Christian Theistic Evidences Paperback – February 29, 2016

This book was my introduction to Van Til and his very sound and biblically based doctrinal beliefs. It's definitely not "light reading" to a retired aerospace (albeit 5 point Calvinist) prototype machinist, but the author's practical understanding of Van Til's life and theology..... as well as his background at Princeton (which preceded his time at Westminster Theo) and the people that influenced his theology, helped me gain a better understanding of a presuppositional apologetic methodology.

What a great read. It really shatters the false narrative circulating that Van Til opposed evidences. If this were so, indeed this would have been a much shorter book...

There is a lot of misunderstanding today concerning the role of evidence in Cornelius Van Til’s apologetics which makes this book a valuable primary source for those who want to understand Van Til’s view. I think understanding Van Til’s position is important whether one agrees with him or not. This is especially relevant given the rising popularity of Presuppositional apologetics. This particular volume is the second edition of the book and it has helpful footnotes with commentaries from the editor K. Scott Oliphant who is currently the professor of Presuppositional apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary (this is where Van Til taught at when he was alive). In this review I shall look first at Oliphant’s contribution and then the rest of the book that was penned by Van Til.Oliphant’s ContributionOliphant’s editorial footnote wasn’t as frequent as I expected. It seems as the book progresses there were less of it but I don’t necessarily see that as a bad thing after all it’s better to have helpful comments and explanations here and there rather than having a book that over-analyze and eventually read everything into Van Til that isn’t there. It seems most of Oliphant’s inserted footnotes is to explain who the names and figures were that Van Til cited, which is helpful given that the book was written decades ago and many of whom Van Til interacted with is largely forgotten or they were technical academic specialists. The biggest contribution that’s uniquely Oliphant comes from his discussion in the introduction of the book about Alvin Plantinga and the contemporary discussion about foundationalism. This essay from Oliphant is good in its own right. Those who wonder about the similarities and differences between Plantinga’s and Van Til’s approach towards the defense of the faith and epistemology would find Oliphant’s discussion useful. Van Til lived before much of the critical discussion about foundationalism in academia so to see an heir of Van Til and a contemporary Van Tillian scholar give a Presuppositionalist’ perspective definitely pushes Presuppositionalism forward.Van Til’s Christian Theistic EvidencesVan Til begins the book with a chapter on “the history of evidences” that is largely a critique of Bishop Butler’s apologetics. Butler is famous for his work titled Analogy of Religion. Van Til’s critique of Butler is largely theological. Butler’s styled apologetics is seen today in much of what we call evidential apologetics so Van Til’s critique shouldn’t be seen as a historical academic exercise. Van Til then moves to a critique of Hume in chapter two and Kant and the idealists in chapter three. This largely follows the chronological order these philosophers appeared in the history of philosophy. His look at these philosophers are relevant critique of Butler in that these non-Christian philosophers noted the inadequacy of naïve evidentialism which Van Til points out but Van Til also points out the problem with these philosophers and their ideologies.The rest of the chapters in the book was arranged more topically rather than chronologically with the history of philosophy. I appreciate Van Til’s examination of non-Christian scientific method and their assumptions found in chapters five through seven with it broken down according to theological evidences, creation and providence and finally teology. I also appreciated Van Til’s look at psychology in general and psychology of religion specifically (chapters eight and nine).An ongoing theme in Van Til’s critiques of various philosophies is the idea of “brute facts.” Here in the book and also from Oliphant’s notes I’ve finally understand what Van Til meant by “brute facts,” which conveys the idea that facts are not created by God and are just “out there.” Throughout the rest of the book Van Til gives a survey of just how vastly held the concept of brute facts is in the realm of unbiblical philosophy and secular science.There was some moments in the book that I found very quotable and indeed have been quoted elsewhere by other Presuppositionalists. For those who are interested with Van Til’s apologetics and would want to read Van Til himself as a primary source I do highly recommend the book. I must say though at times I wonder if Van Til could have wrote more about philosophy of evidences from a practical stand point. I think the fact that this book was originally a syllabi that Van Til made clear was not intended to be a book didn’t help with some of the way the materials was presented. Even as a Van Tillian myself I do think a practical philosophy of Christian theistic evidences wasn’t Van Til’s strong point. It took other men that followed him to develop this more. Nevertheless I recommend this book.NOTE: This book was provided to me free by P&R Publishing and Net Galley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

