"I regard Christianity as the
most fatal and seductive lie that has ever yet existed -- as the
greatest and most impious lie." Thus spoke the German philosopher
Friedrich Nietzsche towards the end of the nineteenth century.
Although few in our postmodern age will be as blunt about it as
Nietzsche, attitudes such as his still exist. Unbelief continues
to challenge Truth just as it did 100 or even 2000 years ago.
Regrettably, there has not been much of a Reformed attempt at turning
the tables on unbelief, at least not in my own immediate (Canadian
Reformed) background. However, today's situation is different and
today one increasingly reads about apologetics (the study of the
defense of the Christian faith).
In North America, already in the 1800s, Reformed scholars such as B.B.
Warfield were making efforts at defending the faith from the
encroaching unbelief. These efforts would culminate in the
seminal work of Cornelius Van Til. Van Til was born in the
Netherlands in 1895 and immigrated to the US at a young age. He
eventually became a Christian Reformed pastor and later joined the
Orthodox Presbyterian Church when he became professor of apologetics at
Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. It was in that
capacity that he wrote most of his works. The most important of
these has undoubtedly been his 1955 book, The Defense of the
Faith. This is now the fourth edition and it restores the
unabridged 1955 text. It differs from the third edition in that
it deals more extensively with Van Til’s critics, especially
those in the Christian Reformed Church, and this makes for a bulkier
volume.
The Defense of the Faith presents in detail the principles underlying
Van Til's approach to defending the Christian faith. The most
important of these principles is that our method of defending the faith
should be in line with our theology. It will not do for Reformed
people to be arguing for the truth of Christianity with Roman Catholic
or Arminian methods. Reformed theologians need a Reformed
approach in everything they set their hands to -- that is the abiding
and most important contribution of Van Til.
Van Til's approach is often called "presuppositional apologetics"
It is "presuppositional" because it is based on the "presupposition" or
assumption that Scripture is true. It begins with the truth of
what God reveals in His Word and then proceeds to present that truth in
a scriptural way to the unbeliever without any compromise. The
unbeliever must be shown that life apart from God is foolishness -- all
the time realizing that it is the Holy Spirit, not our good arguments,
which may convince the unbeliever and turn him to Christ. Would it be
too much to say that Van Til's approach is the Reformed approach to
apologetics, at least in its basic principles? Read the book and
judge for yourself. It should be pointed out, however, that The
Defense of the Faith is at times heavy reading. Van Til sometimes
used philosophical or theological terms which may not be familiar to
the average reader. This new edition includes annotations written
by Scott Oliphint. These should shed light on most of the
unfamiliar terms, as well as persons whose significance has become more
obscure since Van Til’s day. Another improvement comes in
the way of a thorough index – something missing from the third
edition.
Cornelius Van Til passed away in 1987, but his importance remains, for
he emphasized the need for a Reformed defense of the faith.
In this emphasis, he always insisted that he was saying nothing new; he
was only repeating what he had been taught about the priority of
Scripture by such giants as Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck. We
must always start with Scripture in everything -- whether it is in
theology or apologetics or anything else for that matter. We need
this emphasis also today as we live in the midst of a crooked and
perverse generation. It is only this basic teaching which will
give us what VanTil calls "nuclear firepower" for the war in which we
find ourselves.
Review by Rev. W. Bredenhof
