The Moral Arc of the Universe: Salvation as Emancipation.

Many modern Christian understandings of salvation spiritualize and personalize salvation. Salvation is what makes it possible for an individual soul to spend eternity in heaven. Jewish and Christian notions of salvation are richer and more complicated, and include an understanding of salvation as emancipation from powers and principalities. To be saved is to be adopted by the rightful ruler of the universe and liberated from servitude to all other false rulers. I briefly outline the significance of the Exodus and Christian understandings of the kingdom of God for three of the major emancipation movements in the history of the United States, and arguably the world, namely the American Revolution, the abolitionist movement, and the Civil Rights movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]