For a middle aged lecturer in English Literature to write a series of childrens novels set in a fantasy land would seem to be a pretty harmless thing to do but the reaction to the Narnia Chronicles of C.S.Lewis is both startling and revealing. Startling in the ferocity of the attacks on both the work and the writer and revealing in that this ferocity is directly related to the perceived success that the books are supposed to have in putting across a Christian message to young people. Despite the current opinion that religion in general and Christianity in particular are not to be taken seriously the books continue to sell and the attacks continue with unremiting venom long after Lewis' death.
A defence of Lewis and his Narnia Chronicles was long overdue and no one is better qualified to put it forward than the former Archbishop of Canterbury now Master of Magdalene College Cambridge. I do not intend to summarise Williams' arguments as often summarys are misconstrued or miss the point altogether but rather to urge the reading of this short but excellent book.
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