The Approaches and Characteristics of Biblical Interpretation in the Reformation era (16 & 17th centuries)

Christianity is a text-centered religion, therefore the Bible and it`s interpretation are very important. The Bible and tradition joind almost same authority in religious beliefs and practices until the 16<sup>th</sup> century. But, some political, cultural and social events in this century, together with certain crises in the Roman Catholic Church, undermining of  Pope`s authority, and the Renaissance with its slogan “ad fontes” caused a huge movement called the Reformation. The most important slogan of this movement was “sola Scriptura” which means full authority of the Bible and its partialy separation from tradition. In fact, the emphasis on the Bible means the emphasis on the nonecclesiastical interpretation. Therefore, the Reformation should be considered a new paradigm in biblical interpretation whitch is based on a new understanding of importance and situation of the Bible and its relationship with ecclesiastical tradition and there was more emphasis on literal meaning, Christocenterism, guidance of the Holy Spirit, rationalism, and translation of the Bible into the vernacular. In this thesis I compare the exegetical methods and approaches developed by the Reformers, and the Catholic Church and counter-Reformation authorities. Characteristics of each approach and its dominant interpreters are mentiond. Although there are certain important differences between these groups in terms of their interpretation of the Bible, they shared some characteristics.