I'm pleased to see that the New York Review of Books decided to provide free access to a number of articles in the February 9, 2006 issue that I wanted to point out to friends:
Jimmy Carter & the Culture of Death is Gary Wills' review of Jimmy Carter's new book, Our Endangered Values : America's Moral Crisis.
The Passion of C.S. Lewis, which I found entertaining because unlike many of my friends, I have never liked the Narnia books or film(s). I've read only one of the seven books (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) and then only as a disenchanted adult. Alison Lurie offers plenty of insight into Narnia as children's literature. Unfortunately, she overreaches in the concluding paragraphs with:
It is no surprise that conservative Christians admire these books. They teach us to accept authority; to love and follow our leaders instinctively, as the children in the Narnia books love and follow Aslan. By implication, they suggest that we should and will admire and fear and obey whatever impressive-looking and powerful male authority figures we come in contact with. They also suggest that without the help of Aslan (that is, of such powerful figures, or their representatives on earth) we are bound to fail. Alone, we are weak and ignorant and helpless. Individual initiative is limited—almost everything has already been planned out for us in advance, and we cannot know anything or achieve anything without the help of God.
This is, of course, the kind of mindset that evangelical churches prefer and cultivate: the kind that makes people vote against their own economic and social interests, that makes successful, attractive, and apparently intelligent young men and women want to become the apprentices of Donald Trump, or of much worse rich and powerful figures. This mindset could even be called deluded, since in this world a giant lion does not usually appear to see that the right side wins and all the good people are happy. In Narnia faith in Aslan, who comes among his followers and speaks to them, may make sense: but here on earth, as the classic folk tales have told us for generations, it is better to depend on your own courage and wit and skill, and the good advice of less than omnipotent beings.
Nice rhetorical flourishes here -- but associating The Apprentice with Narnia and conservative Christians?? Is Lurie saying that anyone who believes in a God who will ultimately set things right is "deluded"? Figuring out what authority is and what authority to follow are not easy tasks. Some of us do believe in ultimate authority that looks like neither Donald Trump or the "giant lion" that Lurie delights in poking fun at.