The Reformed Pastor and the Defense of Christianity & My Credo
Overview
The pastor has the primary purpose to grasp, proclaim, and defend the Christian faith. While their faith is continually ridiculed, pastors must develop a criterion for analyzing such criticism and holding to their foundations in Christian teaching. Van Til argues that pastors must recognize these places where they will face criticism and learn ways to defend Christianity in the ways of modern thought.
Do not miss out on the updated release of The Works of Cornelius Van Til.
Product Details
- Title: The Reformed Pastor and the Defense of Christianity & My Credo
- 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
“In other words, what Scripture emphasizes is that even apart from special revelation, men ought to see that God is the Creator of the world.” (Page 5)
“All the concepts of such a philosophy are based upon the assumption that God and the cosmos are aspects of one reality subject to the same laws. The god of Aristotle as well as the god of Plato, in fact, the god of any non-Christian philosopher, is a god constructed by the rebellious mind of man in the interest of suppressing the truth.” (Page 20)
“Natural revelation is perfectly clear. Men ought from it to know God and ought through it to see all other things as dependent on God. But only he who looks at nature through the mirror of Scripture does understand natural revelation for what it is. Furthermore, no one can see Scripture for what it is unless he is given the ability to do so by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. Only those who are taught of God see the Scriptures for what they are and therefore see the revelation of God in nature for what it is.” (Page 11)
“The intelligibility of anything, for man, presupposes the existence of God—the God whose nature and character are delineated in God’s revelation, found both in nature and in Scripture. It is this God—the only God—whom all men, of necessity ‘know.’” (Page 12)
“The non-Christian claims this because he takes his conscience to be its own ultimate point of reference. Evil has not come into the world because of man’s disobedience; it is metaphysically ultimate, i.e., it just is!” (Page 30)