The age of reason and Evangelical Biblical Interpretation Essay

The age of reason and Evangelical Biblical Interpretation - Essay Example 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: Evangelicalis m, 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 interpre tation. 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