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Apologetics
Apologetics 1956 Class Syllabus for classroom purposes at Westminster Theological Seminary
Paperback
First published July 16, 2011
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About the author
Cornelius Van Til
151 books122 followersCornelius Van Til, was a Christian philosopher, Reformed theologian, and presuppositional apologist.
Biographical sketch
Born on May 3, 1895, in Grootegast, The Netherlands he was the sixth son of Ite and Klazina Van Til, who emigrated to the United States when "Kees," as he was known to friends, was 10. He grew up helping on the family farm in Highland, Indiana.
Van Til graduated from Calvin College in 1922, receiving a ThM from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1925 and his PhD from Princeton University in 1927. He began teaching at Princeton, but shortly went with the conservative group who founded Westminster Theological Seminary, where he taught for forty-three years of his life as a professor of apologetics.
He was also a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church from the 1930s until his death in 1987, and in that denomination, he was embroiled in a bitter dispute with Gordon Clark over God's incomprehensibility known as the Clark-Van Til Controversy in which, according to John Frame, neither man was at his best and neither quite understood the other's position.
Van Til's thought
Van Til is perhaps best known for the development of a fresh approach to the task of defending the Christian faith. Although trained in traditional methods he drew on the insights of fellow Calvinistic philosophers Vollenhoven and Herman Dooyeweerd to formulate what he viewed as a more consistently Christian methodology. His apologetic focused on the role of presuppositions, the point of contact between believers and unbelievers, and the antithesis between Christian and non-Christian worldviews.
Source: Theopedia
Biographical sketch
Born on May 3, 1895, in Grootegast, The Netherlands he was the sixth son of Ite and Klazina Van Til, who emigrated to the United States when "Kees," as he was known to friends, was 10. He grew up helping on the family farm in Highland, Indiana.
Van Til graduated from Calvin College in 1922, receiving a ThM from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1925 and his PhD from Princeton University in 1927. He began teaching at Princeton, but shortly went with the conservative group who founded Westminster Theological Seminary, where he taught for forty-three years of his life as a professor of apologetics.
He was also a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church from the 1930s until his death in 1987, and in that denomination, he was embroiled in a bitter dispute with Gordon Clark over God's incomprehensibility known as the Clark-Van Til Controversy in which, according to John Frame, neither man was at his best and neither quite understood the other's position.
Van Til's thought
Van Til is perhaps best known for the development of a fresh approach to the task of defending the Christian faith. Although trained in traditional methods he drew on the insights of fellow Calvinistic philosophers Vollenhoven and Herman Dooyeweerd to formulate what he viewed as a more consistently Christian methodology. His apologetic focused on the role of presuppositions, the point of contact between believers and unbelievers, and the antithesis between Christian and non-Christian worldviews.
Source: Theopedia
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September 4, 2024
AN ACTUAL CLASS SYLLABUS BY THE FOREMOST PRESUPPOSTIONAL APOLOGIST
Cornelius Van Til (1895-1987) was a Calvinist philosopher and theologian, and perhaps the leading Christian exponent of "presuppositional" apologetics. He taught at Westminster Theological Seminary for more than 40 years, and was one of the leaders in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
A note on the inside cover page states, "This syllabus is for class purposes only, and is not to be regarded as a published book." Thus, this volume is simply typed, photocopied and shrunk, and bound in a book. It contains five chapters: "The System of Christian Truth"; "The Christian Philosophy of Life"; "The Point of Contact"; "The Problem of Method"; and "Authority and Reason."
Van Til begins by saying, "Apologetics is the vindication of the Christian philosophy of life against the various forms of the non-Christian philosophy of life." He argues, "Christians are interested in showing to those who hold that 'God' POSSIBLY or PROBABLY exists but possibly or probably does not not exist, that the words possibility and probability have no meaning unless the God of Christianity actually exists. It is their conviction that the actuality of the existence of THIS God is the presupposition of all possible predication."
He states boldly, "it will be our first task ... to show that a consistently Christian method of apologetic argument ... must be by presupposition.... The Reformed apologist will frankly admit that his own methodology presupposes the truth of Christian theism." He concludes on the note, "It follows that on the question of Scripture, as on every other question, the only possible way for the Christian to reason with the non-believer is by way of presupposition."
Van Til's opposition to Roman Catholicism comes out in full relief: "Beginning from Calvinism we should descend to universalistic Protestantism and thence to Romanism as deviations from the true view of Christianity. It is Romanism with which we are now primarily concerned. Accordingly Romanism should be regarded as a deformation of Christianity, in fact as its lowest deformation."
Cornelius Van Til (1895-1987) was a Calvinist philosopher and theologian, and perhaps the leading Christian exponent of "presuppositional" apologetics. He taught at Westminster Theological Seminary for more than 40 years, and was one of the leaders in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
A note on the inside cover page states, "This syllabus is for class purposes only, and is not to be regarded as a published book." Thus, this volume is simply typed, photocopied and shrunk, and bound in a book. It contains five chapters: "The System of Christian Truth"; "The Christian Philosophy of Life"; "The Point of Contact"; "The Problem of Method"; and "Authority and Reason."
Van Til begins by saying, "Apologetics is the vindication of the Christian philosophy of life against the various forms of the non-Christian philosophy of life." He argues, "Christians are interested in showing to those who hold that 'God' POSSIBLY or PROBABLY exists but possibly or probably does not not exist, that the words possibility and probability have no meaning unless the God of Christianity actually exists. It is their conviction that the actuality of the existence of THIS God is the presupposition of all possible predication."
He states boldly, "it will be our first task ... to show that a consistently Christian method of apologetic argument ... must be by presupposition.... The Reformed apologist will frankly admit that his own methodology presupposes the truth of Christian theism." He concludes on the note, "It follows that on the question of Scripture, as on every other question, the only possible way for the Christian to reason with the non-believer is by way of presupposition."
Van Til's opposition to Roman Catholicism comes out in full relief: "Beginning from Calvinism we should descend to universalistic Protestantism and thence to Romanism as deviations from the true view of Christianity. It is Romanism with which we are now primarily concerned. Accordingly Romanism should be regarded as a deformation of Christianity, in fact as its lowest deformation."
Displaying 1 of 1 review