Category Archives: Apologetics

Foundations of Christian Scholarship (ed. Gary North)

Apologetics, Books, Epistemology, Gary North, Philosophy, Theology

Foundations of Christian Scholarship: Essays in the Van Til Perspective edited by Gary North

Christian commentators have pointed to the contradictions of the modern world, and they have asserted that the answers to these contradictions can be found in the Bible. Yet whenever pastors or Christian instructors confront the congregations or each other with concrete requirements of biblical law, the instant response in that “the churches shouldn’t meddle in things that don’t concern them,” meaning politics, economics, or anything else that might prove controversial. The Bible has the answers for every problem, but these are supposed to remain vague generalities except when in accord with the accepted cultural heritage in question. …

Jerusalem and Athens (ed. E. R. Geehan)

Apologetics, Books, E. R. Geehan, Philosophy

Jerusalem and Athens: Critical Discussions on the Philosophy and Apologetics of Cornelius Van Til edited by E. R. Geehan

First published in 1971 and now back in print, Jerusalem and Athens follows Van Til’s brief and accessible introduction to his own thought with twenty-five critical essays that orient readers to important problems and issues discussed in Van Tillian apologetics. Van Til responds.

The Scope and Limits of Van Til’s Transcendental Argument (Michael H. Warren)

Apologetics, Articles, Michael H. Warren

“The Scope and Limits of Van Til’s Transcendental Argument: A Response to John Frame” by Michael H. Warren

The questions that I address in this essay have been asked by a number of people, but the main source is John Frame, who was a student under Cornelius Van Til before succeeding him as professor of apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary. Frame is sympathetic to Van Til’s approach to apologetics, but he has published a number of criticisms of Van Til which have been found persuasive by many other Christians interested in apologetics – Christians both anti-Van Til and sympathetic to Van Til’s approach to apologetics. Frame says that he rejects Van Til’s claim of a single transcendental argument to prove the Biblical God. Instead, he calls for a “presuppositionalism of the heart” that involves using a number of different arguments, including the traditional ones that Van Til rejects, all with the transcendental goal of honoring the sovereignty of God. In this essay I address one of his main arguments for his position: Proving every element of Christian theism with one argument is unrealistic, so multiple arguments should be allowed. …

Christian Civilization is the Only Civilization – In a Sense, Of Course (Michael H. Warren)

Apologetics, Articles, Michael H. Warren, Philosophy, Theology

“Christian Civilization is the Only Civilization – In a Sense, Of Course” by Michael H. Warren

Intellectuals throughout history have given their views as to what the source, goal and nature of civilization is.  The ancient philosopher Plato described a well-ordered civilization as a three-tiered hierarchy of philosopher-kings, the soldier class, and the merchant class.  The philosophers are the kings because they are allegedly the most knowledgeable about the ideas of justice and the good.  Hegel offered a comprehensive philosophy of life in which he said that the state is God, and the ideal of civilization is for all people to become unified under the State.  Freud expressed the predominate view of 20th Century intellectuals when he said that civilization is defined by the degree that a culture rejects the psychological projection of a loving, divine Father as the explanation for the mysteries of the world and embraces rational, scientific, materialistic explanations of the world.  In this essay I do not examine all of the competing explanations for civilization in detail.  However, despite all their differences, all non-Christian views of civilization have a common point of view that allows for a single refutation that applies to them all and allows for a single proof (see the introductory quote from Van Til above) that Christian Civilization is the only rationally possible civilization. …

Van Til and Transcendental Argument Revisited (Don Collett)

Apologetics, Articles, Don Collett

“Van Til and Transcendental Argument Revisited” by Don Collett

The phrase ‘cognitive dissonance’ first fell upon my ears in the fall of 1994 while enrolled in Professor John Frame’s course on “The Christian Mind,” the first in a series of three courses in Christian apologetics required for Master of Divinity students at Westminster Seminary in California. According to conventional philosophical wisdom, when philosophers run headlong into this sort of dissonance in the course of constructing arguments, they typically seek to overcome it, either by making a distinction or by defining a new term. Following in the footsteps of his apologetics mentor, Cornelius Van Til, Professor Frame added yet a third option, namely, humbly acquiescing in the possibility that such dissonance may in fact constitute a philosophical testimony to the truth of the ‘Creator-creature distinction’ and the Christian concept of mystery it entails. Not all forms of cognitive dissonance were to be regarded, therefore, as something analogous to a ‘charley-horse between the ears’ capable of being massaged away by the powers of reason and the tools of philosophical logic. …

The Trinity and the Vindication of Christian Paradox (Brant Bosserman)