Many scholars incorrectly assert that Van Til rejected Christian evidences. This is not the case. Van Til maintained that all men as they examine any evidence do so with the controlling lens of their presuppositions. Thus evidence must be built upon the foundations of the rational pre-necessities that only the triune God can provide. "In "Christian-Theistic Evidences: In defense of Biblical Christianity" byCornelius Van Til one discovers the proper epistemic place for Christian evidences within the biblical apologetic.Van Til opines: "...without the presupposition of the God of Christianity, we cannot even interpret one fact correctly."He adds: "So, the Christian apologist may begin with any fact because, no matter what the facts he wishes to discuss, the stakes are ultimately the same. In every case, CT is in question. Do the facts belong to God or do they not? The challenge for the apologist is to treat the facts in a way that calls the God of Scripture--including the Christian system--into view."Van Til rightly taught that you do not have to learn to marshal volumes of evidence; you do not have to learn to be a "good lawyer." You should learn to demonstrate that without having the triune God as the metaphysical pre-commitment, the atheist cannot make sense out of anything. He cannot account for the universe, mankind, history, or science. He will be left to repent or remain speechless. God is the foundation and source of all meaning, purpose, and rationality. God alone is the one who makes rationality and argument possible. Without God, the unbeliever cannot account for anything in the universe. We can demonstrate that the Lord is the source of all law, order, logic, mathematics, truth, goodness, beauty, science, and philosophy. The atheist, in reality, has no argument. God must live or we could not argue at all.Furthermore he stresses that whether "we are able to bring CT to a more full expression or only to a partial one, the goal is to express the biblical system through the facts. ... Facts should serve as manifestations of the Christian system."Additionally he maintains, as a presuppositionalist, the evidences "call all men to acknowledge the Triune God, the final reference point for all meaning an truth."Van Til: "Men have not done justice by the facts, by the evidence of God's presence before their eyes, unless they burst out into praise of him who has made all things."Yes, the Bible reveals to humanity that the Earth hangs on nothing (Job 26:7) and is a sphere (Isaiah 40:22). Scripture declared this thousands of years before telescopes and modern science discovered those facts. God's word teaches us the proper function of the water cycle (Job 38:12-14), the existence of ocean currents (Psalms 8:8), the solar cycle, and the expansion of the universe (Isaiah 40:22) centuries before modern science found these truths. These evidential facts are consistent with the authority of the Bible. These and other evidences do not give the Bible authority; it is endued with it because it is God's word. All science, testing, and examination presuppose God and His word. Testing utilizes a number of dynamics such as logic and induction. A materialistic worldview cannot justify the existence or the use of the laws of reason. They are nonphysical and abstract dynamics that can only come from the nature of the one true God. We have certain knowledge that the God of scripture lives. We do not think He probably exists. Our faith is not just reasonable or plausible. It is impossible for the true and living God not to exist because without Him, we cannot know anything at all. He is the precondition for all knowledge. God must be presupposed as the basis of every element of mankind's experience, knowledge, and value.Herein one finds the power of evidences placed within their only possible foundation: the triune God.See:  Truth, Knowledge and the Reason for God: The Defense of the Rational Assurance of Christianity ------See the New Book that contends for the existence of God using moral absolutes by Mike Robinson: There Are Moral Absolutes: How to Be Absolutely Sure That Christianity Alone Supplies ------or additionally see the dynamic new book refuting World Religions using Presuppositional apologetics/Covenantal Apologetics: