Rationalism vs Evangelicalism in Christian Ethics

Rationalism vs Evangelicalism in Christian Ethics

Rationalism can be said to be a school of thought or philosophy aimed at expressing Christian ethics in a manner consistent with “natural reason,” though not completely void of revelation.   It seeks to “express Christian faith in harmony with the intellectual culture of the day without, at the same time, abandoning what is essential to that faith” (Wogaman, 149).  
Evangelicalism became a branch of Christian thought focused on the individual and God’s love for them.   “Each individual, no matter how low in the social structure, was given to understand that he or she was important to God; each was given opportunity for emotional expression; each was encouraged – even required – to acquire great personal self-discipline; each was provided opportunity to engage in works of charity and compassion” (Wogaman, 152).  
Rationalistic philosophy emerged first, during the Age of Reason.   This was a time when people were seeking an intellectual status based in, yet slightly beyond a theological one.   Writers like Bishop Joseph Butler sought to “demonstrate the reasonableness of Christianity and to present Christianity in reasonable terms,” for Christianity, to Butler, was “both an expression of natural religion and a new dispensation depending upon revelation,” (Wogaman, 149).   This sort of thinking was adding to Thomas Aquinas’ philosophy on “natural law,” where reasoning in and of itself was based on nature but completed by revelation from God.   For example, Aquinas taught that from the perspective of reason, all one could derive about God was that “God is One.”   He went on to say that everything else Christianity knows about God is derived through revelation, (Dr. Mitchell, Lecture 7).   Rationalists eventually made natural reason nearly indistinguishable from its predecessor, theology.
Evangelicalism evolved after rationalism, during the late 1700’s when ”large numbers of people had lost the protection of the medieval feudal...