The History of Salvation

'My father was a wandering Aramaean, who went down to Egypt with a small group of men, and stayed there, until he there became a great, powerful and numerous nation.' This confession of faith which the book of Deuteronomy (26:5) puts in the mouth of the devout Israelite says that it is not history that belongs to us, but it is we who belong to history. In what sense? Precisely in the sense that man belongs to history, but to the history of salvation.

What is meant by 'history of salvation?' What relation is there between sacred history and profane history? How can history mediate salvation? This book gives an answer to these questions, presenting the Christian view of the history of salvation.

Since the most remote beginnings, when Israel heard the word of its Liberator, it is in history that God has spoken to us as he does to this day, telling us 'I am he who is' (Ex 3:14) from the cross of his resurrected Son, raised over history and the world, all by means of the Holy Spirit. History, therefore, is not just any topic for philosophy and theology, but rather a universal, communicable horizon of meaning in which man can establish his relation with God and the world, with himself and others.