Simplifying a four-part schema employed by Stephen Prothero in his God Is Not One (Harper, 2010, p. 14), I propose, in agreement with Prothero, that each religion can be usefully seen as addressing itself to a problem; offering a solution to the problem, a solution that also constitutes the religion's goal; and proposing a technique for solving the problem and achieving the goal.
This post will consider five religions and how the simplified Prothero schema applies to them.
For Christianity, the problem is sin, the solution or goal is salvation, and the technique is some combination of faith and good works. (14) For Buddhism, the problem is suffering, the solution or goal is nirvana, and the technique for achieving nirvana is the Noble Eightfold Path. (14) Prothero's main purpose in his book is to stress the differences between religions. That is the point of the silly title, "God is Not One." Obviously, God is one by definition; it is the conceptions of God that are various. It is also a bad title because Prothero's topic is religion, not theism. Buddhism, after all, is not a theistic religion. But let that pass. I can't fault the man for wanting to attract buyers with a catchy title, one reminiscent of Hitchens' God Is Not Great. The schema makes clear the differences between these two great religions:
Are Buddhists trying to achieve salvation? Of course not, since they do not even believe in sin. Are Christians trying to achieve nirvana? No, since for them suffering isn't something that must be overcome. (15)
If salvation is salvation from sin, then of course Prothero is right. Sin is an offence against God, and in a religion with no God there can be no sin. Nevertheless, I am a bit uneasy with the starkness of Prothero's contrast. The Buddhist too aims at a sort of salvation, salvation from all-pervasive suffering. To use 'salvation' so narrowly that it applies only to the Christian's religious goal obscures the commonality between the two great religions. I should think that some soteriology or other is essential to every religion. A religion must show a way out of our unsatisfactory predicament, and one is not religious unless one perceives our life in this world as indeed a predicament, and one that is deeply and fundamentally unsatisfactory, whatever the exact nature of the satisfactoriness.
For Islam, the problem is neither sin nor suffering but self-sufficiency,"the hubris of acting as if you can get along without God, who alone is self-sufficient." (32) The solution or goal is "a soul at peace" (Koran 89: 27) in submission to Allah. The technique that takes the believer from self-sufficiency to Paradise is to 'perform the religion." (42: 13) Orthopraxy counts for more than orthodoxy. The profession of faith is relatively simple, to the effect that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is the messenger of God. That is the First Pillar of Islam. The other four concern practice: prayer (salat), charity (zakat), fasting (sawm), and pilgrimage (hajj).
For Hinduism, the problem is samsara, "the vicious cycle of life, death, and rebirth." (136) The solution (goal) is moksha, liberation from samsara. The aim is not to escape into an afterlife, but to escape once and for all from the wheel of becoming whether here or beyond. Moksha is not salvation because the goal is to escape samsara, not sin. The various yogas are the techniques, whether karma yoga, jnana yoga, or bhakti yoga, whether work yoga, wisdom yoga, or the yoga of devotion.
For Judaism, the problem is exile, "distance from God and where we ought to be." The solution is return, "to go back to God and our true home." (253) The techniques are to keep the narrative alive and to obey the law, to remember and obey.
So much for a quick little sketch of Prothero's new book. A popular treatment but well worth reading.