1. Galadriel says:

    I actually read the Narnia Code earlier this year–it seemed a bit wide of the facts, but it was orthodox in thinking.  And realizing that the stars proclaim truth is different than saying they control things.

    • I’ll admit, I’ve only read summaries of the Narnia Code. My research for this blog post made me aware of it. You really should watch the Star of Bethlehem DVD though. It will astound you and leave you shouting… “Let the heavens declare the glory of God!”

  2. Lex Keating says:

    I don’t think I’ll be the only reader to gasp and say ‘But, but, but…Cornelius observed the dance of the stars in Prince Caspian.” Other than that, this was interesting.
     
    One aspect that I think we often overlook is the evolution of church history. Most scientific branches use the Greek suffix -ology to indicate “the study of.” When it comes to the study of the heavens, a separate word had to be used, because astrology had been appropriated for divination instead of scientific research. In English, anyway, I guess. During a recent research foray into astronomers, I was surprised to find how many of the great scientific minds doubled as spiritual scholars. Some of it was flawed faith–very murky confusion about supernatural phenomena, the spiritual meanings behind the movements of the heavens, yada yada. Weird stuff. (But back in the day, becoming a musician was a steady form of work; becoming a scientist was as unpredictable as modern rock star fame and folly.) But we now have great philosophical divisions between the spiritual, the scientific, and the speculative. These divisions weren’t always present. It seems there was more faith in education. More room for God in various branches, more hope that all roads of study would eventually lead back to Him. And if your studies didn’t lead you back, there was always excommunication….
     
    Are you familiar with Chuck Missler? He teaches sometimes on the Hebrew zodiac and some of the more fearless speculation about the Scriptures.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W9Hx-rObNk

    • Okay, this is my embarrassed face. (“) 
      I fixed the Prince Caspian quote. I must have gotten ahead of myself in thinking of Dawn Treader. Thanks for the correction.
      I’ve not researched Chuck Missler. Now, I must!

    • Ahh, good ol’ Chuck Missler! He gets out there sometimes, but his fringe-ness is what makes him so endearing.
       
      I think the gospel in the stars stuff makes perfect sense–I mean, God put them there–and I don’t see why people get all freaked out about it. Virgo IS the Virgin and Leo IS the lion–it’s there, we didn’t make it up. And it’s plain to see the one constellation with the guy fighting the serpent, and his foot is on the serpent’s head, even while it’s biting his heel.
       
      Nice way to tackle the astronomy/astrology debate, as well as how it works its way into fantasy. As a kid, I always wondered about the Narnian star-watching myself. As a teen, reading the Silmarillion, I just LOVED how that one dude became the dawnstar with the Silmaril on his brow. And the light of that star/the Silmaril is the light in Frodo’s phial.

      • Will I be excommunicated from this site if I say I have not read the Silmarillion? 

        Not saying I haven’t, mind you. I’m just wondering what might happen if I didn’t read that portion of Tolkein’s essential fantasy. 
        *cough

        • The Silmarillion is best read as a reference tome. “Who is this Beren and Luthien that Aragon’s singing about?”  “What in the heck are the Silmarils?”   “Who was Morgoth, of whom Sauron was but a servant?”
           
          I mostly read it for bragging rights.  😀

  3. Excellent post, Chris. I think sometimes Christians aren’t sure of what they believe. Being afraid of crossing some unseen line (“unseen” because they don’t know the scriptures well enough nor walk  with the Lord closely enough to discern truth from deception), they view with distrust anything they weren’t taught about in Sunday School.
    As Galadriel said, there’s a huge difference between the stars proclaiming the truth and saying they control things. In the former case, they’re like angels (speaking of Narnia…) serving as God’s messengers, whereas in the latter case, they’re part of “the Universe,” that impersonal power to which the New Agers like to attribute power and wisdom.
    And, though I’m not here to promote my books, it seems appropriate to mention that Book #1 in my Gateway to Gannah series, The Story in the Stars, deals with what we’re discussing here. It touches on the theory that God proclaims the gospel message through the constellations. If you like this subject, please check it out!
    Okay, the commercial’s over; you can come back in from the kitchen now.

    • Thanks, Yvonne. I must admit I’ve found myself wondering about that “invisible line” a lot with this post for fear of opening pandora’s box with this subject. And yet, God’s Word is so refreshing when you consider how often he writes of the stars proclaiming his message to us.
      Your book sounds great. I’ll have to add it to the must read list.

  4. Bainespal says:

    I had never heard of the possibility of there being anything remotely redeemable or not-evil about astrology.  Growing up, the word “astrology” was used as a near synonym for “New Age.”  This take on the subject is interesting.  Life must have been so special back in the Middle Ages and prior periods, looking up in sheer awe at the heavens on a clear night!
     
    Even today, the stars are really the last metaphor of eternity that hasn’t been ruined by technology.  The sea used to be a metaphor of eternity, but now that we can quantify the oceans and skip over them in a few hours, the Sea has probably lost much of its ancient power.  However, the stars remain out of our grasp despite increased knowledge of astronomy.  They still remind us that there are realities far beyond the scope of humanity.

  5. D.M. Dutcher says:

    In Narnia, there’s sort of an uneasy fusion between paganism and Christianity. It’s like the wise men; you have many virtuous pagans who know of Aslan, but still use their own magic in order to try and understand him. Cornelius used magic, sometimes forbidden magic, to locate Susan’s horn, and somehow find any trace of the old Narnia that Miraz had forced into hiding. Roonwit was living in a time where Aslan was so much a memory that it was easy to deceive talking beasts into believing a donkey in a stable was he. Generally none of the people who actually knew Aslan resorted to these things.
     
    I also think that there really wasn’t much proof that either form of astrology was effective in Narnia. The point of Cornelius watching the conjunction as well as all the stargazing wasn’t to foresee events; it was to get Caspian alone and in private to teach him about old Narnia. Roonwit’s predictions were very general, and more of an aside; he as much as anyone was completely blindsided by events. It felt more like a folk wisdom or pastime of the educated than something that really worked.
     
    For stars and believers, I’m not sure.  These are omens, and these were often the province of the pagan mind trying to seek the will of the gods in events. Stargazing is a lot more benign than cutting open animals or convicts to see the future in someone’s intestines. I wonder if the biblical ones you mention are more for unbelievers than us. We have the Holy Spirit in us, who “will teach us all things and bring all things to our remembrance  (john 14:26) so have One who is superior than omens or portents.  But for pagans, the omen often created a sense of divine discontent. Something is happening, and we must seek the gods to answer it. God can act despite all this to bring a person to the truth.
     

  6. A writer says:

    An interesting article but it could be read to mean that the horoscopes and that are alright. Also I know a young girl who claims and believes the stars are talking to her so I’d be careful with this. It’s not just something abstract. It hurts real people, not just story worlds.

    • Indeed it does hurt real people. Yet I would caution that the reason why people accept such things is that they do not believe in the real God and how He chooses to reveal Himself, which is not through stars and soothsayers and diviners but through His Word and prophets (Deut. 18). The sin starts in the heart, not in the horoscope.

      From my understanding, Christopher‘s point here is that believing that the stars may somehow reflect the will of the Prime Mover is different than believing they are prime movers themselves — that is, somehow in control of events and people’s destinies.

  7. Modesto says:

    continuously i used to read smaller articles which as well clear their motive, and that is also happening with this post which I am reading here.

What do you think?