Comparative Soteriologies Lutheran and Reformed Judaism Research Paper

Comparative Soteriologies Lutheran and Reformed Judaism - Research Paper Example These three religions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam, appear to be enthused by one and the same light, and share several similarities in their religious system including basic concept of God, angels, Satan, heaven, hellfire, creation, life and death, Day of Resurrection, reward and punishment, holy personalities and myth about them, need of preaching and observing of moral values in individual and collective life etc. Additionally, the notion salvation also maintains imperative place in Abrahamic religious beliefs, which is actually the by-product of the inspiration they seek from the heavenly revelation sent from the Lord for the spiritual and moral uplift of humans in this world as well as in the life Hereinafter. â€Å"Soteriological comes from the Greek soter, savior, and salvation from the Latin salus, and both have become linked historically with the specifically Christian notion of being saved by the atoning death of Christ from God’s righteous judgment upo n the sinners.† (Hick 1989, 10) Salvation is a more specific form of the more general idea of being brought from an evil situation into a radically better one. Since salvation is the central concept of Christian mythology, almost all the religious activities and performances of the Christianity revolve around this very notion, though the scholars have interpreted it in quite different ways. Brief Overview of Anselm's view of Salvation: The Christians strongly believe in the concept of Original Sin, according to which every human commits sins and gets involved into deviant behavior and perversion from the noble path to be followed according to the commands made by the Deity, because of his natural tendencies towards sins. Moreover, it is the same tendency that is responsible for the expulsion of the first parents of humankind from the Eden Garden. Since Almighty God is the Creator and Sustainer of the world, and has created humans out of his own image to rule over all other cre atures of the universe, the Lord does not want to humiliate and punish the humans. Consequently, He decided to bestow salvation upon humans in order to protect them from extreme agony and sufferings. â€Å"And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.† (Peter in Acts 4:12, retrieved from usbible.com) However, the interpretation of the concept salvation is made in quite divergent manners among the Christian theologians and scholars, and hence, they appear to be at daggers drawn in the basic notion of this religious belief. Some of the Christians are of the opinion that since Jesus has sacrificed his life for their redemption, so they are not bound to do good only. Hence, the sacrifice made by Jesus has exempted them from observing virtuous deeds to please their Lord. Rather, they would surely enter the heavens whether they practice virtue or not at all. On the contrary, the Lutheran school of thought c onsiders the very reality that the great sacrifice has bound the Christians to imitate the footprints of the Holy Christ by strictly observing the commands of the Lord by performing the obligations towards Him and the fellow humans. This notion is often inter-mixed with the Jewish traditions, though the Jewish scholars, refute the very idea of original sin altogether, and lay stress upon virtuous