Jerusalem & Athens: Critical Discussions on the Philosophy and Apologetics of Cornelius Van Til

By E.R. Geehan

Throughout his long career, Cornelius Van Til--a professor at Westminster Theological Seminary and a renowned apologist--raised and discussed issues such as the authority of the Scriptures, the effects of the fall, and the existence of "common ground" between believers and unbelievers. Such issues are as significant in our day as they were in his. First published in 1971 and now back in print, Jerusalem and Athens goes beyond the scope of a typical festschrift. As a point of reference for what follows, it opens with Van Til's clear and simple introduction to his own thought, in which he defends the Christian's commitment to the "self-attesting Christ of Scripture" "I have never met Christ in the flesh. No matter, he has written me a letter." This is followed by twenty-five critical essays on theology, theological method, philosophy, and apologetics written by contributors such as J. I. Packer, G. C. Berkouwer, Richard Gaffin, Herman Ridderbos, and Rousas Rushdoony. Van Til replies to a number of these essays, sharpening the impact of this unique and useful book.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0875524893
• ISBN13: 9780875524894
• Release Date: January 2023
• Publisher: P & R Publishing
• Length: 520 Pages
• Weight: 1.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

A TRIBUTE TO THE FOREMOST "PRESUPPOSITIONAL" APOLOGIST

Cornelius Van Til (1895-1987) was a Calvinist Christian philosopher and theologian, and perhaps the leading Christian exponent of "presuppositional" apologetics. He taught at Westminster Theological Seminary for more than 40 years, and was one of the leaders in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. These essays were gathered in in 1971 in honor of Van Til's 75th birthday, and his 40th anniversary of teaching at Westminster. The collection begins with a reprinting of Van Til's essay, "My Credo" as an introduction. It contains such noteworthy essays as "Cornelius Van Til and the Transcedental Critique of Theoretical Thought" by Herman Dooyeweerd; Jack Rogers on "Van Til and Warfield on Scripture in the Westminster Confession"; G.C. Berkouwer on "The Authority of Scripture"; "Progressive and Regressive Tendencies in Christian Apologetics" by Robert Knudsen; Rousas Rushdoony's "The One and Many Problem"; two essays on "Van Til and (Edward John) Carnell"; and even essays by two "evidentialists," John Warwick Montgomery ("Once Upon an A Priori") and Clark Pinnock ("The Philosophy of Christian Evidences"). Most of the essays are followed by a (usually, but not always) brief "response" by Van Til. For example, Van Til says in response to Gordon Lewis's essay on Van Til and Carnell, "To tell man that his MIND does not need to be saved, is to tell him that he does not need to be saved at all." The essays are not simply laudatory; or example, Berkouwer's essay laments his disappointment that Van Til's book on "The Sovereignity of Grace" contained no biblical exegesis; Montgomery points out that, in response to Van Til, the non-Christian "can legitimately excuse himself from commitment to Christ on the ground---actually provided for him by the Christian apriorist!---that ... Christianity can have no more claim to his life than the infinite number of competing views that demand faith in THEM as the necessary condition for discovering 'the truth.'" (To which Van Til responds, "Your God resembles the little girl that must sit on her Daddy's lap in order to slap her Daddy in the face. Your God presupposes not merely the existence but the all-controlling activity in history of my God in order to act at all.") Van Til's very last word in the book is an excellent summation of his general position: "If (unbelievers) respond in disbelief they will do so by setting forth as truth some 'system of reality' that is based on the presupposition of man as autonomous. I must then plead with them to accept Christ as their Savior from the sin of autonomy, and therewith, at the same time, to discover that they have been given, in Christ, the only foundation for intelligent predication." For anyone interested in Christian apologetics, presuppositionalism, Van Til, or Reformed or Calvinist theology, this will be MUST READING.