James N. Anderson's Blog

Last summer saw the publication of a new ‘counterpoints’ book on methods for defending the faith, Understanding Christian Apologetics (Tyndale/Hendrickson). I had the privilege of explaining and defending the presuppositional method, most famously associated with Cornelius Van Til. Here’s the full line-up of contributors:

Classical Apologetics – Melissa Cain Travis

Evidential Apologetics – Sean McDowell

Presuppositional Apologetics – James N. Anderson

Cultural Apologetics – D. A. Horton

Ecclesia...

Three decades ago, the Westminster Theological Journal published an article by Richard B. Gaffin, Jr., with the modest title, “Some Epistemological Reflections on 1 Cor 2:6–16.” Gaffin’s main purpose was to provide some direct exegetical argument to support “several key emphases” in the epistemology of Cornelius Van Til. (Read the first page of the article to get the fuller context.)

In my humble estimation, Gaffin’s article is a masterclass in theological exegesis. But it has recently been subj...

The messages from the recent Faithful Conference, hosted by Christ Covenant Church, Matthews, NC, with keynote speakers from Reformed Theological Seminary, are now available here.

The conference theme was “The Courage to Be Protestant.”

Here are the direct links to the YouTube videos:

Unless you’ve been on a mission to Mars the last few years, you’ll be aware of the lively public debate over the relationship between religion and civil government, the proper roles of church and state, the place of the Bible in politics, and so on. Too many of the voices in the discussion offer little more than superficial, pugilistic sloganeering, driven more by cultural currents and dueling memes than by sober theological reflection. On the other hand, the best writings on the subject are oft...

Yuval Noah Harari is an Israeli historian, bestselling author, public intellectual, and secular prophet (or ‘futurist’ as they prefer to be called). Speaking out of his Darwinian naturalist worldview, Harari recently offered this message on “International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia”:

Nothing in nature has a purpose and nothing that exists is unnatural. Happy International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.#Darwin #LGBTQI #InternationalDayAgainstHomophobia p...

[A short article originally written for the ILIAD Forum.]

Logic is simply the science of reasoning and argumentation. In essence, the study of logic is concerned with inferences: what conclusions we should—or shouldn’t—draw from one or more premises (initial assumptions or claims). Logic distinguishes between good inferences (i.e., reliable forms of reasoning) and bad inferences (i.e., flawed forms of reasoning).

It might sound strange to suggest that logic itself could be evidence for God. Isn’...

In his influential book, All That Is in God (Reformation Heritage Books, 2017), James Dolezal draws a sharp distinction between “classical Christian theism” and what he calls “theistic mutualism.” Dr. Dolezal criticizes a number of evangelical theologians, including some who identify with the Reformed tradition, for embracing theistic mutualism. One of his targets is John Frame. But is Dolezal right to categorize Frame as a theistic mutualist? I will argue here that this is a mistake. Dr. Frame,...

Richard Muller is a brilliant historical theologian, although I’ve had cause to take issue with some of his claims about traditional Reformed views of human free will; specifically, that his remarks about ‘determinism’ and ‘compatibilism’ are based on idiosyncratic understandings of those terms, rather than the standard definitions in the contemporary philosophical literature on free will, all of which leads to a lot of unnecessary confusion. I learned recently (HT: Ron DiGiacomo) that my concer...

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.

Not my words, of course, but those of the outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins in his 2006 bestseller The God Delusion. I gather that when Dawkins went o...

Religious Studies 60:4 (December 2024) features a symposium on Jc Beall’s 2023 book Divine Contradiction, which defends the provocative thesis that the Christian doctrine of the Trinity is a true contradiction (i.e., contradictory but nonetheless true). Some readers will recall my previous interactions with Dr. Beall regarding his earlier book The Contradictory Christ. The symposium opens with Beall’s synopsis of Divine Contradiction, includes a contribution by your humble blogger, and closes wi...