Thelivanbu (Illumined Love)

Abstract

AbstractDiscontented with Christian understandings of salvation which tend to interpret Christ’s love employing various theories of the atonement, this essay seeks to move beyond existing models of identifying Christ’s death. Using insights from Saiva Siddhantha, a distinctively Tamil‐language philosophical tradition of the Hindu faith which names God as Siva, the author offers a constructive proposal for a Saivite‐Christian understanding of human salvation as thelivanbu (Illumined Love). The author argues that a combination of thelivu (illumination) and anbu (love), as portrayed in the Saivite and Christian scriptural traditions, presents a richer understanding of salvation. It is rooted in God’s seeking love and God’s waiting love and helps Christians move beyond atonement‐based understandings of Christ’s love which interpret Christ’s death as an act of satisfaction or an act of substitution which requires a shedding of blood.