Salvation as Humanization
Indian Christian Theologians like K.C. Sen, Chenchaiah, Chakkarai,
and P.D. Devanandan understood Christ as the bearer of New Humanity. M.M. Thomas
builds his Christological understanding on this foundation- Salvation as
Humanization and thus salvation in Christ signifies Christ as the bearer of
a new community. Salvation will lead one to be part of a new community i.e. in
Christ.
The
quest for salvation is the search for ultimate meaning of human existence.
Thomas identifies three dimensions. The first one involves a desire for
selfhood, self identity and group identity. It is human awareness of one’s
selfhood as distinct from nature. Secondly it involves a search for historical
consciousness and purpose in history. Human seeks to understand themselves as
subject of a dynamic and linear history. Thirdly it involves a search to
realize the new ideal community based on freedom, equality and fraternity. On
the basic of the vision of the ideal community, it implies a struggle to break
oppressive structure of caste, class and patriarchy, which undermine the
assumption of establishing the community.
The
humanization of our common life becomes a common concern, a common medium of
communication and even a common criterion for evaluation of the various meaning
of salvation. This common concern for humanization finds expression in the struggle
for fuller humanity. M.M. Thomas book Salvation and Humanization
begins with a crucial question of relation between gospel of salvation and the
struggle of men (sic) everywhere for their humanity. Thomas interprets
salvation as being glorified in humanity of Jesus Christ or as being
incorporated into the glorified humanity of the risen Christ, and therefore
salvation is closely related to the struggle of the oppressed for a richer and
a fuller human life or to the process of humanization. Salvation is historical
corporate and universal and eternal life is a present possession since the
timeless God entered into time.
Salvation
remains eschatological, but the historical responsibility within the
eschatological framework cannot but include the task of humanization of the
world in secular history. The mission of salvation and the task of humanization
are integrally related to each other. The glorified humanity of Risen Christ is
to be realized not after death but within the historical process, not by isolated
individual to society but by men (sic) in the corporateness of their relation
to society and to the cross. The traditional understanding of salvation has to
do with the inward character of individual but Thomas brought it par with the
life setting and challenged the salvation of individual to influence the
salvation of the society. Thomas affirms that Christ and His kingdom are
present within the human quest of humanization. The secular ideology of
humanism is itself to be transformed in the light of the prophetic
understanding of history as fulfillment in Jesus Christ, if they are to serve
humanity. Thus the theology of mission should help the Christian church to
participate in struggles of secularism and secular men (sic) for an historical
task of humanizing the world, and with the radical demand to enter into
dialogue with them, opening secular men (sic) and secular ideologies to an
awareness of the relevance of the gospel of Christ.
M.M.
Thomas made struggle for the humanization
as the cornerstone of his theology. His theology can be summarized as
Humanization: humanizing the dehumanized and peopling the de-peopled.
Salvation as Deification
Deification (also known as theosis or
divinization) sees salvation not merely as divine pardon but rather as a
process of spiritual transformation that culminates in mystical union with God.
In other word, it is a transformative process whose aim is likeness to or union
with God. According to C.S. Lewis “human
beings could one day enter into the very beauty and energy of God and become
true and everlasting and really divine persons.” Deification, then, is the
restoration of the divine likeness that humanity lost along with its beauty,
purity, and in-corruption. Deified
human beings forever remain human while at the same time sharing in divine
grace or energy, just like blazing iron in the fire shares the properties of
flame but doesn’t cease to be iron.
S.K.
George says “the deification of Christ is
something parallel to the deification of other gods in India and hence does not
belong to the essence of Christianity. Therefore he also does not deal with the
crucial issues such as atonement and the Cross and Resurrection. His approach
to the Bible is liberal in the sense that he does not see that God’s full and final
revelation is to be found in Christ and that he finds that God speaks in other
religious scriptures also.
Swami
Abhishiktananda his
contemplation was the seeing of his existence in the heart of Trinity. His
meditation of human as the image of God signifies the unfolding of “the mystery
of the divine presence in the inner-most sanctuary of human’s being.”
According
to K.P Aleaz, The insight that Brahman/Atman pervades, illumines and
unifies all he levels and layers of human personality as well as the whole of
creation enables Eastern Christian theology to arrive at new insights regarding
the energies of God through which God is knowable and through which deification
is actualized. The divine willing, the ideas of created things, the logoi, the
words, are in the energies of God and not in His/Her essence. The Advaita
Vedantic view that before creation this universe pre-existed in Brahman as
potential seed (bijasaktih) and undifferentiated name and form
(avyakrtanamarupa) clarifies this understanding of creation in the energies of
God. This energies of God which deified humanity can actualized only through
Salvation in Jesus Christ.
Salvation
as Deification means is to be like Christ, the perfect image of God(Col. 2:9;
II Cor. 4:4) which is possible through salvation by Jesus Christ.
Human
beings, created in God’s image, by having communion with the Source and
Perfecter of life, are supposed to progress in this process till the end of
their life and even in the life after
life. This theme taught by the Orthodox churches all over the world of all ages
seems to be in tune with the Indian spirituality also.
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