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    Bahnsen

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    This document provides a review of the book "Van Til's Apologetic: Readings & Analysis" by Greg L. Bahnsen. The reviewer summarizes that the book is an anthology that reproduces selections from Cornelius Van Til's works along with Bahnsen's explanations. It was difficult for the reviewer to assess as they had not read Van Til directly. The reviewer found Bahnsen's analyses helpful for understanding Van Til's unclear writing. Overall the book provides a good introduction to Van Til's presuppositional apologetic approach centered around the sovereignty of God. However, the book is written from a Reformed perspective that non-Reformed readers may not fully agree with

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    Bahnsen

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    Nick
    157 views2 pages
    This document provides a review of the book "Van Til's Apologetic: Readings & Analysis" by Greg L. Bahnsen. The reviewer summarizes that the book is an anthology that reproduces selections from Cornelius Van Til's works along with Bahnsen's explanations. It was difficult for the reviewer to assess as they had not read Van Til directly. The reviewer found Bahnsen's analyses helpful for understanding Van Til's unclear writing. Overall the book provides a good introduction to Van Til's presuppositional apologetic approach centered around the sovereignty of God. However, the book is written from a Reformed perspective that non-Reformed readers may not fully agree with

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    Review of Greg Bahnsen's book on Van Til.

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    This document provides a review of the book "Van Til's Apologetic: Readings & Analysis" by Greg L. Bahnsen. The reviewer summarizes that the book is an anthology that reproduces selections from Cornelius Van Til's works along with Bahnsen's explanations. It was difficult for the reviewer to assess as they had not read Van Til directly. The reviewer found Bahnsen's analyses helpful for understanding Van Til's unclear writing. Overall the book provides a good introduction to Van Til's presuppositional apologetic approach centered around the sovereignty of God. However, the book is written from a Reformed perspective that non-Reformed readers may not fully agree with

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    157 views2 pages

    Bahnsen

    Uploaded by

    Nick
    This document provides a review of the book "Van Til's Apologetic: Readings & Analysis" by Greg L. Bahnsen. The reviewer summarizes that the book is an anthology that reproduces selections from Cornelius Van Til's works along with Bahnsen's explanations. It was difficult for the reviewer to assess as they had not read Van Til directly. The reviewer found Bahnsen's analyses helpful for understanding Van Til's unclear writing. Overall the book provides a good introduction to Van Til's presuppositional apologetic approach centered around the sovereignty of God. However, the book is written from a Reformed perspective that non-Reformed readers may not fully agree with

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Bahnsen, Greg L.

    Van Til's Apologetic: Readings & Analysis

    Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1998. Pp. xxiv +


    764. Hardcover. $39.99. ISBN 9780875520988.

    Nick Norelli
    Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth
    New Jersey

    On New Year's Eve of 2008 I set as a goal to have Van Til's Apologetic read and reviewed by the
    end of February 2009. Well February came and went with no prospect of me being done with
    this massive volume any time soon. It is only in the recent past that I've completed the book, and
    now that I've taken the time to jot down some thoughts on it. I came to this work at a
    disadvantage because I've not read Cornelius Van Til for myself so I’m unable to assess how
    well Bahnsen actually represented and understood him. As I understand it there are other
    presuppostionalists who disagree with Bahnsen at certain points (see e.g., John Frame’s
    comment on the back cover) but having neither read them nor Van Til I can't be sure of which
    points exactly or whether or not their alternative views are correct. That being said, I was able to
    gain what I believe is a good understanding of Van Til's thought from Bahnsen in this volume.

    Described as "something of an anthology with running commentary" (xxi) Bahnsen follows an


    analytical outline in which he reproduces select readings from Van Til's various works and then
    his explanation of them. This procedure produced something of a visually unappealing aesthetic
    in the text itself in that Van Til's words were printed in one font (Arial?) with Bahnsen's printed
    in another (Times New Roman?), but ugly as this may have been it made for a helpful distinction
    nonetheless. From the outset I have to say that Van Til was not a particularly clear writer (as
    admitted in the preface [xx-xxi]) so Bahnsen's analyses were indispensible in deciphering what
    was being said much of the time. Having not read widely in philosophy or related areas of the
    discipline like epistemology I had to work through this book very slowly, and it is after having
    read through this book that I’d suggest using it for reference. The format hindered the flow in my
    opinion, but this is characteristic of most commentaries, which coincidentally I only use for
    reference.

    That said, the progression of thought flowed well and made sense. Bahnsen opens with an intro
    to Van Til’s apologetic which is followed by a chapter on the task of apologetics itself which is
    then followed by a summary chapter that offers illustrations and examples of
    presuppositionalism in practice. I especially appreciated Bahnsen’s remark that “[o]ne of the
    compelling features of presuppositionalism is its accessibility and suitability to believers at all
    levels of academic sophistication.” (88) Chapters 4-6 deal mainly with epistemology while
    chapter 6 also lays the groundwork for the unbeliever’s stance against God and the Gospel. This
    all segues nicely into chapter 7 which spells out in some detail the presuppositional apologetic
    argument. Chapter 8 goes on to compare presuppositionalism to the “traditional” apologetic
    methods while criticizing them for various reasons, among which are: they are non-Reformed,
    assume the autonomy of man, believe in brute facts, etc. This all flows from Van Til’s equation
    of theology, philosophy, and evangelism with apologetics. For Van Til one’s apologetic method
    must match their theology and so when Reformed apologists engage in “traditional” apologetics
    they do so in a manner that is counterintuitive to their theology. If I had to choose just one thing
    that stands at the center or Reformed theology and Van Til’s apologetic then I’d be forced to say
    the sovereignty of God, and it is mainly on this point that Van Til saw the apologetics of
    Arminian, Catholic, and Lutheran believers as being deficient. Chapter 9 closes the book with a
    helpful concluding summary on how to defend the faith.

    This book has many wonderful features such as an introductory biography on Cornelius Van Til
    (more books should have these!), an extensive and detailed analytical outline of the book's
    contents, as well as a bibliography of Van Til's writings. Detailed Scripture, name, and subject
    indices as well as footnotes throughout add to the overall appeal of this work. And it doesn't hurt
    from a functional/aesthetical standpoint that this book has a durable hardcover, with an attractive
    glossy dust jacket, and sewn binding (I'm assuming) that allows it to lay open no matter what
    section you are turned to. However, I offer this caveat: this is a book by Reformed Christians for
    Reformed Christians. The non-Reformed will certainly be able to learn from this work, as I
    undoubtedly have, but they’ll find themselves unlikely to agree with much that is said because it
    is based on Reformed theology. There are times when unnamed Arminians, Lutherans, or
    ‘Romanists’ are referenced concerning their beliefs when in point of fact they don’t believe such
    things (e.g., p. 42 where the unnamed Arminian is said to believe in “degrees of deadness” while
    what it later described as the Calvinist view of differences of knowledge more accurately
    summarizes what Arminians believe). Nonetheless, this is a quality volume on all counts; I
    highly recommend it to any/everyone interested in Christian apologetics.

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