What Is Truth?: A Comparative Study of the Positions of Cornelius Van Til, Francis Schaeffer, Carl F. H. Henry, Donald Bloesch, Millard Erickson

by James Emery White

Ours is an age of rampant relativism. The concept of truth--especially religious and moral truth--has been subjected to widespread criticism. In this context, White looks at the concept of truth and its importance for Christian theology, offering a comparative study of the positions of Cornelius Van Til, Francis Schaeffer, Carl F.H. Henry, Donald Bloesch, and Millard Erickson.

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1994

About the author

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina; president of Serious Times, a ministry that explores the intersection of faith and culture. Dr. White is an adjunctive professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president; and author of more than twenty books.

Reviews

[Robert Murphy]

White is so eager to say that evangelicals are losing ground in the cultural because of a lack of commitment to philosophically credible truth, that he blows right passed critiques of his necessary presuppositions. As Rushdoony pointed out in the last book I read, if Van Til is right, then the Emperor has no cloths on, and we are all shame-faced buffoons who have been going alone with his nonsense. White isn't willing to consider this possibility in his headlong rush to judge evangelicalism. This only strengthens my feeling that there is Reformed and Deformed Christianity, and that the broader umbrella of "evangelicalism" may have had some use in the past, but those days are over. Any "big tent" that encompassed Van Til and Pinnock is too big.
White does have a lot to say about inerrancy, which is good and would be a helpful read to Presuppositionalists if they are looking to present their arguments to outsiders in a more compelling way. This book reeks of Ph.D. dissertation-ness and is not often engaging. Still, I'm glad I read it.

[Kathy]

Great book about knowing the truth from a theological perspective, but very difficult read and not quite what you expect after reading the title.