03/21/2022 – A biography and introduction to one of God’s recent messengers , Cornelius Van Til (1895 – 1987)
If anything , I think it is instructive just to read Cornelius’ bio to start understanding how the church has accelerated the drift off course this past century. Cornelius left Princeton Theological Seminary, and his Christian Apologetics professorship after just one year, for good reason. It was right around the time the PCUSA – Presbyterian Church really swung heretical, even if it wasn’t so obviously “in your face” to the educated laity.
As a fellow Christian apologist enthusiast, defined : defending your faith to outsiders, I too seek to challenge brothers and sisters in Christ to stand on God’s truth, though a Biblical worldview, free from syncrestism, the merger with pagan philosophies. But as a “presuppositionalist”, Van Til, would take issue with my apologetic approach of using historical evidences and logic to defend our shared faith. My argment: God created math, logic and science as well, so they should be used as tools to defend His truth. But without getting too far down the trail, I have his “Introduction to Systematic Theology”. Why? To take a serious look at a serious thinker that I disagree. Could I be missing something? Or, has Van Til been improperly “sub-labeled” underneath “Christian warrior”? (The label he didn’t like: “presuppositionalist”) I’ll meet him at the gates…
Again, it is not about the messenger. “The best of men are men at best”. But I stand on Romans 12:2, we are called to worship God with our minds. And some of us, have motivational gifts to follow that path for the good of the body of Christ. To be honest though, even if I did have such a gift, I would be inclined to trade it all in for comparable practical gifts that would translate “handyman”. haha But I can’t throw in the towel there either.
So, in the 2nd link above, I have one of his key foundational works, with summaries and comments from readers.
My recommendations for other recent Christian worldview apologists: 1) Abraham Maslow – a fellow Dutch theologian, preceding Van Til a generation or so. 2) Francis Schaeffer – who died a few decades ago, author of “How Then Shall We Live.” He mentored many Christian leaders early in their college years around the 1960s. One prime example: Nancy Pearcey who is still at Houston Baptist University to my knowledge.
Blessings!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Your brother in Christ,
Jimmy