Can you explain the main theological positions on salvation outside of the Christian church?

Firstly, you should make a clear deffiniton of salvation upon which to base your explanation. A good deffiniton should refer to the deliverance of humanity from sin and consequential suffering via God's loving grace. The study of salvation can be referred to as soteriology, this can be a good phrase to use to show subject knowledge to the examiner. The three main positions you will need to be able to explain and compare are inclusivism, particularism and exclusivism. Particularism holds that salvation can only be achieved through the church, note this also been referred to as exclusivism, a good scholar to research on exclusivism is Gavin D'Costa. Focus should be on why a theologian believes that salvation can only be achieved through the church. Biblical passages such as Romans 2:14-16 and John 14:16 are good places to start. Inclusivism holds that Christianity is the normative (primary) means of salvation but that other faiths can mediate revelation and teach the same values that lead to a Christian's salvation. Exploring the work of Jesuit priest Karl Rahner is a good way to develop understanding of inclusivism. Rahner expanded the deffiniton of the church to include 'anonymous Christians', people who don't follow are are not full aware of Christianity but none the less live by the values of a good Christian. Finally pluralism holds that many faiths can be a route to salvation. John Hick's pluralism holds that an omni-benevolent (all-loving) God would not restrict salvation to so few people as particularism suggests. Hick uses Kantian philosophy to argue that religion is just an attempt to explain God in the phenomenal world but is divorced from the reality of God, and therefore the particular religion you follow is less important in deciding salvation. Now, the key skill in questions surrounding salvation is your ability to compare and analyse the different perspectives on salvation. Here are a few areas where you should look to make comparisons. Firstly, what evidence is used to justify the different positions. Particularism foe example uses biblical passages to justify it's position, this is a strong form of evidence for Christians, but can be compared with Hick who believes that since all religions are removed from the truth of God the Bible should not be used as evidence. Moreover pluralists use Theological beliefs to argue that because God is all loving it is logical that he should give salvation to more people. Secondly, you can analyse whether a form of salvation is consistent with Christian teachings. For example many believe that salvation is achieved solus Christus (by Christ alone), therefore does is make sense that a Muslim or Hindu who does not believe that Christ is the son of God can receive salvation? In addition, believers of different religions may live similar lives but the moral teachings of different religions clearly diverge somewhere if as Hendrich Kraemer believed we look at religions in their entirety they can be seen as essentially different life philosophies, contradictory even. You should ask yourself how compatible you believe world religions are and whether that matters in answering the question of salvation. By the end of your comparison you should state clearly which of the three is the most plausible using evidence to support one and showing the incompatibility of the other positions with Christianity.