Progressive and Regressive Tendencies in Christian Apologetics

It was year 1928 when an important point in progress was recorded in the history of Apologetics. Cornelius Van Til, under the leadership of J.Gresham Machen in the Westminster Seminary, developed a new approach in Christian Apologetics. His primary aim was to establish Apologetics on a new basis, which is on Christian foundation.

Van Til’s desire was to establish Apologetics on the ground of Christian foundation, and move forward from its old cradle which is on the empirical foundation, and as what Dr. Knudsen noticed and recorded, it has caused a great leap to the development of Apologetics. Some of the well-known empirical Christian apologists back then are Bishop Butler, and William Paley. And Van Til wants to reinstate the way Christians defend their faith because the empirical foundation allows their critics to occupy a neutral ground for their reasoning against them.

For me, what Van Til did before for Apologetics to move unto progression is very admirable. He did what he think and see that he has to do for the Christianity to move forward and regain its influence and its rightful place. It is just very sad that Christians before failed to properly appreciate Apologetics just because they saw it as already “outdated” or “outworn”. I think they saw it as it cannot go along and/or outrun modern thinkers, both humanism and the liberal theologian who side by side attacking Christianity.

Even in our time today, many professing Christians also fail to appreciate the beauty of Apologetics. What I mean here is the Presuppositional Apologetics which is for me the only view of Apologetics a true Christian should hold. These Christians continuously finding new ways to defend their faith against those people who criticizing them. But unfortunately, they derive their defense not on the Scriptures but rather base it on their emotions or feelings, experience, and their own reasoning. I think this is very tragic for they call themselves Christians but they fail to acknowledge the Bible as God’s divine revelation to men and use it to defend their faith. They do not embrace the truth that the Christian faith is the only basis for rational thought and argument.

Setting up a new basis from Empirical foundation to Christian foundation is specifically what I really admire about Van Til’s accomplishment. As a Christian and an adherer of Presuppositional Apologetics, I believe that Christian faith should be our ultimate standard for rational thought. Not our feelings or emotions, not the empirical experience, nor pure reason. For in this ground things can only make sense and apart from the presupposition coming from the Scriptures any thoughts made by men are considered irrational. I believe that as Christians, we must at all times presuppose that the divine revelation of the Scripture is the only arbitrator of truth and error to know anything. The Bible should be the only source of truth Christians should embrace and its content should be our ultimate presupposition. Outside of it, it is impossible to formulate an intelligible argument.

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