'Pre-baptised'

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by davem

So I was thinking. CS Lewis once said that his intention in the Narnia books was to 'pre-baptise' children's imaginations - they would first read the Narnia books, & when they later encountered Christianity they would be in some way prepared for what they would encounter in the Christian story. What he meant, I think, was that Jesus would remind them of Aslan & so he wouldn't seem so 'strange' & unfamiliar to them. Perhaps he also meant that the Narnia stories would create a 'longing' in them for a 'bigger' story.

Okay, so I'm going to have to admit up front that Lewis' Narnia is not as interesting to me as Tolkien's Middle-earth. That said, what intrigues me is this idea that a story has to prepare children's imaginations for another story. (I don't think I'm taking this topic off-topic, just wondering about a different tangant.)

Baptism in its most literal sense involves a washing or submersion in water, a purification marking entrance into witness or membership in the community. For the sake of the original quotations from Lewis, I'll limit my thoughts to Christian ideas about the ritual.

Now, traditionally baptism means the washing away or remission of sins in preparation for receiving Christ. What sins could Lewis imagine his story would be washing away? Or was he merely being allegorical (as was his wont) in suggesting some kind of precursive experience with purification which would enable children (in this case) to perceive the holy story? Or was he thinking of Catholic ideas of baptism, a desire to be part of the Church founded by Christ?

I guess what I am getting at is this idea that one needs to be cleansed of error and mistake, prepared to accept the greater meaning of a fulsome text, whether it is Lewis or Tolkien.

So, first of all, could there be texts which in fact prepare us not to understand and accept those of Lewis and Tolkien? Is our reading such that we have to be purged of some of our tastes and familiar favourites before we can appreciate Narnia or Middle-earth? What are these texts? Are there truly sins in reading that must be purified?

Secondly, what does it mean to hold secular texts as needing rituals before they are fully appreciated? Why can't the books themselves reach out to us? Why would they be dependent upon precursor texts?

Now, Lewis was not a Catholic, but Tolkien was. Catholic doctrine says that we must be cleansed of the taint of original sin before we can enter the Christian community. Is this a concept in keeping with Tolkien's Legendarium? Do readers really have to experience a rebirth or forgiveness of error in order to receive Tolkien's story?

Forgive me if I am being pedantic here, but I think that's a trait Tolkien himself would have allowed his readers.