SALVATION, NON-CHRISTIAN CONCEPTIONS OF
206to God. Again, the various Christian
traditions disagree about the details, but
there is broad consensus that faith in
the atonement secures our salvation and
makes us “at one” with God.
The death of Christ, however, cannot
be understood apart from his resurrec-
tion. The resurrection is not only God’s
definitive victory over death, it is also the
vindication of Christ and his perfect life.
The resurrection of Christ confirms the
fact that the one who died on the cross
was not a mere man, and that his death
was for our sins, not his.
Salvation is much more, however, than
forgiveness for the wrongs we have done.
To be saved from sin we must also be
delivered from our moral and spiritual
bondage, which requires regeneration
and sanctification. This aspect of salva-
tion is accomplished by the Holy Spirit,
and it is carried forward as we are gradu-
ally transformed and fully renewed in
God’s moral image.
Salvation is not complete, however,
until the final resurrection and redemp-
tion of the created order. So understood,
salvation is a holistic matter that embraces
the physical as well as the spiritual. The
holistic nature of salvation is reflected
in the fact that the New Testament speaks
of salvation as past, present, and future.
Christians believe that we have been
saved by the death and resurrection of
Christ, through faith; that we are being
saved as God continues the work of
transformation and renewal; and we shall
be saved when our bodies are raised
incorruptible and all effects of sin have
been overcome.SALVATION, NON-CHRISTIAN CON-
CEPTIONS OF. Although “salvation” in
Western philosophy of religion is largely
a concept in Christian contexts, this grew
out of Jewish notions of atonement and
reconciliation in which persons come
to be delivered from sin or the effects of
sin. The term also has a general usage
to describe any process by which persons
are relieved and delivered from undesir-
able states whether these be conditions
of ignorance, illusion, vices, or evil.
In this broader context, enlightenment in
Buddhist tradition may be considered a
kind of salvation, but the use of that term
should not gloss over the differences
between Buddhism and, say, Christianity.SAMSARA. See REINCARNATION,
TRANSMIGRATION.SANTAYANA, GEORGE (1863–1952).
A Spanish philosopher, active in North
America at Harvard and elsewhere.
Santayana cultivated a nonrealist view of
religious belief, once claiming that while
there is no God, Mary is his mother.
Santayana’s great focus was on the
relationship of mind and matter, con-
sciousness and that which undergirds
consciousness. His works include Sense
of Beauty (1896), Life of Reason (5 vols.