She believes the real influence of the Bible grew out of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century. The Bible at that time, according to Cornell, was "wrested" from the hands of the priests and placed in the outstretched arms of lay people during the Reformation, as the Christian mission was becoming a powerful movement (Thiessen, 1998). During the Reformation scholars and Christian activists emphasized that "each person, filled with the Holy Spirit, could interpret the Bible without help," Cornell explains.
But in order to understand the Bible, there was a critical need for literacy. And so many schools were established, Cornell continues in the publication Faith Today, and throughout the Reformation the Bible played a significant role. "By the time of the second generation of Christians," Cornell goes on, "the developing Christian community needed to find ways to raise and nurture children in the faith, and the grounds for doing so." And indeed both the Hebrew and the Christian Scriptures offered that material. For almost "two millennia, evangelical...
There is ample historical and literary evidence to prove that, and this paper brought only a few examples of that evidence to light.
Works Cited
Escobar, Samuel. 2006. The United Bible Societies and World Mission. International Bulletin
Of Missionary Research 30 (April): 77-81.
Pathrapankal, Joseph. 2006. From Areopagus to Corinth (Acts 17:22-31; I Cor 2:1-5) a Study
On the Transition from the Power of Knowledge to the Power of the Spirit. Mission Studies 23, 61-79.
Rowan, Peter. 2007. Mission in Theological Education: Exotic accessory or essential ingredient?
Evangel 25, 14-20.
Thiessen, Carol. 1998. How the Bible has shaped the Western World. Faith Today. Retrieved February 27, 2008, at http://www.newhope.bc.ca/quest03.htm.
