Salvation & Liberation

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course explores the relationship between the Judeo-Christian conceptions of salvation and the human desire for liberation from oppression and avoidable hardships. From a biblical perspective, salvation is about more than "getting into heaven." Contemporary theologians, primarily from the Global South and among the marginalized within "First World" countries, have led the way in reviving this biblical insight and applying it to the suffering and political struggles of today's world. This course traces the meanings of salvation as articulated in the Bible, early Christian history, and Christian movements among the marginalized in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. If you perceive the need for social change, this course will provide you with a better sense of thinking theologically and spiritually about salvation in relationship to both God's call for liberative social transformation and current human activity corresponding to that call.