Category Archives: General

Cornelius Van Til: An Analysis of His Thought (John M. Frame)

Books, General, John M. Frame

Cornelius Van Til: An Analysis of His Thought by John M. Frame

The insights of Cornelius Van Til have generated intense discussion among friends and foes alike. Until now nearly everything written about Van Til has come from either uncritical followers or unsympathetic critics.

 

This volume, marking the one hundredth anniversary of Van Til’s birth, combines deep appreciation with incisive critical analysis of the renowned Westminster apologist’s ideas. John M. Frame offers warm personal reflections on Van Til’s life and a close examination of his thought, including his interaction with prominent figures in the Reformed, evangelical, and secular communities. In terms of its spirit, scope, clarity, and profundity, this volume is must reading for serious students of apologetics and theology.

Cornelius Van Til: Reformed Apologist and Churchman (John R. Muether)

Books, General, John R. Muether

Cornelius Van Til: Reformed Apologist and Churchman by John R. Muether

Cornelius Van Til (1895–1987), who taught apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary for more than forty years, has—through his teaching and writings—called two generations of thinkers to a Christian worldview and a biblical defense of the faith. Yet, twenty years after his death, conflicting claims about Van Til’s apologetic legacy abound. What most interpreters tend to overlook is his life as a Presbyterian churchman.

 

This biography locates Van Til in the context of twentieth-century Presbyterian and Reformed ecclesiastical struggles in America, including the formation of Westminster Seminary and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the rise of neo-evangelicalism and American expressions of Barthianism, and post–World War II developments in the Christian Reformed Church. As Van Til spent his life “raising high the banner of the Reformed faith,” his role in these debates arose from his hopes for a church that was self-consciously rooted in its Reformed identity.

Van Til the Evangelist (K. Scott Oliphint)

Articles, General, K. Scott Oliphint

“Van Til the Evangelist” by K. Scott Oliphint

Unlike some readers of Ordained Servant, I never had the opportunity to study under Cornelius Van Til. My initial introduction to him came through his many writings. I immersed myself in those writings, seeing, for the first time in my Christian life, a man whose method (based as it was on Reformed theology) was able to decimate all pretensions and permutations of unbelief, including those residing in my own heart.

 

When I determined, as a result of reading Van Til, to attend Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, I had the opportunity to stay with him for a time. One of the advantages of staying with him was the occasion to walk with him on his “daily constitutional.” After almost thirty years, two things still stand out to me about those walks. (1) Even as an octogenarian, Van Til could maintain a rigorous pace. More importantly, (2) I remember that every one of Van Til’s neighbors, to whom I was introduced by him, said virtually the same thing to me: “I suppose he’s talking to you, too, about this Jesus.” …

Van Til’s Life and Impact (Greg L. Bahnsen)

Articles, General, Greg L. Bahnsen

“Van Til’s Life and Impact” by Greg L. Bahnsen

Cornelius Van Til may not have seemed a likely candidate to accomplish a “Reformation of
Christian Apologetics,” but God is in the habit of utilizing unlikely candidates to mount great victories for His kingdom. Van Til “wanted to be a farmer…. Instead he became one of the foremost Christian apologists of our time,” to use the words of David Kucharsky in Christianity Today (Dec. 30, 1977, p. 18). …

Van Til: His Simplicity and Profundity (John M. Frame)

Articles, General, John M. Frame

“Van Til: His Simplicity and Profundity” by John M. Frame

Our Orthodox Presbyterian Church is a small body and has little influence in the world or even in the worldwide Christian community. For its size, however, it has had as members a remarkable number and quality of Christian scholars. That fact may at times distort our perspective. We OP’s may be tempted, for instance, to think regarding Cornelius Van Til that since he is one of us he cannot really be very important. OP’s remember Van Til as a familiar, friendly face at church gatherings– the fellow who washed dishes at congregational meetings so his wife could vote, the grandfatherly minister who loved kids and told jokes about chickens and such, the flaky professor who threw chalk at wayward students, the kindly man who visited hospital rooms and prayed with strangers as well as friends. …