Publication Details

Abstract

My aim in this paper is to examine, from the perspective of the philosophy of culture, the role that fire plays within the evangelical worldview. My analysis will focus on the sermons of the influential 19th-century preacher Charles Spurgeon. I wish to argue that this material shows that, for evangelicalism, fire is interpreted as an object that allows for direct knowledge of certain attributes of God and the Gospel. Finally, I will attempt to demonstrate that this is an interpretation shaped by a cultural and historical framework that explains the way in which evangelical communities understand and experience the world.