Taming Aslan: Why Hollywood can’t handle the real Christ

The Christian backlash after news broke that Meryl Streep might voice Aslan in the upcoming “Narnia” adaptation was swift and strong, and for good reason. Because this isn’t just about Narnia — it’s about Christ.

C.S. Lewis didn’t invent Aslan as a charming character or a clever literary device. He was explicit: Aslan is Jesus.

“[In your world] I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name,” says Aslan in “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.”

Tampering with Aslan is an attempt to tamper with Christ. Aslan is getting a female makeover not to depict Christ, but to dampen Him. To make Him safer, gentler, more palatable. Doing so reflects a deeper cultural effort: the feminization of Jesus.

This transformation doesn’t just swap pronouns. It strips Jesus of half His nature — the half that makes us uncomfortable. The masculine half. The authoritative, commanding, confronting, judging Christ.

A feminized Aslan isn’t just a misguided creative choice — it’s a symptom of a culture that’s trying to reinvent the Lion of Judah.

Yes, Jesus is gentle and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29). But Lewis cast Aslan not as a lamb but as a lion. That’s because He roars in the Gospels.

The Jesus of Scripture calls hypocrites “whitewashed tombs” (Matthew 23:27), drives out money-changers with a whip (John 2:15), and proclaims judgment on entire cities (Matthew 11:21-24). He tells parables of chaff (the unrepentant) being burned (Matthew 3:12) and sheep being separated from unrighteous goats (Matthew 25:31-46). He is both Redeemer and Judge. He forgives — but also commands. As Mr. Tumnus concisely notes, “He’s wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.”

Aslan isn’t safe. That’s because Jesus isn’t safe.

Jesus, but softer

Even in faithful productions like “The Chosen,” we often see a Jesus who is emotionally accessible and endlessly compassionate — but rarely fiery. The edge of His teaching is dulled; the righteous anger, the prophetic warnings, the sharp rebukes often fade into the background. He comforts sinners more than He confronts sin. And “The Chosen” is far from alone.

In “The Shack,” the entire Godhead is feminized. God the Father appears as a nurturing African-American woman named “Papa.” The Holy Spirit is a soft-spoken Asian woman named Sarayu. Jesus, meanwhile, is portrayed as an easygoing carpenter with little sense of majesty or divine authority. The entire Trinity is gender-shifted and reimagined to feel more comforting than commanding.

The result is intimacy without reverence and compassion without holiness.

Modern worship music follows a similar trend. Even if songs aren’t pronoun-swapping, they often de-emphasize God’s justice and holiness in favor of compassion and connection. Many popular songs blur the line between sacred devotion and romantic infatuation. In “Reckless Love,” God becomes an impulsive lover who “chases me down” and “fights till I’m found.” “You won’t relent until You have it all / My heart is Yours” echoes the language of courtship more than kingship. “Sloppy Wet Kiss” (from “How He Loves”) is perhaps the most infamous, portraying divine love with almost sensual imagery.

These songs shifts the focus from the majesty of God to the emotional gratification of the worshipper. They offer a Jesus who is more a lover than a Lord.

A Build-A-Bear Jesus

The modern impulse is to make Jesus more “relatable” — to transform Him into a comforting, affirming figure who justifies but never judges, listens but never leads, heals but never calls to repentance. It’s a sort of theological Build-A-Bear, assembled from our favorite traits and none of the hard ones.

But Jesus is not ours to remake.

C.S. Lewis warned of this very thing in “God in the Dock.” Man is no longer on trial before God; now we put God on trial. We rewrite Him to fit our ideals, our desires, our politics, our image.

This is the danger. A feminized Aslan isn’t just a misguided creative choice — it’s a symptom of a culture that’s trying to reinvent the Lion of Judah.

God has revealed Himself in Scripture — not as a mother, not as a goddess, not as a nebulous spirit of empathy. He calls Himself Father and sent His Son. He uses male pronouns. He displays strength, courage, justice, and righteous anger — alongside mercy and love.

Woe to those who make God in our own image, rather than acknowledging that we are made in His.

Know Him as He is

As Lewis noted, Christian imagination is “the organ of meaning,” and it has been underutilized since the “Chronicles of Narnia” hit bookshelves in the 1950s. But Christian imagination cannot serve its evangelistic and illuminating function if untethered from the Word of God. Imagination can illustrate biblical truth — but it must never overwrite it.

We must be more intimately familiar with the Jesus of Scripture than with any artist’s rendering — no matter how beautiful or moving.

And it matters deeply that we get this right. That’s because a feminized Jesus — one stripped of power, judgment, and authority — can neither justify nor sanctify. She may soothe, but she cannot save.

The gospel is not simply a message of comfort; it is a declaration of deliverance. And there is no deliverance without recognition of what we are being delivered from. Jesus did not just come to seek the lost, but to save them (Luke 19:10) — to rescue sinners from the wrath of God (John 3:36). The good news is only good because the bad news is real. If we remove Jesus’ holiness, His hatred of sin, and His power to judge, we hollow out the gospel itself.

Know Aslan, yes — but only if he leads you to know Jesus. Not as we wish He were. But as He is.