The age of reason and Evangelical Biblical Interpretation - Essay Example

? The age of reason and Evangelical Biblical Interpretation (Theme In this paper, the proponent investigates and critiques the developments that have taken place since the enlightenment in the way evangelicalism interprets the Bible. To justify this further, the proponent starts with the background of the enlightenment period, then its probable impact on biblical interpretation. To give substantial foundation of the argument, the proponent also includes basic information about evangelicalism and after this the analysis of how enlightenment affects the way evangelicals interpret the Scripture. Implications and findings are generated from reputable sources about concerning evangelical approaches to biblical hermeneutics. These references are in line with understanding and analysing the prevailing way of biblical interpretation of evangelicalism. It is evident that the age of reason or enlightenment had considerable influence on how to interpret biblical text. First, this is quite expounding when evangelicalism developed during and after the age of enlightenment. This has probable implication that there was an evolution on how the Bible was interpreted, because evangelicalism in the first place defined a movement that could substantially lead us to another style of interpreting the Scripture. Second, the age of reason clearly has illustrated us how evangelicals used their ability not only to stay at the literal point of view of interpreting the Bible, but now many of them could explore their actual opinion and even associate their actual experiences on the associated biblical text just to expound the linked context. Third, it is also clear that from traditional evangelical movement, the interpretation of the Bible evolved to being subjective in the sense that there would be actual implementation of interpretation of the Bible with one’s opinion, experience and so on. The age of reason has indeed remarkably influenced the evangelical interpretation of the Scripture. However, it is also clear that the evangelicalism even though it might be influenced by enlightenment and post-enlightenment period, but still it remains a movement to regard the Bible as with higher authority. Thus, part of evangelicals’ interpretation of the Bible is associated with giving substantial authority to concerned biblical text. Keywords: Evangelicalism, Evangelical, Enlightenment, Bible Table of Contents Page Abstract 2 Introduction 4 Background of the Enlightenment period 4 The probable impacts of Enlightenment on the Biblical interpretation 4 What is Evangelicalism? 8 Features of Evangelicalism 8 Evangelicals acknowledge the authority that the Bible holds 9 Christ, the center of Scripture 9 The Bible and its complete objectivity 12 Evangelicals prevent distorting views of the Bible 12 Evangelicals’ considerations of the Bible 13 Evangelicals subject their viewpoints to the Bible for correction and change 13 Evangelicals and their point of view on the reliability of the Bible 14 Conclusion 16 References 18 Introduction In this paper, the proponent investigates and critiques the developments that have taken place since the enlightenment in the way evangelicalism interprets the Bible. To justify this further, the proponent starts with the background of the enlightenment period, then its probable impact on biblical interpretation. To give substantial foundation of the argument, the proponent also includes basic information about evangelicalism and after this the analysis of how enlightenment affects the way evangelicals interpret the Scripture. Implications and findings are generated from reputable sources about concerning evangelical approaches to biblical hermeneutics. These references are in line with understanding and analysing the prevailing way of biblical interpretation of evangelicalism. Background of the Enlightenment period The age of enlightenment created a major impact on how interpreters interpret biblical text. Enlightenment is the age of reason which took place between 17th and 18th century first in Europe and then in the United States. From religious stand point, the age of reason brought critical skepticism towards “miracles and doctrines of inspiration” (Oeming, 2006, p.31). In other words, humans became motivated to rationalise things which must have become a pertinent challenge on how to interpret the Bible. For this reason, there were many prevailing methods used until today in order to interpret the Bible and to level up with the reigning trend on how everyone thinks about life and undertakes varying perspectives about it. So below are illustrations of probable impacts of enlightenment linked with biblical interpretation. Each of this general information consists of specific discussions in the succeeding sections. The probable impacts of Enlightenment on the Biblical interpretation Perhaps one of the most triggering momentous events of the enlightenment era was the existence of philosophies created by philosophers who would want to express and obtain higher form of knowledge and wisdom in order to seek the ultimate truth about life. In fact, during the enlightenment period until at present time, science and religion are motivated by the same quest, and that is to search for the truth. It would then be a challenge to introduce the Bible during this era because the enlightenment period brings forward substantial understanding of almost everything, creating a whole piece of understanding about the human life and its existence on earth with probable empirical evidences. As for this point, miracles and the power brought by the gospel may significantly be interpreted differently from how everyone looked at it from the point of view of its applicability before the age of reason (Oeming, 2006, p.31). So it is at this point that the proponent would want to elaborate in detail some probable impacts of enlightenment on Biblical interpretation, which