1. Lawrence S. Cunningham John Kelsay
The Sacred Quest
Lawrence S. Cunningham
John Kelsay
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2. The Quest for Salvation
Chapter Nine
The Quest for Salvation
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Quest for Salvation
The quest for salvation is the essence of religious life.
Salvation implies a personal existence that continues after death, which is immeasurably enriched by the fact that one lives in the presence of God.
One may certainly understand Christianity as a religion of salvation.
For many Christians, the fundamental question of life is “What must I do to be saved?”
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What is Salvation?
What is your conception of salvation?
Where do your ideas come from?
What did you learn in your family about salvation?
What did your religious training teach you about salvation?
What is your understanding of the path(s) to salvation?
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Salvation in Religion
Most of the great religions focus in some way on the idea of salvation.
And most of the great religions judge all persons to be in need of salvation.
But there is great diversity in varying religions regarding the form and type of salvation that people should seek to achieve.
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Types of Salvation
Buddhists = Enlightenment
The danger is ignorance and salvation lies in insight.
Hindus = Moksha
The problem is the cycle of birth-death-rebirth and the salvation is found in liberation.
Christians = Eternal Life
The problem is death and salvation is found in deliverance from death.
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Concepts of Salvation
Salvation may be understood as something achieved by the individual or the group.
In addition, salvation may be achieved in this world or an other world.
Thus, there are four patterns of salvation:
Individual/this world
Individual/other world
Group/this world
Group/other world
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8. Individual/This World
Concepts of individual, this-worldly salvation may be distinguished in terms of emphasis on
(1) the search for meaning
(2) the desire to be remembered
(3) the ideal of completion
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9. Individual/This World
The search for meaning often involves the struggle with despair and the desire to make one’s life count for something.
The desire to be remembered involves various acts of religious expression designed to last beyond one’s life as a testament to individual faith.
The ideal of completion is related to the achievement of an ideal state after much disciplined effort.
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10. Individual/Other World
In contrast to the secular motifs associated with individual, this-worldly salvation, otherworldly salvation requires the belief in an existence that transcends the boundaries of physical death.
Thus, individual, other-worldly salvation can be distinguished by:
(1) joining the spirit world
(2) cosmic cycling or expansion
(3) the idea of judgment
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11. Individual/Other World
Joining the spirit world is a concept of an existence that transcends physical death as an expectation that one will somehow “join the spirit world.” Often this involves a new existence. This model is evidently very ancient.
Cosmic cycling or expansion posits the existence of an eternal soul, spirit, or mind that experiences a cosmic cycling or expansion.
The idea of judgment is central to notions of salvation in Orthodox Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and other religious traditions.
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Group/This World
Modern conceptions of salvation often presuppose that the object of salvation is the individual person.
But the history of religions provides numerous examples of group salvation.
Under the rubric of group salvation in this world, we may consider salvation:
(1) through the people
(2) through the tradition
(3) in the Kingdom of God
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Group/This World
When participation in the continuing life of a people is at the heart of the quest for salvation, the obligation to bear and nurture children becomes important, a concern expressed in certain parts of the Torah.
Requires respect for and continuation of particular religious traditions in order to achieve salvation.
The Kingdom of God is on the border between this-worldly and otherworldly concepts of salvation. As it pertains to this world, the idea points to the advent of a reign of justice and equity.
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Group/Another World
The most striking example of otherworldly group salvation is related to the Kingdom of God, for that symbol never stands for individuals saved in isolation, even when it is applied in an otherworldly way.
Those who are saved become a part of the community of the just—in Christian terms, the communion of saints.
They live eternally in the presence of God, not only as individuals but as a part of the community of the blessed.
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15. Paths Toward Salvation
There are five primary paths toward salvation:
Knowledge
Action
Aesthetics
Submission
Grace
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Path of Knowledge
The principal goal is to understand the true nature of things.
A person who “sees” is one who understands or knows the truth and thus is liberated.
Liberation, then, is the Eastern equivalent to “salvation” in the West.
The path of knowledge is often associated with the great traditions of the East: Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.
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The Path of Action
The path of action runs squarely through the things of this world.
Individuals or groups, in connection with this-worldly or otherworldly concepts of salvation, emphasize action, especially right action, as an answer to the question “What must I do to be saved?”
All of the great religions emphasize the path of action as part of the journey to salvation.
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The Path of Aesthetics
The path of aesthetics is closely linked to action but deserves some special consideration.
It involves a special type of action: the action of those whose special talents incline them in the direction of bringing beauty into the world.
In various contexts, artists, musicians, dancers, architects, and athletes have all been models of this path to salvation.
Examples include Renaissance painters and Sufi mystics.
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The Path of Submission
The path of submission arises from a sense of the utter dependence of human beings on sacred reality.
As such, most religious traditions exhibit some interest in this path to salvation.
Islam places particular emphasis on submission to the will of God.
Judaism and Christianity can also be seen as religions that place emphasis on submission to God.
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The Path of Grace
In some traditions, the idea that human beings can do anything to “earn salvation” seems, in such traditions, a type of arrogance.
The radical emphasis on salvation by grace remains a central theme in Protestant Christianity.
Humanity is sinful and estranged from God, therefore, human beings can do nothing to bring about their own salvation. Those who are saved are reconciled to God through a free gift, the gift of faith, which God creates in them through God’s grace.
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