Agreeing and Disagreeing with Benjamin Warfield and Abraham Kuyper

The scope of this short blog of mine will only cover the early days of Van Til in developing his Apologetical view, the summary of the combined ideas/elements of each Apologetical view of his two great influencer, and lastly, my reflection to Van Til’s genius mind.

In the time of Cornelius Van Til, there are several religious groups that has different traditional method he observed ineffective and faulty in using to defend the faith. Some of them were the Roman Catholicsm and the Arminianism. However, he found satisfaction in the Reformed method of Apologetics because of its Scriptural derivation. And while he was studying to develop his view, he had two great Reformed teachers who influenced him and shaped his Transcendental Presuppositional Apologetics. These two were Abraham Kuyper and Benjamin Warfield.

Though, these two who influenced reliable Christian Scholars are both Reformed in their theology, they had never met even an eye in their Apologetics stance. Disagreement in each viewpoint are evident. But in the mind of Van Til, the stances of these two are outstanding that he looked for their strength and weakness and combined the strongest features of both which helped him developed his own Apologetics conception.

Summary of the combined ideas/elements of Kuyper and Warfield

Kuyper’s insight that believing science is in principle antithetical to unbelieving science contradicted Warfield’s inference that the natural man can use “right reason” to interpret nature and history correctly. Likewise, Warfield’s insistence upon the objective rationality of Christianity contradicted Kuyper’s inference that apologetics aimed at the unregenerate is virtually useless. (ibid. pg. 878)

According to Van Til’s presuppositional apologetic, there are indeed two conflicting worldviews and conceptions of science, but the objective rationality of the Christian worldview is provable by the transcendental argument that non-Christian presuppositions render reasoning unintelligible. That is, apologetics is indeed powerful and useful because it can demonstrate that the unbeliever cannot exercise “right reason”. By the very nature of presuppositional apologetics, there cannot, inconsistent philosophical principle, be any neutral interpretations or common ground between the two antithetical sets of professed presuppositions. And by pressing the unbelieving worldview to its consistent conclusions, we come to see the transcendental necessity (and thus the epistemic certainty, not merely the probability) of the Christian worldview. (ibid. pg. 878)

The genius mind of Cornelius Van Til

There, Van Til gave us an outstanding example of being a great student, and at the same time a devoted and passionate Christian who wants to defend the Christian faith and its truth. Though he was open in different great ideas, yet still he exercised the manner of being cautious and attentive in the errors of the things that are unbiblical.

One of the things I really admire about Van Til’s effort of engineering a system of Apologetics, which is for me looks like a huge iron wall of defense of faith for Christians, is that he consistently drew from the principles of Reformed Theology, a well-grounded system of belief which is purely Scriptural.

Another thing is that, throughout his entire scrutinizing of each view of Kuyper and Warfield, even their differences have not been of such a basic nature as how he described it, he did not criticized and clash the errors of both parties but instead he left aside the things that did not comport to Reformed principles.

I personally believe that the conceived method of the Transcendental Presuppositional Apologetics of Cornelius Van Til was a product of being committed or faithful to the infallible Word of God. It was a labor from his blood and sweat of being passionate to help the Church to defend the Christian truth. What Van Til really wanted was for us Christians to learn a comprehensible method of defending our faith. For me, he is really a genius person, and at the same time, a man loving heart and mind not just for the Christians but also for God and His words.

Thanks to Van Til that Christians today are now enjoying his excellent effort in Apologetics, we get a wider view of it. And we also have a closer look of the conception of Apologetics of his two great Reformed influence; Kuyper and Warfield. But, most of all, all praises and glory to our God for giving us these excellent minds and brothers in Christ who extended their love through their efforts in Apologetics.

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