The Scripture as the "Other": Deconstruction and Evangelical Theology

Jacques Derrida is one of the most prominent philosophers of the twentieth century. His notion of deconstruction, which aimed to overturn the fundamental assumptions of Western philosophy, has become popularized and found its way into everyday language, as well as into scholarly discussions, posing a challenge to the Christian world-view. The thesis of this work is that there is an application of deconstruction that could be fruitful in evangelical theology but has not been thoroughly utilized by major evangelical figures in their works. Derridäs main motivation behind deconstruction, a respect for the ¿other,¿ is a tremendously helpful idea because theological systems can become tyrannical by repressing and excluding those parts of Scripture that would disrupt the neat structure of the particular system. However, since deconstruction works against tyrannical repression, it can help in improving theological systems.