What does Aslan mean about being a bridge builder in our world?

Question

(Building on a bit of discussion from here: Are the "wood between worlds" and Aslan's Country related in some way? )

In the Chronicles of Narnia, it is well established that Aslan's Country (meaning heaven) is located across the sea from Narnia proper. However, in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Aslan tells Lucy that there is a different way of getting to his country from our own world:

... I will not tell you how long or short the way will be; only that it lies across a river. But do not fear that, for I am the great Bridge Builder.

Since I was a child, I have wondered what the heck he was talking about. There is no association that I know of between our world's version of Aslan (i.e. Jesus) and river crossings or bridge-building. (If the way had been via a ladder, it would have been an obvious reference to Genesis 28.) Yet I cannot imagine that Lewis was not alluding to some specific theological concept when he wrote this. So what was the theological reference he intended here?

Answer 1

To add on to what NKCampbell said, consider this from CS Lewis' Mere Christianity (emphasis mine)

An ordinary simple Christian kneels down to say his prayers. He is trying to get into touch with God. But if he is a Christian he knows that what is prompting him to pray is also God: God, so to speak, inside him. But he also knows that all his real knowledge of God comes through Christ, the Man who was God-that Christ is standing beside him, helping him to pray, praying for him. You see what is happening. God is the thing to which he is praying-the goal he is trying to reach. God is also the thing inside him which is pushing him on-the motive power. God is also the road or bridge along which he is being pushed to that goal. So that the whole threefold life of the three-personal Being is actually going on in that ordinary little bedroom where an ordinary man is saying his prayers. The man is being caught up into the higher kind of life-what I called Zoe or spiritual life: he is being pulled into God, by God, while still remaining himself.

One of the central tenets of Christian faith is the belief that Christ bridged the gap between God and man with his death (see also the story of Creation, where man sins and is separated from God). The belief that Lewis held was that God reached back out to fallen man to draw them back to himself. That is what Aslan (an allegorical Christ) is saying in the quote.

Answer 2

In context, I believe the river is death.

As you correctly note, Aslan is Jesus, not an allegory for Jesus or another member of the Godhead, he's just Jesus. And unfortunately for humanity, there is no ocean that can be crossed to enter heaven; we have to die. In our universe, Jesus's forgiveness is the bridge that allows us to cross that barrier successfully.

We see later in the books that that's exactly what happens. Lucy and co. end up in Aslan's Country, but only after being killed in a tragic train accident. Aslan wouldn't say "how long or short the way will be," because of course he doesn't want to tell Lucy she wouldn't live to adulthood,

As to why Lewis uses the river imagery, I suggest it might be inspired by the River Styx. He drew extensively from Roman and Greek mythology, including fauns, centaurs, satyrs, nymphs, minotaurs, dryads, flying horses, and even the wine god Bacchus himself. Voyage of the Dawn Treader in particular is strongly influenced by the Odyssey.

Answer 3

Without seeking to get into a theological debate (which may be impossible) - I do think it fair to consider Lewis' background as a Protestant Christian.

There is a historical association with the Old Testament crossing of the River Jordan into the "Promised Land" by the Hebrew People and Protestant tradition of viewing the journey as a New Testament metaphor for Christianity: the Jordan River representing death and the "Promised Land" as heaven or a paradise afterlife. (a pop culture example being the Johnny Cash gospel song "Far Side Banks of Jordan")

When considering the orthodox Christian theology of Christ as the 'one way' to said afterlife, the bridge metaphor is apt and common - often depicted in this manner - the cross of Christ being a metaphorical bridge over death and hell from life to afterlife:

Answer 4

Lewis may be attempting to associate his world to that of the ancient Greeks, through George MacDonald, where some heroes are able to go to Hades without first dying. Odysseus is probably the best known of the Greek heroes and the one most germane to our search. In The Odyssey, Book 11, Odysseus must cross a body of water, in his boat (and aided by the North Wind/Spirit), to reach the land of shades. George MacDonald, Lewis’s adopted “Master,” makes use of this same myth in At the Back of the North Wind, where he has Diamond sail to the Back of the North Wind, which by the end of the book - when Diamond dies - turns out to be some type of Heaven. Therefore Lewis seems to use very similar components as Homer, through MacDonald, to tell a similar story. In the end, Lewis switched Aslan for the North Wind, a river for an ocean, a bridge for a boat, and a Christian Heaven for the land at the back of the north wind