Apologetics, Books, Brant Bosserman, Epistemology, Philosophy, Theology

The Trinity and the Vindication of Christian Paradox by Brant Bosserman

The Trinity and the Vindication of Christian Paradox grapples with the question of how one may hold together the ideals of systematic theology, apologetic proof, and theological paradox by building on the insights of Cornelius Van Til. Van Til developed an apologetic where one presupposes that the triune God exists, and then proves this Christian presupposition by demonstrating that philosophies that deny it are self-defeating in the specific sense that they rely on principles that only the Trinity, as the ultimate harmony of unity and diversity, can furnish. A question raised by Van Til’s trademark procedure is how he can evade the charge that the apparent contradictions of the Christian faith render it equally self-defeating as non-Christian alternatives. This text argues that for Van Til, Christian paradoxes can be differentiated from genuine contradictions by the way that their apparently opposing elements discernibly require one another, even as they present our minds with an irresolvable conflict. And yet, Van Til failed to sufficiently vindicate the central Christian paradox–the doctrine of the Trinity–along the lines required by his system. Hence, the present text offers a unique proof that God can only exist as the pinnacle of unity-in-diversity, and as the ground of a coherent Christian system, if He exists as three, and only three, divine Persons.

Van Til versus Stroud (Bálint Békefi)

Apologetics, Articles, Bálint Békefi

“Van Til versus Stroud: Is the Transcendental Argument for Christian Theism Viable?” by Bálint Békefi

In this paper I introduce the transcendental argument for Christian theism in the context of Reformed theologian and philosopher Cornelius Van Til’s thought. I then present the critique proffered by Barry Stroud against ambitious transcendental arguments, and survey various formulations of transcendental arguments in the literature, seeking how the objection bears upon them. I argue that Adrian Bardon’s (2005) interpretation is the most helpful in understanding the Stroudian objection. From this interpretation, two types of possible rebuttals are deduced. Proceeding to survey the responses offered by Van Tillians to this objection in the recent literature, I discern two general strategies pursued in these responses, which map onto the previously deduced types of rebuttals: the Biblical justification strategy and the objection-undermining strategy. I argue that all the specific attempts to answer Stroud which I examine here (those of Butler, Bosserman, and Fluhrer) are inadequate and that these two strategies, in general, face serious problems. I conclude with considering the options before the proponent of the transcendental argument for Christian theism and with offering a new objection to the argument, which focuses on its inconsistency with the implications of Christian theism itself.

An Analytical Presentation of Cornelius Van Til’s Transcendental Argument from Predication (Robin Barrett)

Apologetics, Articles, Robin Barrett

“An Analytical Presentation of Cornelius Van Til’s Transcendental Argument from Predication” by Robin Barrett

This present author intends to examine the apologetic method and arguments of Cornelius Van Til from within an analytical framework. The purpose of such an endeavor is to subject Van Til’s arguments to an analytical critique to understand if they can withstand such a critique. However, before undertaking such a task, it will be necessary to briefly examine the reasoning behind the method which Van Til used to guide his argumentation. …

Van Til and the Trinity (Colin D. Smith)

Apologetics, Articles, Colin D. Smith, Theology

“Van Til and the Trinity: The Centrality of the Christian View of God in the Apologetics of Cornelius Van Til” by Colin D. Smith

Beginning with the publication of his book The Defense of the Faith in 1955, until his death in 1987, Cornelius Van Til set forth an apologetic system for which his name has since become synonymous. This system, known as “Presuppositional Apologetics,” or the “Transcendental Method,”  emphasizes the fundamental antithesis between God as Creator and man as creature, and between believer and unbeliever, and seeks to use that antithesis to show unregenerate men their need of the gospel. …

Presuppositionalism in the Dock (James N. Anderson)

Apologetics, Articles, Epistemology, James N. Anderson, Philosophy, Reviews, Theology

“Presuppositionalism in the Dock: A Review Article” by James N. Anderson

Three things are certain in life: death, taxes, and debates over Cornelius Van Til. For many, the Dutch professor is a hero of the Protestant tradition—a brilliant reformer in the mold of John Calvin who sought to further the work of the Reformation in the areas of Christian philosophy and apologetics. For others, he is more of a villain—an innovator beguiled by unbiblical idealist philosophy who led a large faction of the Reformed church in a dubious if not dangerous direction. And then there are those who fall somewhere between the two wings, acknowledging that Van Til was on the side of the angels, and that he made some positive contributions to Christian thought, but nevertheless finding significant faults in his more distinctive and provocative claims about natural theology, philosophy, and apologetic methodology. …