Keywords
enlightenment, exegesis, reformation, historicism, Spinoza
Abstract
The tumult of the Enlightenment was enormous, not least in its impact on theologians of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Biblical exegesis (explanation of a scriptural text based on its own historical and cultural circumstances) of the Reformation that idealized interpretations grounded in unerring prophetic figures were suddenly and forcefully subjected to the tide of historical literalism propagated by major intellectual figures such as Hugo Grotius and Baruch Spinoza. They and their cohort believed that the Bible should be treated as a historical source and its merits scrutinized based on its literal accuracy
Recommended Citation
Green, Michael
(2023)
"“To Inherit God Himself?” The Metaphysical Transformation of Man As Theorized in Cotton Mather’s Biblia Americana,"
The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing: Vol. 52:
Iss.
1, Article 5.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/thetean/vol52/iss1/5
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