Did you know there was a Narnia code?

The original program “The Narnia Code” will be released on DVD to Christian retail outlets nationwide Nov. 23, 2010. Based on the book “Planet Narnia” by Dr Michael Ward, “The Narnia Code” reveals the imaginative DNA of C.S. Lewis’s best-selling children’s series The Chronicles of Narnia.

Made by International Emmy Award-winning director Norman Stone, “The Narnia Code” explores what Ward describes as the Narnia Chronicles’ “hidden third layer.” In addition to the simple story layer and the layer of obvious Biblical parallels, Ward demonstrates that each Narnia book “declares the glory of God” by digging deep into Lewis’s love of medieval astronomy.

Ward explains, “C.S. Lewis once said that ‘We may ignore but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito.’ I believe Lewis symbolized God’s hidden presence in a brilliantly symbolic way in the Narnia books, crowding every aspect of the stories with divine significance. It’s not just Aslan but the whole Narnian world that speaks of Christ. The Chronicles are more profoundly Christian than we’ve ever previously recognized.”

“The Narnia Code” features at-length interviews with Ward and other literary scholars as well as dramatizations of Lewis’s early life and career. After airing in Britain for Easter 2009, the documentary received glowing reviews from critics who called it “an exciting piece of literary detective work” (London Lite), “engrossing” (The Sunday Times), “thoroughly involving” (The Guardian), and “fascinating” (Daily Record). Ward believes American enthusiasm for the film will be even stronger.

“Lewis has always been more popular in America than in Britain,” says Ward. “He was on the cover of Time magazine even before he wrote the Narnia books. Having lectured about my discovery all over the United States, I know that American audiences are going to love ‘The Narnia Code.’”

Distributed by Entertainment One, the DVD additionally features extensive bonus material that includes everything from a personal guided tour of Lewis’s stomping grounds in Oxford – to visiting three of his old friends for a fascinating run of unique, personal insights. The DVD also takes viewers to the surviving trenches of WWI in Belgium and France, rediscovering the long lost grave of Paddy Moore, Lewis’s great wartime friend and companion.

For more information on “The Narnia Code,” visit www.narniacode.com.

Michael Ward, a leading expert on the works of C.S. Lewis, is an Anglican clergyman, Chaplain of St Peter’s College, Oxford, and co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to C.S. Lewis.  Between 1996 and 1999 he was Warden of The Kilns, Lewis’s Oxford home.  Ward studied English at Oxford, Theology at Cambridge, and has a PhD in Divinity from St Andrews.  He is also Associate Editor of the online poetry service, “ Davey’s Daily Poetry.” For more information, visit www.michaelward.net.