It’s often very handy to have a professor as a friend.

“The Professor,” Digory Kirke, proved to be a well-travelled and advantageous ally for the children in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, and our own professor-friend Joe Rigney is a well-travelled guide to show us (and our children) through the wardrobe and into Lewis’s fantasy world.

Joe teaches Christian worldview at Bethlehem College and Seminary. We both have a pair of young sons we’re eager to soon introduce to Narnia. Before diving in, I thought it would be good to glean what I could from Joe, and hit record for your sake.

In this new episode of Theology Refresh, Joe gives all Lewis readers — but especially parents of young children — some ideas on why turn to Narnia, which book to start with, and how to wisely step into Lewis’s fantasy world of talking animals, mythical beasts, magic, glimpses of glory, and lessons about the real world. The Narnia tales are not only one of the great literary accomplishments of the twentieth century, but a poignant tool for bringing up our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4).