Soteriology is the study of religious doctrines of salvation. Salvation theory occupies a place of special significance in many religions. In the academic field of religious studies, soteriology is understood by scholars as representing a key theme in a number of different religions and is often studied in a comparative context; that is, comparing various ideas about what salvation is and how it is obtained.
Buddhism
Buddhism is devoted primarily to awakening or enlightenment (bodhi), Nirvāṇa ("blowing out"), and liberation (vimokṣa) from all causes of suffering (duḥkha) due to the existence of sentient beings in saṃsāra (the cycle of compulsory birth, death, and rebirth) through the threefold trainings (ethical conduct, meditative absorption, and wisdom). Classical Indian Buddhism emphasized the importance of the individual's self-cultivation (through numerous spiritual practices like keeping ethical precepts, Buddhist meditation, and worship) in the process of liberation from the defilements which keep us bound to the cycle of rebirth. According to the standard Buddhist scholastic understanding, liberation arises when the proper elements (dhārmata) are cultivated and when the mind has been purified of its attachment to fetters and hindrances that produce unwholesome mental factors (variously called defilements, poisons, or fluxes).
However, the Pure Land traditions of Mahāyāna Buddhism generally focus on the saving "other power" of the celestial Buddha Amitābha. The Pure Land tradition relies on the Buddha's power or blessings (adhiṣṭhāna) to achieve rebirth in a Buddha's "Pure Land", a superior divine realm where one can easily train for full Buddhahood by meeting the Buddha.Williams, Paul (2008). Mahāyāna Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations 2nd Ed., p. 215. Routledge. Birth in the Pure Land is accomplished through the practice of mindfulness of the Buddha, which is called niànfó and entails reciting the name of the celestial Buddha Amitābha with a mind of faith, which links us to the Buddha's power.Jones, Charles B. (2019) Chinese Pure Land Buddhism, Understanding a Tradition of Practice, p. 1. University of Hawai‘i Press / Honolulu. At the moment of death, the Buddha then transports us to the Pure Land. The Chinese and other mainland Pure Land traditions teach a synergistic soteriology in which one's own self-power links us to the Buddha's other power (which is still the main or "dominant condition" for salvation). This is called the doctrine of sympathetic resonance or "stimulus-response" (ganying). The Japanese Pure Land traditions meanwhile, teach that we must rely solely on other-power and abandon all self-powered efforts (which are useless and ego-centered).Jones, Charles B. (2019) Chinese Pure Land Buddhism, Understanding a Tradition of Practice, p. 61. University of Hawai‘i Press / Honolulu.
Christianity
The doctrine of salvation in Christianity, also called "deliverance" or "redemption", focuses on the saving of human beings from sin and its consequences."The saving of the soul; the deliverance from sin and its consequences" OED 2nd ed. 1989.Wilfred Graves, Jr., In Pursuit of Wholeness: Experiencing God's Salvation for the Total Person (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image, 2011), 9, 22, 74-5. Variant views on salvation are among the main lines dividing the various Christian denominations, being a point of disagreement between Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and Protestantism; in the history of the Protestant Reformation, the Calvinist–Arminian debate has been particularly influential. These lines include conflicting definitions of depravity, predestination, atonement, and most pointedly, justification. Christian soteriology ranges from exclusive salvation to universal reconciliation concepts.
Christology plays a key role in debates about soteriology. In the Catholic tradition, the Roman Catholic Church claims soteriological authority. In his Ninety-five Theses (1517), the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther rejected the soteriological authority of the Roman Catholic Church. Against this backdrop, the role of Christ's divinity takes so central a place in the theology of Søren Kierkegaard that it provides the basis for the proposition of Christ's power to save, and so in this way of thinking Christology precedes soteriology. In the debates over the ancient authorities of the Early Church, Christ's divinity and power over salvation are interconnected theological concepts.The Oxford Handbook of Process Philosophy and Organization Studies. (2014). United Kingdom: OUP Oxford.Gouwens, D. J. (1996). Kierkegaard as Religious Thinker. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Epicurean philosophy More than a century after the establishment of the Garden, the school in which Epicurus taught philosophy, some people in the Greco-Roman world regarded Epicurus as their "Savior" (, Sōtḗr). The most prominent soul saved by Epicurus was the Roman Empress Pompeia Plotina. Lucretius, author of De Rerum Natura, also depicts the salvific power of philosophy, and of his Scholarch Epicurus, by employing literary devices like the "Broken Jar parable" (where the Scholarch is credited with helping mortals to easily enjoy pleasure), poetry, and imagery.
The salvation of Epicurus has no otherworldly connotations whatsoever. Judging from his Principal Doctrines and Letter to Menoeceus, he salves his disciples from supernatural fears and excessive desires for what is not natural and gives his disciples clear ethical guidelines that lead to happiness. Lucretius says Epicurus has set the boundaries for the limits of nature. His followers in Roman times developed Epicurus into a cultural hero and revered him as the founding figure of his School, and as the first to have developed a fully naturalistic cosmology that emancipated mortals from all fear-based superstition.
