Like “fundamentalist / fundamentalism,” the terms “biblicist / biblicism” are not too popular among the evangelical elite. Because a biblical fundamentalist can also be called a biblicist in the right context, the idea of biblicism for how I and others understand it should be explained.
For some scholars, biblicism conjures up images of selective proof texting to justify one’s orthodoxy. For others, it gives the impression of an “ahistorical mindset” that devalues all insights and formulations from Christian thinkers throughout history. And still others view biblicism as an extreme form of literalistic interpretation, “with no respect for Scripture’s poetic devices or Aristotelian rationalism.” One dictionary even conflates “biblicism” with “bibliolatry,” the latter being a pejorative term to castigate those who value Scripture to the extent of apparently idolatrizing the Bible. If being a biblicist relates to any one of these views, it’s not surprising that astute Christian thinkers would want to stay as far from it as an identity as possible!
Now, I must admit that there are people in this world who probably fit within one of those descriptions. That said, I believe it’s unfair to tag a group people with a label that is used entirely differently by those who intentionally self-identify as biblicists and contribute to the academic community. Unfortunately, scholars who push a version of the label onto others who define it differently tend to be the most published and influential within academic evangelicalism and therefore become the standard bearers of what they believe a word should mean despite what it did mean before them. These are often voices within the current Reformed evangelical trend of returning to a form of catholicity that can (not always) resemble the medieval scholasticism justifying the “dark ages” when the Roman Catholic Church kept the light of God’s word from their people. I say it’s better to go directly to those who are informed from the inside and self-identify with a label, and consult their definition for how they use the term. Doing so reveals a more accurate portrayal of biblicism that looks much different than those given above.
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