In the canal of thought between epistemology and apologetics there exists a triad of thinkers who contribute, in different ways, to both disciplines. Yet few have articulated positive relationships between the thought of Cornelius Van Til, John Frame and Alvin Plantinga. Scott Oliphint, a Van Tillian, denounced Plantinga as beginning from an anti-Christian premise. Bahnsen, another Van Tillian, dismisses Frame for not being Van Tillian enough. Plantinga, for his own part, entirely ignores Van Til even though even though he presents very similar lines of argument. And then there are those, like my old prof, John Feinberg, who, though convinced of the success of Plantinga’s work, are nonetheless opposed to Van Til’s and Frame’s apologetic method. One exception…
-
-
How does the Bible Function in a Christian Life?
Just how does the Bible function in the life of a believer? Clearly the Bible is, to the Christian, not merely a book, but is the very word of God. So, it has a different role than other books. First, the Bible is how God want’s believers to make sense of human experience. The Bible is God’s interpretation, his take on things, his view. The assumption the Christian makes is that God’s view should be our view, so it is the responsibility of the Christian to read experience through the lens of scripture, to think about things in the way God wants us to think about them. Second, the Bible is God’s…
-
Confidence is not Bigotry
If a committed Christian arrives for her first year at college and is confronted with the plethora of religious and so-called non-religious belief systems is she obligated to take a step back and conduct a check on her own belief system? If so, what is it that makes such a religious self-check obligatory? What kind of check is required and by what standard? It seems intuitively probable that most people, given a particular upbringing and personal history, would be open to a cross examination of what they hold to be true. “Have I merely swallowed what my parents/youth pastor have taught me without sufficient critical thought? Should I at least consider the possibility that…
-
Incarnation: Incoherent?
Thomas Morris, in his book, The Logic of God Incarnate, outlines the incoherence charge made against the doctrine of the incarnation. The Doctrine of the Incarnation is the belief that Jesus Christ is both God and human.Paul writes, “In him [Jesus Christ] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col 2:9). This leads to a number of propositions: Jesus is God, the Son. Jesus is human Jesus is one with the father Jesus is one person Jesus has two natures, one divine, one human. If we are committed to such a set of propositions we, according to Morris, are committed to the propositions, “Jesus of Nazareth is one and the same individual as God the Son,…
-
Baxter vs Hume
As I read Paul Russell’s, The Riddle of Hume’s Treatise, I continue to find excellent summaries of arguments for theism and Hume’s responses. Russell, it should be noted, is an avid atheist from Scottish Calvinist stock. Consequently, his analysis of Hume’s irreligious intentions reflect his own intentions. Nevertheless, anyone interested in the history of Apologetics would find Russell’s book to be an excellent survey of Hume’s contribution to the history of the discipline. The following is a summary of Hume’s engagement with apologist, Andrew Baxter. Andrew Baxter, in a defense of theism and in response to the atheism of Hobbes and Spinoza, argues that all powers found in nature must, of necessity, be caused by the power…
-
The Real Fiscal Cliff
However much money we end up surrendering to Washington next year, one thing is for certain – not one cent of it will go towards the cause of global evangelization. If we topple over the cliff on the first day of 2013 we may be able to afford extra health care, but it is pretty certain that we will, as a nation, support less global mission. My father-in-law, a veteran missionary, always used to say that the American global missions enterprise was directly connected to God’s hand of providence. Since the impulse of the Spirit is global missions, so goes the means to do it. However, just because God supplies the means…
-
Resistance to the Incarnation
”I believe in God almighty, and in Christ Jesus, his only Son, our Lord who was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary” (The Old Roman Creed). This, for those who believe, is the good news of Christmas, that God descend to en-flesh himself, that he should dwell with us. But the news is also resisted. The doctrine of the Virgin birth is, for example, an anathema to modern scientism, the belief in the universal applicability of the scientific method and approach, and the view that empirical science constitutes the most authoritative worldview or most valuable part of human learning to the exclusion of other viewpoints. According to this view,…
-
Hiding in a Shell
I met a woman who asked me why, being a Brit, I am not an Anglican. Never mind what I told her, the more interesting question is why she is an Anglican. She began by expressing her anger towards the decision on Bishops, blaming anti-women sentiment. I mentioned that I hoped scripture might have something to do with it. And that’s when things became interesting. Here are her views: All human beings go to heaven, really bad human beings go to heaven but only after heavenly re-education, God does not discriminate against anyone or any religious belief, one can be a Buddhist and a Christian (this is how she described herself), Jesus…