According to Alister E.McGrath, salvation is really a complex notion, because it does not necessarily have any specifically Christian reference. The term can be used in a thoroughly secular manner. For example, it was common for Soviet writers, especially during the late 1920s, to speak of Lenis as the savior of the Soviet peoples.
Salvation can be a purely secular notion, concerned with political emancipation or the general human quest for liberation. Even at the religious level, salvation is not a specifically Christian idea.
Many – but not all – of the world’s religions have concepts of salvation. They differ enormously, in relation to both their understanding of how that salvation is achieved, and the shape or form which it is understood to take. One of the most difficult tasks facing those in the past who, in the tradition of the Enlightenment, wished to argue that “all religions were basically the same” has been to show that there is an underlying unity amongst the religions, despite all their obvious differences in relation to these two questions. It is generally thought that this quest has failed, on account of the astonishing variety of the phenomena in question.
If the term salvation is understood to mean some benefit conferred upon of achieved by members of a community, whether individually or corporately,” all religions offer “salvation.” However, this is such a general statement that it is devoid of significant theological value: All religions – along with political theories such as Marxism and psychotherapeutic schools such as Rogerian therapy – may legitimately be styled “salvific,” in that they offer something to those who accept them. Yet it does not follow that all religions can be said to offer the same salvation. Respect for the integrity of the world’s religions demands that the distinctive shape of a religion’s understanding of salvation (including its basis, its mode of conveyance and appropriation, and its inherent nature) must be respected. It is therefore important to note the distinctive character of each religion in relation to the salvation which is offered.
Buddhism offers one style of salvation, just as Christianity offers another. These differences reflect the simple fact that Christianity is not Buddhism. It is essential to respect and honor differences here, and resist the ever-present temptation to force them all into the same mold.
