Poetix: “A premise of Marxist economic theory, in particular of the Labour Theory of Value, is that exploitation is odious: the “surplus value” extracted from workers is a part of their life (that is, of their labour) which is taken from them and not returned. Not only is the working life of the worker actively curtailed by exhaustion and immiseration, but even the life he has left is not lived to the full inasmuch as he never enjoys the full fruits of his labours.”

From this comes to mind the Process Theology definition of “Evil”, derived from Whitehead and Aristotle:

“Discord, which is physical or mental suffering is simply evil in itself, whenever it occurs. Triviality, however, is only evil in some cases. A trivial enjoyment is not evil in itself insofar as its harmony outweighs its discordant elements. But if it is more trival, and hence less intense than it could have been, given the real possibilities open to it, then it is evil. Hence while discord is absolutely evil, triviality is only comparatively evil.”

[http://kvond.wordpress.com/2008/05/15/a-non-moral-theory-of-evil/ ]

In this view the soterial drive is the drive for the redemption of the “triviality” of other lives, a re-inscription of the meaning of their presisting notes in the strain. It is perhaps why Zionist movements and Christian Escatology have played a heavy hand in the history of the West, in particular during it turning points of modernity 17th century and early 20th (and perhaps now).