Knowing God as an Evangelical

"How we derive knowledge from the Bible is one of the most important and contested questions within Judaism and Christianity. Petre moves beyond an older 'mind-as-machine' foundationalism to propose an evangelical epistemology that honors the complex innerworkings of divine revelation, community, ritual, and the finite limits of human knowing. A valuable book for philosophers and biblical scholars."

--Ryan O'Dowd, Senior Fellow, Chesterton House, Cornell University, USA

"This stimulating work makes a significant contribution toward arriving at a canonically-based theological epistemology. Petre lays out his own relational-participative model toward advancing the current discussion. The result is an illuminating, clear, and nuanced discussion of theological epistemology, firmly grounded in commitment to the uniquely normative authority of Scripture."

--John C. Peckham, Professor of Theology and Christian Philosophy, Andrews University, USA In the present polyphony of evangelical theological epistemology, there are several authoritative approaches. Yet, the evangelical emphasis on sola scriptura demands that theological epistemology be subjected to the biblical canon. In this book, Dan-Adrian Petre argues for a canonically-derived theological epistemological framework that may foster a fuller understanding of theological knowledge formation within evangelicalism. Specifically, he explores some representative evangelical voices to identify the reasons for the contemporary epistemological variance. Petre then uses a canonical-epistemological methodology to outline a biblically-based framework. In exploring how the Scripture conceptualizes the formation of theological knowledge, the book uses cognitive linguistics to grasp the conceptual meaning of the theological knowledge formation in the Bible using prototypical case studies. The resulting epistemological implications outline a minimal epistemological model derived from the biblical canon. Using this vantage point, the author assesses the contemporary evangelical epistemological dissonance as a means of indicating a way forward for a canonical-epistemological attunement.

Dan-Adrian Petre is a lecturer in theology at Adventus University of Cernica, Romania.