Salvation history is the story of God and the story of man.
It’s how God has loved and cherished mankind since the beginning of time.
It’s how mankind has journeyed from Godly riches to rags and back again.
It’s how the hero-king, the rescuer Jesus Christ, came down from his throne to share his life and deliver mankind from captivity.
Quite literally, salvation history is the story of how we are saved–our redemption in Jesus Christ. But it’s actually much more than that. It’s the vehicle to understand who you are in this world and what you’re meant to be.
Salvation is real history
Salvation history comes primarily from the Bible.
The Bible is a collection of stories that have different literary genres. These include poetry, prophecy, wisdom/proverbs, epistles (letters), and history.
The historical books tell a story that unfolds over thousands of years. It can be hard to understand how it all fits together, but it does.
This is a true account. The historical narrative of the Bible is not a fairy tale or made up. It really happened.
God writes the world like men write books. He orchestrated events so that what happened, from the dawn of time, is like his own book.
He writes in actual events the same way you or I would write in words. Therefore, history is really “His-Story,” God’s story.
What is the story?
The story of salvation history begins with creation, Adam and Eve, and the story of the Fall.
At the center is Christ. He the interpretive key because all of salvation history is grounded in Christ and the Cross. Everything before leads to him. Everything after emanates from him.
But actually there’s a back story. Salvation history is much older than creation, and you can’t understand it without one more essential piece–the Trinity.
Before time and creation, God lived and loved in a union of Persons so perfect and wonderful, words can’t even describe it.
God created us to live in this union with him. Hence, everything God “wrote” in history is for that purpose–the union of mankind to himself.
Why is salvation history important?
In a sense salvation history is past history, but it’s also present.
The story of salvation isn’t over. This plan of God envelops us, and we are actively a part of it.
Knowledge of God’s saving plan is not just nice to know information. Understanding God’s actions in history, his dealings with mankind, reveal the inner truth of who God is. Conversely, understanding who God is sheds light on what he’s done in salvation history.
Consequently, salvation history forms the foundation of the whole supernatural work and mission of the Church. It directly influences our life and mission within the Church.
Catechetical takeaway
The truths of salvation history are some of the highest truths we can know, and the most practical. Catholic spirituality and ministry depend on them.
The history of salvation is, in itself, evangelizing. It is the gospel, the good news of God’s saving actions.
It is essential to understand who we were in the beginning and what we will be at the end of time because this sheds a clarifying light on the mystery of the human condition.
Salvation history is the answer to who we are as human persons. The answer to why we have these longings that we don’t understand. The answer to how we can fill the restlessness in our hearts.
Most noteworthy to you as a catechist, if you don’t understand salvation history, you can’t effectively convey who Jesus Christ is to your students and what he means for their lives.
THis year, I am supplementing our 8th grade CCD class with Dr. John Bergsma “Bible Basics for Catholics”. It is so important for our young Catholics understand where we come from, where they fit in the story, and where we are going. Understanding how Mother Church fits in the story is so important!
That is really cool Rich! I think that’s an awesome thing to do in 8th grade. It sort of puts a cap on everything they’ve learned so far and integrates it into a system.
I love that book too. I just spoke with Dr. Bergsma today. I’m going to write about him in my next post for the Support a Catholic Speaker Month. I think he does a great job of presenting salvation history and covenant theology in an accessible way. Especially with those drawings. Those are excellent. And they seem easy to do.
Stay tuned here because I’m working on some stuff for presenting salvation history that will blow your socks off. Really simple to understand and easy to implement.
I like this post because it help me to understand my origin well it is good and i need to know more about salvation in order to write my A/L in religion studies in cameroon with Mr NGENGER VICTOR.
Glad you liked it. Hope it helps!
Very good article
Can you suggest any books that discusses the theology of salvation history, rather than the bible itself . Thanks and God bless
The book mentioned in these comments, “Bible Basics for Catholics,” is a very good book on the biblical theology of salvation history. The classic book is “A Father Who Keeps His Promises” by Scott Hahn. That’s an excellent book too. If you want to get way more in depth, there’s a 24-week video series from Ascension Press called “The Bible Timeline” that’s really good.
Where do get this book.thank you
Hi Maria, you can get it on Amazon or perhaps some other online Catholic bookstores like The Catholic Company (catholiccompany.com).
Salvation History should be a life long study. The Bible Timeline and Ascension Press Great Adventure Study is great and God Keeps His Promises, and Walking with God are also excellent resources.