Introduction
As we have explored in class, there are two very clear themes in Prince Caspian as it relates to The Bible: colonialism, and environmentalism. We were interested in studying both of these topics but initially we weren’t sure how best to combine them. One of the highlights of this class has been meeting up to have engaging discussions about each of the books in the series. We decided to create a podcast for our final assignment in order to continue with the discussion format we have so enjoyed. We have created two full podcast episodes as well as a brief introductory video. In each episode, one of us acts as an “expert” to answer five questions that relate to our chosen topics. The podcast format allowed us to engage in meaningful discussion, to learn from each other, and to find the many places where these topics intersect. We are so excited to share some of our discoveries with you and we hope you will enjoy.
Episode One
“These are not untroubled
environmental texts as some
critics seem to suggest”
(Echtering 100)
“And God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.'”
(Gen 1: 26)
Works Cited
Carretero-González, Margarita. “Sons of Adam, Daughters of Eve, and Children of Aslan: An Environmentalist Perspective on The Chronicles of Narnia.” C.S. Lewis: Life, Works, and Legacy: Fantasist, Mythmaker, and Poet, edited by Bruce L. Edwards, Praeger, 2007, pp. 93-113.
Dickerson, Matthew T., and David O’Hara. Narnia and the Fields of Arbol: The Environmental Vision of C.S. Lewis. University Press of Kentucky, Lexington, 2009.
DuPlessis, Nicole M. “ecoLewis: Conservationism and Anticolonialism in The Chronicles of Narnia.” Wild Things: Children’s Culture and Ecocriticism, edited by Sidney I. Dobrin and Kenneth B. Kidd, Wayne State UP, 2004, pp. 115-127.
Echterling, Clare. “Postcolonial Ecocriticism, Classic Children’s Literature, and the Imperial-Environmental Imagination in ‘The Chronicles of Narnia.’” The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association, vol. 49, no. 1, 2016, pp. 93–117.
Graham, Jean E. “The Talking Beasts as Adam and Eve: Lewis and the Complexity of “Dominion.” Mythlore, vol. 38, no. 1, 2019, pp. 117.
Hiebert, Theodore. “Rethinking Dominion Theology.” Direction, vol. 25, no. 2, 1996, pp. 16-25.
Klein, Deborah. “‘They have Quarreled with the Trees’: Perverted Perceptions of ‘Progress’ in the Fiction Series of C. S. Lewis.” Mythlore, vol. 32, no. 2, 2014, pp. 65.
Lewis, C.S. Prince Caspian. Harper Collins, 1995.
Minteer, Ben A., and Robert E. Manning. “An Appraisal of the Critique of Anthropocentrism and Three Lesser Known Themes in Lynn White’s ‘The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis.’” Organization & Environment, vol. 18, no. 2, June 2005, pp. 163–76.
Patterson, Nancy-Lou. “The Green Lewis: Inklings of Environmentalism in the Writings of C.S. Lewis.” The Lamp-Post of the Southern California C.S. Lewis Society, vol. 18 no. 1, 1994, pp. 4-14.
The Bible. 21st Century King James Version, Bible Gateway, Duel Enterprises, Inc., 1994.
The Bible. New International Version, Bible Gateway, Biblica Inc., 2011.
White, Lynn Jr. “The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis.” This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment, edited by Roger S. Gottlieb, Routledge, 1996, pp. 184-193.
Episode Two
“In the context of this relationship of mastery between the viewer and the landscape, it is significant that Lewis’s books frequently signal their awareness of Narnia’s status as a space which can be possessed—essentially, a colonizable space.”
(Subramanian 372)
“Be fruitful and multiply,
fill the earth and subdue it”
(Gen. 1:28)
Works Cited
Harrison, Peter. “‘Fill The Earth and Subdue It’: Biblical Warrants for Colonization in Seventeenth Century England.” Journal of Religious History, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 3-24, 2005. https://doi-org.ezproxy.viu.ca/10.1111/j.1467-9809.2005.00258.x
Hawk, L. Daniel. “The Truth About Conquest: Joshua as History, Narrative, and Scripture.” Interpretation, vol. 66, no. 2, 2012. https://doi-org.ezproxy.viu.ca/10.1177/0020964311434872
Lewis, C.S. Prince Caspian. Harper Collins, 1995.
Sharp, Carolyn. “‘Be Strong and Resolute!’: Reading Joshua in the Contemporary Church.” Anglican Theological Reveiw, vol. 97, no. 1, pp. 19-32, 2015. https://www.proquest.com/docview/1652981670?pq-origsite=summon&accountid=12246
Subramanian, Aishwarya. ““The Whole Country Below them”: Gazing Imperially on Narnia from Above.” Space and Culture, vol. 23, no. 4, 2020;2019;, pp. 370-381.
The Bible. New International Version, Bible Gateway, Biblica Inc., 2011.
Bonus Content
