2。 Literature review

2。1 Definition of salvation

Salvation is being saved or protected from harm or being saved or delivered from some dire situation。 In religion, salvation is stated as the saving of the soul from sin and its consequences。

In religion, salvation may also be called “deliverance” or “redemption” from sin and its effects。 Salvation is considered to be caused either by the grace of a deity, by free will and personal efforts through prayer and asceticism, or by some combination of the two。 Religions often emphasize the necessity of both personal effort---for example, repentance and asceticism---and pine action (https://en。wikipedia。org/wiki/Salvation)。文献综述

2。2 Former researches

In different times, philosophers and writers have different opinions in salvation。 In the Ancient Greece and Rome, some philosophers put forward the views about salvation。 Socrates was the first one to propose the idea of soul that soul was the essence of people。 And then his pupil Plato emphasized that people must pursue truth and shape their souls, otherwise they would be like soulless animals。 (https://en。wikipedia。org/wiki/Socrates)。 The salvation composed of these theories later became the doctrine of Christianity。 The core of Plotinus’ view is that how can soul get rid of the body’ s shackles, level up with the care of beauty to the world of reason and finally be combined with the god(Jiang Linlin 2014)。 In Immanuel Kant’s Religion within the Limits of Reason, he thought that “salvation is that human beings break away from the situation of evil and get to state of virtuous without the help of god。 So, people must rebuild faith in virtue, which was the reform of moral and the reasonable foundation of self-salvation” (Kant 52-53)。 Max Weber is the rare westerner who studies eastern religions。 In The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism and The Religion of Indian: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism, he pointed that “the salvation of eastern religion is not only to separate from the evil and sufferings but also to escape from capricious and secular world and finally get eternal serenity。 In his book, there is no salvation in Confucianism。 Confucianism’s doctrine is man’s nature at birth is good, which is contrary to Christianity” (Su Baorong 6-8)。 So, there is no god in Confucianism and people don’t need salvation, they can improve themselves by complying with ethical norms。 However, Taoism has the idea of salvation, they tend to find a satisfying answer to the ultimate of universe, and then reach the level of god by Mysticism。 (Zhang jing 28-30)

2。3 Current situation

The beauty of heaven has led people to look forward to it。 But nowadays, many of them don’t believe the existence of heaven。 With the development of science and astronomy, people have begun to doubt the view that gods live in heaven。 The advancement of technology and other value systems have challenged the traditional faith and view of salvation。 Without gods and heaven, there would be no hopes and expectations, so how will the salvation develop? 来*自-优=尔,论:文+网www.youerw.com

Society is developing so fast that salvation must adjust its dimension to the society。 After Enlightenment in 18th century, it has been proved that god does not exist (https://en。wikipedia。org/wiki/Enlightenment)。 Therefore, god has become a kind of faith in the hearts of people and salvation is necessary in order to keep the faith。 Nowadays, salvation is more about the conscience and morality, and it is more like a psychological hint。 In modern society, the salvation has changed its form and the way it develops; it has taken off the coat of religion and become universal; it has infiltrated into daily life of ordinary people。 Salvation is not any more the form of religious expression in the traditional sense, but the way to get the peace of mind (Zhang Jing 23)。