I've been working on doing some kind of web series on the theme of Christianity as a "Journey of Faith". On that general theme, the first topic scheduled to be covered revolves around some unhappy experiences attending some Christian parochial schools. Looking back, I believe that some Christians see their faith as a kind of ideology, essentially an ideology that saves their soul via professing(or knowing) the right doctrine about salvation, works etc. at the time of death, but its one that sort of allows them to something of a misanthrope, or Pharisee providing they avoiding saying or perhaps doing certain things (based on very specific Bible passages) that might break their "salvation warranty" so to speak.
So I'm curious what do you think? Is this a thing? Or how common or rare is it? Etc.
There are many ways of defining ideology, and the one I formulated, unless someone did it before me, is that an ideology is a reaction to a problem.
So if the problem is economical, political, ecological, philosophical or religious, one can have different economical, political, ecological. philosophical or religious reactions to it.
For example, economic inequality sprouts left wing or right wing ideologies. Intelligent and strong people should not have the right to corner precious resource versus the idea that fair effort should result in fair return, the right to gather resources commensurate with that effort. Since everyone is affected by the problem, everyone holds an ideology, an opinion about the solution.
In religious situations, the problem presented seems to be the afterlife, and reactions to it are generally that good people will have a positive experience, and the bad, a negative one. In other words, the problem and its solutions appeal only to theists.
However Paul believed his solution would appeal to even Epicureans and Stoics, basically atheists, or at most deists, who don't believe in appropriate consequences of life style faced in the afterlife. In fact, Israel herself did not have any doctrine, view on afterlife, until after being exposed to it during the Babylon exile. Till date, there is no halakha, doctrine that must be adhered to, to remain orthodox, not be heretics, about afterlife. You are free to hold any view.
So what was worrying the denizens of the ANE (Ancient Near East)? Its a problem that crops up in every worldview. In fact, if a person takes time to reflect, the problem is bound to raise its ugly head, and it is the conclusion that everything seems to be meaningless. Philosophers, using logic and reason, in fact conclude that it is so. The Epicureans and the Stoics developed their own answers to the problem. Paul offered them an alternative.
He told them what men were, ontologically, and why they needed to be good.