The Calvinist International
Judging from its endorsements, K. Scott Oliphint’s recent Covenantal Apologetics: Principles & Practice in Defense of Our Faith, is set to become a standard introduction and update to Cornelius Van Til’s “presuppositional” approach to Christian apologetics. The substance remains the same, but the language is streamlined and made more accessible to the layperson. Regrettably, while […]
As our readers know, our task from the beginning has been a return to, and a critical retrieval of, the classic Protestant tradition. As we say, it arose out of recent ferment in the Reformed world; our goal was to make the “Reformed catholicity” movement both really Reformed and really catholic. Our position from the […]
Pastor Wilson has a helpful post here explaining his own relationship with Van Til, and I thought that, given my distant and recent past, I should do something of the same. Of course, I am a far less significant figure than Pastor Wilson, and my own pilgrimage shouldn’t be seen as all that important in the […]
In recent days we have seen some spirited discussion on the place of natural law and natural theology in the life of the church. One figure who stands out as an important member of the discussion about such matters, at least in Presbyterian circles, is Cornelius Van Til, especially in his essay “Nature And Scripture.” […]
Francis Schaeffer was sometimes known as a “presuppositionalist,” but the more strict presuppositionalists always denied that he fit the bill. While not sharing the same value estimation of this verdict, and depending on how one defines the terms, I have to say that I agree with them. As important as Schaeffer viewed worldviews and religious […]
Pastor Benjamin Miller from Long Island, NY, asks: Can you define and distinguish: (1) W.W. Bartley III’s notion of “ultimate commitment” (which he regards as voluntaristic and finally arbitrary); (1) is something that is simply chosen or asserted: “I want to believe in X, or I have various reasons to believe in X, but it really doesn’t […]
Reflecting upon the ongoing conversation with Feser, Hart, and others, I remembered my own little essay on natural law. It does have one simple mistake: I didn’t really explain Aquinas’ taxonomy of laws correctly. Otherwise, I do think it gets to the basic issues. The “old” natural law position does not deny the religious nature […]