Biblical literalism

All you want to know about Biblical literalism

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Biblical literalism (also called Biblicism) is a primarily pejorative term referring to the adherence to an explicit and literal sense of the Bible.[1] People with this belief claim to interpret the Bible literally; by this they do not mean to interpret the Bible in a way which excludes allegory, metaphor, and parable, but accept the teaching of the Bible, as the author intended it (whether literal or figurative) at face value.

The term has also been used to refer to historical grammatical method in Biblical hermeneutics which is a common practice of conservative Christians [2] in the US. According to the Elwell Evangelical Dictionary, the term literalism describes a practice that "seeks to discover the author's intent by focusing upon his words in their plain, most obvious sense". [3] In this definition, a "literalist" reading of scripture would not take the literal interpretation of allegories, parables and metaphors as found, for instance, in biblical poetry and the parables of Jesus.[3]

The phrase "biblical literalist" is often used pejoratively to refer to those who subscribe to biblical inerrancy, [4][5][6] and to suggest that the person or group described as "literalist" would deny the existence of allegory, parable and metaphor in the Bible. Even in its non-pejorative sense, biblical literalism is not synonymous with biblical inerrancy. [7] Whereas inerrancy doctrine deals with the truthfulness of the author's intended message, [8] biblical literalism deals with the interpretation of certain passages being literal.

Contents

Modern Usage

Pejorative use

The term "Biblical Literalism" is primarily pejorative.

Conrad Hyers, professor of comparative religion at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, criticized this as "a mentality [that] manifests itself [not] only in conservative churches, private-school enclaves, television programs of the evangelical right, and a considerable amount of Christian bookstore material; one often finds a literalist understanding of Bible and faith being assumed by those who have no religious inclinations, or who are avowedly antireligious in sentiment. Even in educated circles the possibility of more sophisticated theologies... is easily obscured by burning straw effigies of biblical literalism."[9]

Steve Falkenberg, professor of religious psychology at Eastern Kentucky University, says, "I've never met anyone who actually believes the Bible is literally true. I know a bunch of people who say they believe the Bible is literally true but nobody is actually a literalist. Taken literally, the Bible says the earth is flat and setting on pillars and cannot move (Ps 93:1, Ps 96:10, 1 Sam 2:8, Job 9:6). It says that great sea monsters are set to guard the edge of the sea (Job 41, Ps 104:26)..." [10]

Use by adherents

Few if any people believe in Biblical literalism in the sense described above; furthermore, few if any people describe themselves as Biblical literalists. However, many evangelical and fundamentalist Christians claim a literal understanding of the Biblical scriptures. In this sense, scripture is held to be perspicuous, or simple to grasp by the average person, and it is held that a complex academic analysis is unnecessary for an understanding of at least the most basic concepts in Biblical scripture. Strong emphasis is placed on the intent of the author - understood to be God and the human author - and it is claimed that a literal interpretation of scripture interprets the scripture in the way the author meant. In this way, to say that scripture should be understood literally is to say extra allegorical meanings which were not intended by the author should not be added in to the text.

Literalism vs. Inerrancy and grammatical-historical

It is commonly taught in the most conservative Christian seminaries[citation needed] that certain sections of the Bible should be interpreted as literal statements of the author and are not intended as parables or as allegorical. These include creation in Genesis, the flooding of the entire world in Genesis, the lifespans as enumerated by genealogies of Genesis, the historicity of the narrative accounts of Ancient Israel, the supernatural intervention of God in history, and Jesus' miracles [11][12] These views however do not contend the literalistic values that parables, metaphors and allegory are not existent in the Bible [13][14] but rather relies on contextual interpretations based on the author's intention. [15]

As a part of Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy[8] conservative Christian scholarship affirms the following:

"WE AFFIRM the necessity of interpreting the Bible according to its literal, or normal, sense. The literal sense is the grammatical-historical sense, that is, the meaning which the writer expressed. Interpretation according to the literal sense will take account of all figures of speech and literary forms found in the text. WE DENY the legitimacy of any approach to Scripture that attributes to it meaning which the literal sense does not support."

Noted inerrantist Norman Geisler in his commentary on the Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics states:

"The literal sense of Scripture is strongly affirmed here. To be sure the English word literal carries some problematic connotations with it. Hence the words normal and grammatical-historical are used to explain what is meant. The literal sense is also designated by the more descriptive title grammatical-historical sense. This means the correct interpretation is the one which discovers the meaning of the text in its grammatical forms and in the historical, cultural context in which the text is expressed." [15]

References

  1. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language Houghton Mifflin; 4 edition (September 14, 2000) defines literalism as "1. Adherence to the explicit sense of a given text or doctrine. 2. Literal portrayal; realism."
  2. ^ Beyond Biblical Literalism and Inerrancy: Conservative Protestants and the Hermeneutic Interpretation of Scripture, John Bartkowski, Sociology of Religion, 57, 1996.
  3. ^ a b Elwell Evangelical Dictionary, Walter A. Elwell, Baker Publishing Group, May 1996, ISBN 0-8010-2049-2
  4. ^ Gerald T. Sheppard "Future of the Bible: Beyond Liberalism and Literalism", United Church Pub House (June 1990)
  5. ^ Take Another Look At Your Good Book, George Regas, Los Angeles Times, February 3, 2000
  6. ^ The Covenantal Kingdom, R. A. Smith, Christian Liberty Press, January 1996, ISBN 1-930092-23-7
  7. ^ The Inerrancy of Scripture , Kevin Vanhoozer, Latimer House (1992)
  8. ^ a b The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (1997)
  9. ^ Hyers, Conrad "Biblical Literalism: Constricting the Cosmic Dance", Christian Century, August 4-11, 1982, p. 823.
  10. ^ Falkenberg, Steve Biblical Literalism, New Reformation, 2002.
  11. ^ Lewis on Miracles, Art Lindsley, Knowing & Doing; A Teaching Quarterly for Discipleship of Heart and Mind: C.S. LEWIS INSTITUTE, Fall 2004
  12. ^ The History and Impact of the Book, The Genesis Flood, John C. Whitcomb, Impact, Number 395, May 2006
  13. ^ Dallas Theological Seminary Doctrinal Statement
  14. ^ Henry A Virkler (1981) Principles and Processes of Biblical Interpretation
  15. ^ a b Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics With commentary by Norman L. Geisler, Reproduced from Explaining Hermeneutics: A Commentary on the Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics, Oakland, California: International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, 1983.

See also

Further reading

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