would be the primary point in this paper and the center of all discussions associated with each of the subsequent sections. The age of reason allowed some biblical and evangelical scholars to work on the “presuppositions of philosophical hermeneutics” leading them to accept their theoretical thought as the truth (Mathers, 2011). In other words, evangelicals were exposed into a situation where they need to create adjustments with the principles that were in line with the age of enlightenment. In fact, the ability of evangelicals to accept their theoretical thought as the truth was a clear manifestation that there was existing philosophies involved in the actual interpretation of the biblical text. Additional discussions of this point are elaborated in the following sections. Meanwhile, the other probable impact of the age of reason on biblical interpretation was the need to understand both historical and grammatical context of the biblical text (Sailhamer, 2009, p.107; Zuck and Campbell, 2002, p.53; Elwell, 2001). This was a specific point of emphasising intellectual consideration which was the primary result of the enlightenment era that one could particularly observe especially on how to interpret the Bible. On the other hand, there was also a need to understand the Bible as compilations of contributions from different authors from varying generations and traditions. Thus, we could potentially interpret the Bible as compilations of historical events from different traditions of which God revealed Himself at different human historical events. Science flourished in the age of enlightenment and this added to the need to be objective with facts especially in the actual interpretation of the biblical text. Thus, in order to remain faithful with the entire context of the Bible, some interpreters were obliged to be objective in giving interpretations of the Word of God. At some point, there might be a need to critically determine and consider the Bible as an objective reference and which should be consistent with the human history with no factual error. If there seems to be inconsistencies, they must be considered part of the humans’ vulnerability to error or even to be subjected to experience the actual perspective of the human encounter with God which can be best described at the varying historical contexts in the Bible. However, the bottom line of this is the actual evangelical thought that God could not be wrong. For example, the historical account of the Bible has become debatable in the age of reason and this could be substantially illustrated through a particular narrative stated in the 10th chapter of the book of Joshua. Prior to the age of enlightenment, on the historical context of this narrative, one could significantly deduce that Joshua’s actual perspective of the event when the sun according to him stood still could not be actually contested because that was how the people that time observed what exactly happened from their vantage point of view. They could not say that the earth stopped rotating that is why the sun seems to stand still as science may not be fully advancing that time, which could only be proven how Joshua and the people explained the event when it took longer for them to experience day time. However, what remains true in this context is the fact that Joshua and the people explained the phenomenon as the way they exactly saw everything around them that time. However, in the age of reason, particularly at present time, people are knowledgeable enough about the sun as the center of the solar system, and the earth revolving around it. There could be actual inclusion of scientific explanations, which at some point would maximise the opportunity of the evangelical interpreter to conform to scientific inquiry. To cite another illustration, here comes the Law of Moses concerning on the foods they were legally allowed to consume, as what God commanded. Moses may not have scientific explanations concerning the law associated with what kinds of food they were only allowed to eat, but today, due to advanced scientific inquiry of things, the interpreter of the Bible could have better opportunity to explain everything in detail and even the entire context of the Bible, which could be way more advanced compared to how Moses and the Israelites might have understood of things, as they were only commanded to obey. As illustrated, it is reasonably clear that evangelical Christians believe in the authority of the Bible, even though the age of reason would require some physical proofs and rational output. For this reason, evangelicals must consider giving high regard of faithfulness in the biblical text upon their interpretations. So there is a need to discuss the concepts that have to be taken into account when interpreting the Bible, starting from the age of enlightenment until at present time. However, prior to doing that let us first have a glimpse at the basic concept of evangelicalism. What is Evangelicalism? As a subset of Protestantism, evangelicalism is a movement that has become widespread after the World War II, involving persons with evangelical convictions that separated themselves from Anglican, Catholic, Protestant, or Orthodox identity as they called themselves Evangelicals, those who are holding many beliefs of fundamentals of the faith including the deity of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit as Sanctifier, personal conversion, born again experience and so on (Barrett and Johnson, 2001, p.280; Balmer, 2002). Now it is clear that evangelicalism is a movement that existed right after the birth of the age of reason and it continuously proliferated until the 20th century, creating an identity as a significant component of the movement of Protestantism, but different from the prevailing groups of Anglican, Catholic, other Protestants or Orthodox groups. This is elemental information that we need to understand because evangelicals are trying to make a difference in the