Christian Theistic Ethics
Overview
The Preface states, “This [book] claims with the historic Reformed creeds that the good is good because God in Christ through the Scriptures, says it is good. Without the presupposition of the self-sufficient moral consciousness of the triune God revealed in Scripture, man’s moral consciousness would operate in a vacuum. To bring out this point Part 1 deals with Christian Ethical Principles. . . Part 2 traces the development of apostate man’s principle of ‘inwardness’ or moral self-sufficiency in order to show that it has led and cannot but lead to moral chaos.”
Do not miss out on the updated release of The Works of Cornelius Van Til.
Product Details
- Title: Christian Theistic Ethics
- Author: Cornelius Van Til
- Publisher: Presbyterian and Reformed
- Publication Date: 1980
About Dr. Cornelius Van Til
Dr. Cornelius Van Til, served as a professor of apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, for 43 years. He retired in 1972, but remained as an emeritus professor until his death in 1987. Van Til, an immigrant from The Netherlands, was one of the most respected apologetic theologians of his time.
Van Til earned degrees from Calvin College, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Princeton University on his way to becoming an Orthodox Presbyterian Minister. He served throughout the ministry and scholarly fields, including teaching as an instructor of apologetics at Princeton Theological Seminary and being heavily involved with the foundation of the Philadelphia-Montgomery Christian Academy.
His most noted writings include The New Modernism, The Defense of the Faith, and Christianity and Barthianism. Much of his work with apologetics focuses on the presuppositions of humans, the difference between believers and non-believers, and the opposition between Christian and non-Christian worldviews.
More information about Van Til as a teacher and Reformed theologian is available in an article Eric Sigward wrote for New Horizons entitled "Van Til Made Me Reformed." Read the article as HTML or PDF (copyright 2004 by New Horizons; used by permission)
Top Highlights
“All ethics then deals with these three questions: (a) What is the motive of human action? (b) What is the standard of human action? (c) What is the end or purpose of human action?” (Page 3)
“Finally, the third main question that can and must be asked about the human will is as to the purpose or end of its action.” (Page 2)
“Ethics cannot be rigidly separated from the other sciences. We should rather say that ethics deals primarily with the will of man, and only secondarily with his intellect and his emotions.” (Page 1)
“This syllabus claims with the historic Reformed creeds that the good is good because God in Christ through the Scriptures, says it is good. Without the presupposition of the self-sufficient moral consciousness of the triune God revealed in Scripture, man’s moral consciousness would operate in a vacuum.” (source)
“Christian-theistic ethics deals with man’s summum bonum, man’s standard of living, and with man’s ethical motive, and obtains its light on all these problems from the Scriptures.” (Page 17)