What is salvation, really?

Helping Doctor of Ministry students work through their research projects recently, I encountered a new surprise. Many of these folks wanted to tie their project into a good sound theological base, but they could not say exactly how what they were wanting to do in their projects in ministry related to the redemptive power of God in the lives of their congregations. I realized how hard it is to define salvation in any practical, concrete way.

That sent me back to my theology source, Henry Nelson Wieman, the process theologian/philosopher from the first part of the 20th Century. (I studied with him at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, where he taught after his retirement from the University of Chicago Divinity School in the 1960's.) He was a master at putting things in very concrete, pragmatic terms.

Wieman's burning question for his life work was:

• "What operates in human life with such character and power that it will transform us as we cannot transform ourselves, saving us from evil, and guiding us to the best that human life can reach, provided that we meet the required conditions?"

These three elements constitute the essence of salvation--transformation, deliverance from evil, and guidance toward the best. Faith is the "required condition," for this salvation.

So if you want to preach, teach, lead in ways that people can actually get what you're about, you need to be able to say clearly and concretely what the transformation is we're seeking, how it overcomes the inner and outer hold of destruction and evil, and how it helps us continue to lead our lives.

What's your definition of salvation?