Salvation

From Srafopedia

In theology, salvation can mean three related things:

• being saved from something, such as suffering or the punishment of sin - also called deliverance;
• being saved for something, such as an afterlife or participating in the Reign of God - also called redemption;
• social liberation and healing, as in liberation theology.

The theological study of salvation is called Soteriology and also covers the means by which salvation is effected or achieved, and its results or effects.

Christian soteriology focuses on how Jesus Christ saves people from their sins, reconciling them with God. Islamic soteriology focuses on how humans can repent of and atone for their sins so as not to occupy a state of loss. Hinduism, which teaches that we are caught in a cycle of death and rebirth called samsara, contains a slightly different sort of soteriology devoted to the attainment of transcendent moksha, meaning liberation. For some this liberation is also seen as a state of closeness to Brahman. Buddhism is in a real sense devoted primarily to soteriology, i.e. liberation from suffering, ignorance, rebirth. Shinto emphasizes working for a good life by cultivating virtue or virtuous behavior, and many practitioners of Judaism also emphasize morality in this life over concern with the afterlife.

Redemption is a religious concept referring to forgiveness or absolution for past sins and protection from eternal damnation. Redemption is common in many world religions and all Abrahamic Religions, especially in Christianity and Islam. In Christianity redemption is synonymous with salvation.

Salvation in Christianity

Roman Catholics believe "Man stands in need of salvation from God," and "Divine help comes to him in Christ through the law that guides him and the grace that sustains him." It was for our salvation that "God loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins; the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world, and he was revealed to take away sins." "By his death (Jesus, the Son of God) has conquered death, and so opened the possibility of salvation to all men."

At the same time, however, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that through the graces Jesus won for humanity by sacrificing himself on the cross, salvation is possible even for those outside the visible boundaries of the Church. Christians and even non-Christians, if in life they respond positively to the grace and truth that God reveals to them through the mercy of Christ may be saved. St. Justin wrote that those who have not accepted Christ but follow the moral law of their hearts (logos) follow God, because it is God who has written the moral law in each person's heart. Though he may not explicitly recognize it, he has the spirit of Christ.

Eastern Christianity generally views salvation in less legalistic terms (grace, punishment, and so on) and in more medical terms (sickness, healing etc.), and with less exacting precision. Instead, it views salvation more along the lines of a seeking to become holy or draw closer to God. It also stresses Jesus' teaching about forgiveness in Matthew 6:14-15: "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

Broadly speaking, Protestants believe that salvation is "by faith alone, through grace alone, in Christ alone." (Some Protestants understand this to mean that God saves solely by grace and that works follow as a necessary consequence of saving grace, while others believe that salvation is rigidly by faith alone without any reference to works whatsoever, while still others believe that salvation is by faith alone but that that salvation can be forfeited if it is not accompanied by continued faith and the works that naturally follow from it.)

Salvation in Eastern Religions

Adherents of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism do not believe in salvation in the sense understood by most Westerners. They have no explicit Hell to be saved from or Heaven to be saved to. They believe in reincarnation after death. According to this belief, one's works or karma allow one to be reborn as a higher or lower being. If one is evil and has a multitude of bad works, one is likely to be reborn as a lower animal, possibly a worm. If one has a multitude of good works or good karma, one is likely to be reborn as a higher being, perhaps a human with higher status or in a higher caste.

Eventually, however, one is able to escape from the cycle of death and rebirth and achieve salvation through the attainment of the highest spiritual state. This state is called Moksha or Mukti in Hinduism and often called Nirvana in Buddhism. This state is not one of individual happiness, but a merging of oneself with collective existence. In some beliefs, this existence is identified with God.

(Source: edited from Wikipedia)

Salvation in His Dark Materials

It has been remarked by Christian critics and commentators, such as Rowan Williams, that no reference is made by Pullman to Jesus Christ or the salvation of mankind through his sacrifice. Instead, personal salvation is achieved by "living life to the full".

Will and Lyra give salvation to the ghosts in the World of the Dead, and thereby to all conscious beings, by cutting a window which allows them to escape everlasting misery and dissolve freely back into the universes. The message to the living is to ensure that you have stories to tell the harpies when you are dead. As the second Eve, Lyra "falls" from grace once more, reaffirming the gaining of knowledge, wisdom and consciousness as the pinnacle of achievement, rather than the source of shame and guilt.

Whilst Christianity claims that Jesus saved mankind from death and offers believers everlasting life in Heaven, Pullman's Humanist message is not to fear death, but to accept it as the final act of the unique and marvellous experience of having been alive.