Integration and the Culture of Rationalism: Reaction to Responses to “The Conduct of Integration,” Part II

Abstract

An argument is presented for interpreting “praying without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17) and “understanding and knowing God” (Jeremiah 9:24) in terms of both rational behavior and nonrational experience. There are many people in the evangelical subculture, however, who would interpret such verses only in the rational sense. The subcultural influence of this rationalistic content bias, of always interpreting Scripture in rational categories, as well as the method bias of viewing the interpretation process itself as entirely rational –- collectively referred to as the evangelical culture of rationalism –- is critiqued. It is noted that scriptural interpretation is by nature a human activity, comprised of thoughts and feelings and guided by the Holy Spirit, but not perfectly all of the time. It is concluded that the basic assumptions of the evangelical culture of rationalism, methodological purity and epistemological certainty, lead to the polarization of rational versus nonrational, which is not an accurate account of the hermeneutic process.