Hinduism Soteriology is discussed in Hinduism through its principle of moksha, also called nirvana or kaivalya. "In India", wrote Mircea Eliade, "metaphysical knowledge always has a soteriological purpose." Moksha refers to freedom from saṃsāra, the cycle of death and rebirth. Soteriology is one of the four primary aims of human life (purusarthas), alongside dharma (duty), artha (wealth), and kama (pleasure). Rooted in the belief that existence is marked by suffering caused by ignorance, desire, and karma, moksha is seen as the ultimate liberation, often described in terms of nirvana (cessation), apunar-janma (non-return), or kaivalya (isolation). In Indian philosophy, different traditions such as Vedanta, Samkhya, and Yoga offer varied paths to moksha through knowledge, meditation, ethical action, or devotion (bhakti), but all regard it as the final resolution to human suffering and bondage.
Islam
Muslims believe that everyone is responsible for their own actions. So even though Muslims believe that Adam and Hawwa (Eve), the parents of humanity, committed a sin by eating from the forbidden tree and thus disobeyed God, they believe that humankind is not responsible for such an action. They believe that God (Allah) is fair and just and one should request forgiveness from him to avoid being punished for not doing what God asked of them and for listening to Satan.In Az-Zumar (The Groups) chapter, in verse 7, in the Qur'an, "No bearer of Burdens shall bear the burden of another" [39:7]. So repentance in Islam is to be forgiven from the poor decisions sent forth by one's hand. In Islam, for one to repent, s/he has to admit to Allah that they were disobedient, feel regret for their behavior, be willing not to do the same again and finally to ask for repentance through prayer. S/he does not need to go to speak to someone to deserve the repentance, simply during the prayer, s/he speaks to her/his God, Allah (prays) asking His forgiveness. Allah said in the Qur'an "O you who believe! Turn to Allah with sincere repentance! It may be that your Lord will expiate from you your misdeeds, and admit you into Gardens under which rivers flow (Paradise)". al-Tahreem 66:8 Muslims believe that God is merciful and thus believers are expected to continuously seek forgiveness so that their misdeeds may be forgiven. "Say: O my servants who have transgressed against themselves (by committing evil deeds) Despair not of the Mercy of Allah, verily, Allah forgives all. Truly, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful” al-Zumar 39:53 and also "And whoever does evil or wrongs himself but afterward seeks Allah’s forgiveness, he will find Allah Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful" al-Nisaa 4:110. Muslims believe that they, as well as everyone else, are vulnerable to making mistakes and thus they need to seek repentance repeatedly at all times.
Muhammad said, "By Allah, I seek the forgiveness of Allah and I turn to Him in repentance more than seventy times each day." (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, no. 6307) God wants his servants to repent and forgives them, he rejoices over it, as Muhammad said: "When a person repents, Allah rejoices more than one of you who found his camel after he lost it in the desert." (Agreed upon. Narrated by al-Bukhaari, no. 6309) Islamic tradition has generally held that it is relatively straightforward to enter Jannah (Paradise). In the Quran, God says: "If you avoid the great sins you have been forbidden, We shall wipe out your minor misdeeds and let you through the entrance of honor [Paradise]."An’Nisa 4:31
However, by direct implication of these tenets and beliefs, Man's nature is spiritually and morally flawed such that he needs salvation from himself. Finding appreciation, forgiveness, and joy in Allah is the only (or best) practice to be saved from this terrible fate of corruption and meaninglessness. al-Tahreem 66:8
Sufism The focus on fanāʾ in Sufi thought, sometimes let to a dismissal on both paradise and hell as means of salvation, which often went hand in hand with a rejection of the present world.Roads to Paradise: Eschatology and Concepts of the Hereafter in Islam (2 Vols.): Volume 1: Foundations and Formation of a Tradition. Reflections on the Hereafter in the Quran and Islamic Religious Thought / Volume 2: Continuity and Change. The Plurality of Eschatological Representations in the Islamicate World. (2017). Niederlande: Brill. p. 282Lange, Christian. Paradise and hell in Islamic traditions. Cambridge University Press, 2015. p, 225 The prospect of paradise and fear of hell would distract the Muslim too much from devotion to God.Lange, Christian. Paradise and hell in Islamic traditions. Cambridge University Press, 2015. p. 226 Instead, one should throw away both worlds (al-takhalli min al-kawnayn) and focus solely on the reality behind them.Lange, Christian. Paradise and hell in Islamic traditions. Cambridge University Press, 2015. pp. 225-226
These Sufis considered the true meaning of hell to be separation from and heavenly bliss to be the union with God. An example of the typical Sufistic exclamation can be seen from Rabia of Basra:"O Lord, if I worship You out of fear of hell, burn me in hell, andif I worship You in the hope of paradise, forbid it to me. However, if I worship You for Your own sake, do not deprive me of Your eternal beauty!"Lange, Christian. Paradise and hell in Islamic traditions. Cambridge University Press, 2015. p. 227