interpretation of the Bible because of their associated fundamental beliefs, especially in the age of enlightenment. All of these could be potentially illustrated by summarizing some important features of evangelicalism. Features of Evangelicalism Now that we know enlightenment and its probable impacts on how evangelicals would interpret the Bible, there must be corresponding features of evangelicalism that existed out of the age of reason and these include the following: born again experience, high regard for biblical authority, focusing on the teaching about Jesus’ saving death and resurrection, and Gospel propagation by being active in expressing and sharing the Word of God (Oliverio, 2012, p.140). These important features would lead us to meaningful understanding on how in great detail evangelical Christians would interpret the Bible, starting from its conception in the age of enlightenment and today. Evangelicals acknowledge the authority that the Bible holds. Based on the above stated characteristics of Evangelicalism in line with the authority given to the Scripture, it is clear that the evangelical theology brings forward hermeneutical principles and patterns of analysis, all of which the bottom line is to unravel meanings and implications of sources as revelations (Oliverio, 2012, p.140). Considering that evangelicals give high regard for biblical authority, one remarkable point that would lead us to understanding about the influence of the age of reason is the inclusion of applying hermeneutical principles and patterns of analysis, which significantly consists of employing high productivity of the mind. One could therefore deduce the fact that the actual interpretation of the Bible among evangelicals is not only an act of spiritual pursuit, but a good exercise to implement the human intellect in unraveling the authority that the Bible holds. Furthermore, as the age of reason increases the chance to highly intellectualise things, the evangelical faith as stated seems to be promoting the need to present remarkable proofs as there is a need of consistent analysis to find for the meanings and implications of sources coming from the Bible. This further implies that the actual interpretation of the Bible under evangelicalism and as influenced by the age of enlightenment requires the human mind to become more rational especially in consideration of the literal implications of the biblical text (LaHaye and Hindson, 2004, p.138). Christ, the center of Scripture In addition, evangelical Christians starting from the period enlightenment and at present believe that the whole Bible speaks about Jesus Christ, and it is entirely all about Him (Longman, 1997, p.43). For this reason, they would interpret the entire Bible like a jigsaw puzzle, understanding the Old Testament through the whole piece covered by the New Testament and vice versa, while relying on the grace of God as they continuously seek for revelation to increase their knowledge about Jesus Christ. In fact, as the age of reason prevails, Protestantism developed in the Church leading to crucial investigation of the Bible that is something with hidden meaning or code that needs to be unraveled. At this point, evangelical Christians would want to long for God’s divine revelation. Concerning this, evangelicals for instance have remarkably interpreted the prophetic utterance about Jesus Christ starting from the book of Genesis in the Old Testament. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15). The above verse would point to Jesus, who has given us the authority to “trample on snake and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19). This interpretation is part of the actual literal understanding of the deity of Jesus considered in evangelicalism, and as a way of creating remarkable justification of the consistency of information between the Old and New Testament in Bible to establish further its credibility. In fact, an evangelical Christian could remarkably observe or point this issue by using substantial actual event in the Bible. For example, let us take the moment when Jesus had to consistently use the language of the Old Testament in His teachings because this was the only way the Jewish audience could substantially relate with. To illustrate this point further, let us have some important verses associated with this information in the Bible, and Jesus’ actual words. “‘How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:25-27). Jesus uttered all these words as answer to His disciples when they asked Him why the Messiah had to die. At this point, Jesus remarkably revealed in person what the Old Testament foretold about Him, and He used the law of the prophets in all of His teachings because this would the only way for the Jewish culture could link up. Jesus even reminded His followers that He came for the fulfillment of the Law and what the Prophets had predicted about Him. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). Jesus even tried to reveal the entire plan of God consistent with the Old Testament. In the book of Jeremiah, the Lord said, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11). This is generally consistent with what Jesus told to His disciples. “‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full’” (John 10:10). This then how the evangelical Christians could remarkably interpret the Bible and its entire influence in doing this is at the core belief that Jesus is the center of the Scripture. It is at this point that evangelicalism has high regard for biblical authority because evangelicals substantially get their authority from Christ alone especially in their move towards the dynamic propagation of the Word of God by active expressing and sharing the gospel. The Bible and its complete objectivity In the first six decades of the 20th century, literal interpretation of the Bible existed among Evangelicals; dispensationalists were consistent in using principles in interpreting Scripture, covenant