A Comparative Study of the Apostle Paul's and Shinran's Salvation

Religion involves having an ultimate concern, which is to achieve a condition of permanent well-being, salvation. Focusing on the concept of salvation advocated respectively by the Apostle Paul, one of the pioneers of Christianity and by Shinran, the founder of Jodo Shinshu, in particular with their fundamental contribution to the development of Christian theology and the Pure Land theory, this cross-religious comparative study examines their teachings on the way of salvation and the results of salvation for the purpose of creating spaces for inter-religious encounter, understanding and dialogue.;Textual analysis and social-historical analysis are the methods used in this comparative study to explore the dynamics and transformations in the development of the Apostle Paul's and Shinran's concept of salvation, which involve a systematic close-reading of texts against the backdrop of their different social, historical and cultural values.;This study is divided into three parts. Part one focuses on the concept of "Faith." Both the Apostle Paul and Shinran preach the message that the salvation is through/by faith. However, they understand differently from each other regarding what sources of faith are, what faith is and what the relationship between faith and practice is. Indeed, the Apostle Paul's and Shinran's teachings on "Faith" are born out of their personal circumstances in their social, historical and cultural contexts, which enrich and develop the concept of "Faith" within and along their different religious traditions.;Part two reviews the two different results of salvation proposed by the Apostle Paul with "inheriting the Kingdom of God" and by Shinran with "reborning in the Pure Land." I detail their differences in their usage of the terms of "the Kingdom of God" and "the Pure Land" and their discussions on how, when and who could finally achieve the salvation. I argue that both the Apostle Paul and Shinran further the development of Christian theology and the Pure Land theory with their specific explanations and understandings through inheritance and renovation.;Part three situates the Apostle Paul's and Shinran's concept of salvation in their own social, historical and cultural contexts. Indeed, the dynamics and transformations in the development of their concepts of salvation are closely related to their personal religious experiences and the social-religious backgrounds in which they were located. Their transformations and renovations instead satisfied the needs and values of their followers, and moreover, enhanced the development of Christian theology and the Pure Land theory.;This cross-religious comparative study is therefore an inter-religious dialogue by focusing on the analysis of the Apostle Paul's and Shinran's salvation with an emphasis on their theoretical developments against the backdrop of their specific social, historical, and cultural contexts. In fact, the Apostle Paul and Shinran increased followers with an offer of universal salvation with their theoretical transformations and renovations.