Salvation. Is it a term for theologians or philosophers? Everyone wants to be saved. But from what? When it comes down to the ‘what’ which we want to be saved from, we do not think about the lens anymore to look at the term. Being human is the reason. Thus any discipline can and in fact must talk about how our humanity can be saved. Whatever profession we are doing right now is an opportunity to walk with the others towards the saving of humanity from anything in the world, or even within ourselves, that degrades it.

That is probably one of the causes of why ethics could be tough for some people. This edition of Melintas thinks about our being human together. We cannot exist happily in an isolated room of our appartment. The first article reflects on gender in religious ethics and practices. The author wants to unearth the insidious force of gender in the assignment of roles ‘skewed’ to favour men over women, and to highlight the underlying influence of gender on the various ethics and practices of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The second article explores a theology with ‘freedom’ paradigm that understands grace as God and God’s actions in relationship with and insofar as humans experience them. The author explains how grace is conveyed through the celebration of the sacraments, in which the faithful experience that God is present and salvation is realised in real symbols. The third article presents Foucault’s notion on power as practiced throughout the history of the systems of thought, how this can be read into in any political power, and how his thought can be seen as criticism of various repressive powers practiced in Indonesia. The fourth article explores some similarities and differences between Foucault’s understandings and Nietzsche’s understandings of the genealogy of morals. The author argues that with reference to these thinkers one at least can be alert to whatever appears convincing so as to recognise the motive of power behind it. The fifth article sees an inequality of positions between the parties in the so-called “standard agreement” of business activities, and the fact that effectivity and efficiency are highly considered in business that human rights are often ignored. The author argues that since this kind of agreement is still needed by the society, there is a requirement to apply the principle of justice in formulating the agreement.

There are always covert motives in our being together as humans. Ethics, politics, theology, and philosophy should help us save humanity, because otherwise academicians are like individuals living isolated in their own appartment and minding their own business or salvation. We are not very much plural in matters of being human.