theologians used grammatical-historical principles, both were emphasising doctrine of Christ and salvation (LaHaye and Hindson, 2004, p.138). However, in 1970’s some evangelicals started to deviate from the traditional principles and embraced subjective hermeneutics which could allow the reader or interpreter to include his own opinion instead of the biblical text alone (LaHaye and Hindson, 2004). However, grammar and historical context were traditional information used by evangelicals in order to arrive at correct interpretation of a biblical text (LaHaye and Hindson, 2004, p.138). This made evangelicals consistent with embracing literal interpretation of the Bible while trying to ensure its complete objectivity. However, in the age of reason, one could not deny the fact that evangelicals were highly influenced to exercise their ability to formulate their opinion about the Word of God, which according to LaHaye and Hindson would help ignite more appreciation of reading the Bible and expounding on the biblical text. Although based on Longmans’ point this would not eliminate the chance of evangelicals to remain faithful in the actual implication of the chosen biblical text. Evangelicals prevent distorting views of the Bible In support to what Longman would want to emphasise in detail, most evangelicals do not want to distort views of the Bible. During the rise of evangelical biblical scholars evangelical interpreters seek divinely inspired author’s intended meaning as the basic start of valid biblical interpretation (Corley et al., 2002, p.173; Larsen and Treier, 2007, p.41). In the case of Pentecostal academics, the existence of conservative evangelical approach to the Bible is very evident because of the associated belief about “spiritual illumination and experiential immediacy of the Holy Spirit” (Anderson, 2004, p.226). Pentecostals believe that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the right interpretation of the biblical text is of utmost possibility. Evangelicals’ considerations of the Bible Aside from the point that evangelical Christians regard Bible with high authority, there are other three most important considerations they believe that are significant and related to their interpretation of the Word of God and these include the following (Longman, 1997). Some Evangelical Christians believe that they need to approach the Bible as God’s Word. For this reason, whatever they read in the Bible that brings them conviction or they will consider as revelation, they regard such experience as a way of God’s way of giving His direct Word. Some also consider the Bible, especially reading and interpreting it as a guide for living. For this matter, Evangelical Christians consistently believe that apart from God they can do nothing. Without God’s revelation and confirmation, they can hardly do any move because they believe if God’s presence does not go with them, they will be vulnerable to destructions. In addition, evangelicals strongly believe that interpretation of the Bible requires Christ like humility. Evangelicals subject their viewpoints to the Bible for correction and change Evangelicals could not deny the fact that humans could approach the Bible with pre-understanding. However, what they believe as the main point of interpretation of the Bible is to set the believer’s desire of the heart in pursuit of God. For this reason, they could not become “lukewarm, detached and objective” in reading and interpreting God’s Word (Longman, 1997). In doing this, Evangelical Christians believe that they would be interpreting the Word of God not subject to their pre-understanding of things as the result of enlightenment era, but would be solely as a response or their ability to rely on God’s divine grace to reveal things hidden from the human knowledge and understanding. However, Porter and Stovell (2012) argued that today readers or the interpreters while listening to the actual evangelical sermon may have the chance that they could bring their personal perspectives, experiences, and competencies during the actual need for an interpretive event. Evangelicals and their point of view on the reliability of the Bible Somebody might ask, is the Bible trustworthy? In the age of reason, almost everyone would have the opportunity to intellectualise everything as a remarkable response to survival. Thus, one could not overlook the fact that the Bible among any other books in the human history is most vulnerable to be questioned concerning its level of integrity. Evangelicals are most likely to give response on this question by integrating in their interpretation of the Word of God and other issues such as the Bible’s composition, canonicity, transmission, translations, and incarnational nature (Longman, 1997). As discussed earlier, the age of reason clearly allowed evangelicals to consider the historical context of the Bible and the narratives, stories or issues particularly mentioned in this book. In addition, part of the information included by the interpreter in his interpretation of the Bible is the composition. Evangelicals believe that the credibility of the Bible can be observed through various writings or books written by different people who were called and used by God. Evangelicals believe the diversity of voices could all point out to one ultimate truth (George, 2009, p.81). Some of these people’s accounts who wrote the biblical text can be observed by the account of Kings, prophets, farmers, priests, eccentrics, doctors, scholars, and everyone called by God in order to make sure that His Word will be brought to the humanity (Longman, 1997). These people or writers were inspired by God and even though they wrote at various different times, the consistency of the Word of God can still be realised by the establishment of the credibility of God’s Words as consistent all through out human history that may be separated by time. Another significant component in today’s interpretation of the Bible is