (Jill is so delighted with the comfort and luxury of the castle that she utterly forgets Aslan and the signs); and (4) To carry out Aslan’s call, we often need people very different from us (Puddleglum is a creature very strange to the children's eyes, with green skin, unnatural height, a peculiar way of speaking, and a diet of unsavory things like eels. Yet, without working with Puddleglum, the Quest would be doomed to failure).