Maddox abstract

Scripture as clear and readable by anyone, as perspicuous, was a Reformation affirmation particularly affirmed by Baptists. Today this view can be characterized as dependent upon modernity's flawed assumptions concerning the veracity of human reason. This essay reflects briefly on the development of hermeneutics and the development of the notion of Scripture as perspicuous. It then shows how this notion of perspicuity was changed by the rationalist influence of modernity with the shift away from emphasizing the clarity of scripture to one emphasizing the clarity of the reasoning reader. The suggestion is made that postmodernity's devastating critique of the modern over-emphasis on reason and the propositional redescription of Scripture opens the door to reclaim early Baptist notions about Scripture as perspicuous. Rather than emphasizing clarity as a product of the reasoning reader, Scripture can be affirmed for its clarity in revealing God.