Salvation history

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Pietro Perugino's depiction of the Crucifixion as Stabat Mater, 1482. With the resurrection of Jesus, it is the climax of Salvation History in Christian faith Pietro Perugino 040.jpg
Pietro Perugino's depiction of the Crucifixion as Stabat Mater , 1482. With the resurrection of Jesus, it is the climax of Salvation History in Christian faith

Salvation history (German : Heilsgeschichte) seeks to understand the personal redemptive activity of God within human history in order to effect his eternal saving intentions. [1]

Contents

This approach to history is found in parts of the Old Testament written around the sixth century BC, such as Deutero-Isaiah and some of the Psalms. In Deutero-Isaiah, for example, Yahweh is portrayed as causing the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire at the hands of Cyrus the Great and the Persians, with the aim of restoring his exiled people to their land. [2]

The salvation history approach was adopted and deployed by Christians, beginning with Paul in his epistles. He taught a dialectical theology wherein believers were caught between the "already" of Christ's death and resurrection, and the "not yet" of the coming Parousia (or Christ's return to Earth at the end of human history). He sought to explain the Christ's mystery through the lens of the history of the Hebrew scriptures, for example, by drawing parallels and contrasts between Adam's disobedience and Christ's faithfulness on the cross.

In the context of Christian theology, this approach reads the books of the Bible as a continuous history. It understands events such as the fall at the beginning of history (Book of Genesis), the covenants established between God and Noah, Abraham, and Moses, the establishment of David's dynasty in the holy city of Jerusalem, the prophets, [3] as moments in the history of humankind and its relationship to God, namely, as necessary events preparing for the salvation of all by Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. [4]

Salvation history also plays a role in Islamic theology, such as in the narrative of the Jahiliyyah: a term for a morally corrupt era and social order that prevailed in pre-Islamic Arabia prior to the mission of Muhammad. [5] [6] A process in the Quran and later Islamic literature where pre-Islamic Christian figures are re-narrated as Muslim or proto-Islamic precursors to Muhammad's mission has also been understood in the framework of salvation history. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

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This is a glossary of terms used in Christianity.

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Repentance, in Christianity, refers to being sorrowful for having committed sin and then turning away from sin toward a life of holiness.

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Isaiah 52 is the fifty-second chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. Chapters 40-55 are known as "Deutero-Isaiah" and date from the time of the Israelites' exile in Babylon. This chapter includes from verse 13 the start of the fourth of the songs of the "Suffering Servant".

Isaiah 42 is the forty-second chapter of the Book of Isaiah in both the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is a part of the Books of the Prophets. Chapters 40-55 are known as "Deutero-Isaiah" and date from the time of the Israelites' exile in Babylon. This chapter contains a poem known as the first of the "Servant songs" about the servant, whom Jewish tradition holds that Isaiah identifies as either the Israelites themselves or Cyrus.

References

Citations

  1. "Paul and Salvation History", in Justification and Variegated Nomism; Volume 2 – The Paradoxes of Paul, eds. D. A. Carson, Mark A. Seifrid, and Peter T. O'Brien (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker, 2004), p. 297.
  2. Exile and Restoration: A Study of Hebrew Thought of the Sixth Century BC, Peter R. Ackroyd (London: SCM Press, 1968), pp. 130–133.
  3. Daniels, Dwight Roger (1990). Hosea and Salvation History: The Early Traditions of Israel in the Prophecy of Hosea. Germany: W. de Gruyter.
  4. Our Father's Plan: A Catholic Bible Study of Salvation History. Ignatius Press. 2002.
  5. Munt 2015, p. 436.
  6. Webb 2014, p. 69–71.
  7. Durmaz 2022, p. 112–114.

Sources