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Research Topic:

Methodology has replaced the confessions within the broader evangelical community's hermeneutical pursuit. The evangelical community will not deny that it carries with it the long standing tradition of Christian history, however it has denied the rightful place of the confessions as being a lens through which the scriptures are read. Fascinations with "objectivism" and "empiricism" has diluted the strength of modern scholarly interpretation. (Though much of that can be attributed to the fact that many modern "interpreters" are unbelievers without the eternal Spirit of God.) The interpretation of scripture in the evangelical community must embrace the confessions in its dialogue with the text as normative.


"We have, however, the catholic faith in the Creed, known to the faithful and committed to memory, contained in a form of expression as concise as has been rendered admissible by the circumstances of the case; the purpose of which [compilation] was, that individuals who are but beginners and sucklings among those who have been born again in Christ, and who have not yet been strengthened by most diligent and spiritual handling and understanding of the divine Scriptures, should be furnished with a summary, expressed in few words, of those matters of necessary belief which were subsequently to be explained to them in many words, as they made progress and rose to [the height of] divine doctrine, on the assured and steadfast basis of humility and charity. It is underneath these few words, therefore, which are thus set in order in the Creed, that most heretics have endeavored to conceal their poisons; whom divine mercy has withstood, and still withstands, by the instrumentality of spiritual men, who have been counted worthy not only to accept and believe the catholic faith as expounded in those terms, but also thoroughly to understand and apprehend it by the enlightenment imparted by the Lord. For it is written,'Unless ye believe, you shall not understand.'"

- St. Augustine in Of Faith and the Creed
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1304.htm

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