canon or standard or rule. Evangelicals believe that the Bible is intended to be the standard of faith and practice for God’s people with the inclusion of time (Longman, 1997). For this point, Christians believe that the authenticity of the Bible has become self-evident. For this reason, since there is something observed, so there must be something to be proven. This is clearly part of the way of thinking in the age of reason. As a result, Longman would want to emphasise that the canon defines the church and not the other way around. The Roman Catholic might have used the Bible different from what evangelicals used so for this reason, there must variation in the actual interpretation. However, the bottom line of this is the actual impact of the age of enlightenment which evidently helped evangelicalism to surface and separate from original Protestantism and to form as another remarkable entity, as discussed above. Evangelicals believe that the Bible is accurate in its transmission even though hundreds or thousands of years separate the original writings from our recent translations (Longman, 1997). According to Longman, this is due to the discovery that there was astounding similarity from the recent translations we used and the original texts. However, there might be some minor variations, but these could not nullify the fact that the similarity of the original writings and our contemporary translations could not move apart from their actual context or the featured actual thought. Another important consideration in the actual interpretations of the Bible is the varying translations used. Multiple translations could help almost all people understand the whole point of the bible without taking into account the original writings. Another important point of this is to allow us to grasp better picture of the original language used because it is important to consider that no language can be exactly translated to the other. Thus, according to Longman, some evangelicals believe that it would be much important to interpret the Bible with the use of different translations in order to clearly identify the actual message of the original writings. After all, as stated earlier, the original writings and recent transmitted translated writings are remarkably the same even there were minor variations that could be observed. Conclusion Based on the above stated information, it is evident that the age of reason or enlightenment had considerable influence on how to interpret biblical text. First, this is quite expounding when evangelicalism developed during and after the age of enlightenment. This has probable implication that there was an evolution on how the Bible was interpreted, because evangelicalism in the first place defined a movement that could substantially lead us to another style of interpreting the Scripture. Second, the age of reason clearly has illustrated us how evangelicals used their ability not only to stay at the literal point of view of interpreting the Bible, but now many of them could explore their actual opinion and even associate their actual experiences on the associated biblical text just to expound the linked context. Third, it is also clear that from traditional evangelical movement, the interpretation of the Bible evolved to being subjective in the sense that there would be actual implementation of interpretation of the Bible with one’s opinion, experience and so on. The age of reason has indeed remarkably influenced the evangelical interpretation of the Scripture. However, it is also clear that the evangelicalism even though it might be influenced by enlightenment and post-enlightenment period, but still it remains a movement to regard the Bible as with higher authority. Thus, part of evangelicals’ interpretation of the Bible is associated with giving substantial authority to concerned biblical text. References Anderson, A. (2004) An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity. Madrid: Cambridge University Press. Balmer, R. (2002). The Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism. Louisville, KC: Westminster John Knox Press. Barrett, D. B., and Johnson, T. M. (2001) World Christian Trends, Ad 30-Ad 2200: Interpreting the annual Christian Megacensus. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library. Corley, B., Lemke, S. W., and Lovejoy, G. (2002) Biblical hermeneutics: A comprehensive introduction interpreting scripture. North Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group. Elwell, W. A. (2001) Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academics. George, T. (2009) J. I. Packer and the Evangelical Future: The Impact of His Life and Thought. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. LaHaye, T., and Hindson, E. E. (2004) The popular encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy: Over 140 Topics from the world’s foremost prophecy experts. Oregon: Harvest House Publishers. Larsen, T., and Treier, D. J. (2007) The Cambridge companion to Evangelical theology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Longman, T. III (1997). Reading the Bible with heart and mind. Colorado Springs, CO: NAVPress. Mathers, N. W. (2011) Christian Hermeneutics: Dispelling the Myths. Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press. Oeming, M. (2006) Contemporary Biblical Hermeneutics: An Introduction. Hants: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Oliverio, L. W. Jr. (2012) Theological Hermeneutics in the Classical Pentecostal Tradition: A Typological Account. Danvers, MA: BRILL. Porter, S. E., and Stovell, B. M. (2012) Biblical Hermeneutics: Five Views. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. Sailhamer, J. H. (2009) The meaning of the Pentateuch: revelation, composition and interpretation. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. Zuck, R. B., and Campbell, D. K. (2002) Basic Bible Interpretation: A practical guide to discovering biblical truth. Colorado Spring, CO: David C. Cook. Read More