Salvation in the Modern World From a historical perspective, Christianity as a religion had relatively humble beginnings. Based within the Jewish tradition, the birth of Christ signifies the start of a religion that would later become the spiritual choice of so many that it would become known as one of the "world religions." As such, the religion has evolved to take many different forms in terms of thousands of denominations and traditions. One might argue that this is the result of cultural and evolutionary forces, where each specific culture or time period believes in a way that suits the concerns of the time. Indeed, many today are faced with questions around how Christianity, a religion starting during a time of Roman oppression and elitist Jewish religious leaders, applies to the faithful individual of today. What is the salvation message for today's Christian? How is the congregation of today to carry out Christ's basic principle of love and faith? One might find the answer by examining the evolution, not only of Christianity, but also the concept of Christ, through the different times and trials of human history. By doing this, one discovers that Christ continues to hold meaning not only for collective, general Christianity, but also on a very personal basis for every individual who believes in him.

In a collective evolutionary sense, Hill (1989, p. 195), points towards the fact that Christology is contextual. In other words, the concept of Christ is sculpted by contextual factors that relate to time and culture. As Paul said of himself, it is also true of Christ, in his sense, that he was "all things for...

In the medieval period, however, monasticism was a primary and very visible method of serving Christ, which gave rise to the concept of Jesus as "monk." The Renaissance, in turn, brought about the concept of Christ as "Universal Man." In more modern times, Christ was a primary spiritual figure during the struggle against slavery, where voodoo and other pagan spiritualities among African slaves became replaced by Christianity. Indeed, those who advocated against the practice used Christian principles as a basis for this. For the slaves themselves, Christ as liberator was a powerful comfort during their suffering. Later, when segregation and oppression replaced slavery as the source of negro suffering, Christ evolved as liberator and comfort for this sector of society as well. Thus, in many cases, Jesus is viewed, by those who need him to be this, as the liberator of the oppressed masses or indeed the caretaker of those who suffer in some way.
Many church leaders, for example, concern themselves with providing material and spiritual services to those with few resources to afford these. Such leaders then also use the opportunity to reinforce the idea of Christ as friend to the poor in the minds of those who receive such assistance.

Hence, one might say that the image…