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Template:Infobox Narnia character
Emeth (Hebrew אמת : "truth," "firmness," or "veracity") is a Calormene character from C. S. Lewis's book The Last Battle (from the Chronicles of Narnia series). As a Calormene, Emeth was raised to follow Tash, the antithesis of Aslan, and did so with an emphatic devotion and loyalty. Nevertheless, Emeth manages to travel to Aslan's paradisaical country after the destruction of Narnia, and is welcomed by Aslan. Because he worshipped a devil and not God, his acceptance has been controversial with some Christians who disagree with Lewis' soteriology.
Implications in Christian theology
Aslan's words to Emeth in which he ratifies the good deeds the latter did even under the name of Tash, are the subject of this controversy.
I take to me the services which thou hast done to ... if any man swear by and keep his oath for the oath's sake, it is by that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him."
The implication is that people who reflect a righteous heart are to some degree justified, regardless of misbelief. This is a cornerstone of Christian theology: one party cites the Christian paradigm that faith in Christ alone saves, and the other questions the fate of those born and raised into another faith. In a letter from 1952, Lewis summarized and explained his position:
I think that every prayer which is sincerely made even to a false god, or to a very imperfectly conceived true God, is accepted by the true God and that Christ saves many who do not think they know him. For He is (dimly) present in the good side of the inferior teachers they follow. In the parable of the Sheep and Goats those who are saved do not seem to know that they have served Christ.
Lewis cites this view as derived from the parable of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25:34-40, from Paul's speech to the Athenians in Acts 17:23: "What you now worship as something unknown, I am going to proclaim to you", and from 1 Timothy 4:10: "God, the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe" (all references NIV).
References
- ^ Lewis, C.S. (1956). "The Last Battle", London: Harper Collins. Chp. 15, in which Emeth recounts his history.
- ^ The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, vol iii, p 244-245 & 163, respectively. Quoted from letters C.S. Lewis wrote in 1952 to correspondents who asked him about the question.