Cornelius Van Til: An Analysis of His Thought

Rating:
Summary: A worthwhile stroll down Van Til Lane
Review: Frame is down to earth with a passion to communicate in the best way possible. If you've ever heard Frame in person (I have) you will realize what a humble man he is... not like many argumentative types that wish to blow everyone out of the water. He explained everything in a way that helped me understand, which is the mark of a true teacher. Of course, this is coming from a "young layman", not a "skeptical scholar", but I believe he dealt with enough issues to silence most skeptics (at least the ones who get past chapter 3). If you want pretense, look elsewhere, but Frame is the real deal!

Rating:
Summary: Best Intro to Van Til
Review: Generally, the best way to study a philosopher is to read an important work of his. For example, we study Plato by studying "The Republic" or some of his shorter dialogues. With others - such as Hegel - it's best to read various excerpts from his works, trying to get a sense of what he is up to. With a smaller number you should start by reading a book about the philosopher. Cornelius Van Til (1895-1987) falls into that third category. Fortunately, John Frame has written an excellent introduction to the thought of his teacher.

Cornelius Van Til is acclaimed by many in the Reformed community as the most important thinker since Calvin. Frame shares this opinion, while noting some of the weaknesses of Van Til's thought and writing style. For those who don't know, Van Til was a Christian apologist who developed a system called presuppositionalism. While it's hard to describe briefly, its central claim is that one must presuppose the truth of Scripture and challenge the unbeliever by showing that his beliefs are inconsistent with his presuppositions. The unbeliever cannot justify his own beliefs apart from the existence of a theistic universe. Hence, only Christianity can be shown to meet "every legitimate demand of reason." Van Til didn't reject the use of evidence in apologetics, but instead thought that evidences must be presented in a manner consistent with the presuppositional apologetics (This concept isn't exactly clear to me, even after reading Prof. Frame's chapter a few times.)

Van Til is hard to understand. First of all, his books aren't well organized. Second, he writes in such a way as to exaggerate the differences between his thought and other thinkers, and the differences between believers and unbelievers. If you take some of his ideas literally, Van Til appears to say that unbelievers don't know anything and there are no similarities between Christian and non-Christian philosophies.

As an aside, Frame's approach to Van Til is somewhat controversial within the Van Til movement. Frame believes that once Van Til's thought is stripped of some of its more extreme statements, his apologetics isn't all that different from other apologetic systems. Second, he disagrees with Van Til on a number of issues. After you read this book, read the late Greg Bahnsen's excellent "Van Til's Apologetics," which contains excerpts from Van Til's works along with Bahnsen's comments. Bahsen was a more consistent Van Tillian than Frame.

"Cornelius Van Til: An Analysis of his Thought" also includes a short biography of Van Til and a brief history of the Van Tillian movement. It includes a little too much of John Frame's biography interspersed in the text.. We really don't need to read an excerpt from Prof. Frame's seminary paper presented to Van Til. This is a minor point in an otherwise excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: Best Intro to Van Til
Review: Generally, the best way to study a philosopher is to read an important work of his. For example, we study Plato by studying "The Republic" or some of his shorter dialogues. With others - such as Hegel - it's best to read various excerpts from his works, trying to get a sense of what he is up to. With a smaller number you should start by reading a book about the philosopher. Cornelius Van Til (1895-1987) falls into that third category. Fortunately, John Frame has written an excellent introduction to the thought of his teacher.

Cornelius Van Til is acclaimed by many in the Reformed community as the most important thinker since Calvin. Frame shares this opinion, while noting some of the weaknesses of Van Til's thought and writing style. For those who don't know, Van Til was a Christian apologist who developed a system called presuppositionalism. While it's hard to describe briefly, its central claim is that one must presuppose the truth of Scripture and challenge the unbeliever by showing that his beliefs are inconsistent with his presuppositions. The unbeliever cannot justify his own beliefs apart from the existence of a theistic universe. Hence, only Christianity can be shown to meet "every legitimate demand of reason." Van Til didn't reject the use of evidence in apologetics, but instead thought that evidences must be presented in a manner consistent with the presuppositional apologetics (This concept isn't exactly clear to me, even after reading Prof. Frame's chapter a few times.)

Van Til is hard to understand. First of all, his books aren't well organized. Second, he writes in such a way as to exaggerate the differences between his thought and other thinkers, and the differences between believers and unbelievers. If you take some of his ideas literally, Van Til appears to say that unbelievers don't know anything and there are no similarities between Christian and non-Christian philosophies.

As an aside, Frame's approach to Van Til is somewhat controversial within the Van Til movement. Frame believes that once Van Til's thought is stripped of some of its more extreme statements, his apologetics isn't all that different from other apologetic systems. Second, he disagrees with Van Til on a number of issues. After you read this book, read the late Greg Bahnsen's excellent "Van Til's Apologetics," which contains excerpts from Van Til's works along with Bahnsen's comments. Bahsen was a more consistent Van Tillian than Frame.

"Cornelius Van Til: An Analysis of his Thought" also includes a short biography of Van Til and a brief history of the Van Tillian movement. It includes a little too much of John Frame's biography interspersed in the text.. We really don't need to read an excerpt from Prof. Frame's seminary paper presented to Van Til. This is a minor point in an otherwise excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book !
Review: I havent finished reading it actually, but so far so good. I'm 1/3 of the way through. The thing with Frame is, that He writes and explains so well, that even a 6th grader could start understanding the intricacies of Christian Theology. I strongly recommend this book as a starting point for understanding Van Til.

Rating:
Summary: A worthwhile stroll down Van Til Lane
Review: Okay, I have to confess that I haven't read past chapter three of this book. It may be a fine analysis of Van Til's thought, but to get to that you have to put up with Frame talking about himself. He is (if you believe what he writes) just about the only person who can really figure Van Til in the right way, he wrote a 125 page paper for Van Til, he wrote a negative review of Van Til's authorized biography that Van Til appreciated (he even told Frame so, so there!), Gary North talks about him in the introduction to one of his books, he was the kind of thinker that Van Til liked to challenge in class (because he was so smart, see?) etc. etc. etc. BLAH BLAH BLAH. Frame talks about himself to a ridiculous extent in this book. Helpful is the appendix where Frame briefly discusses each of Van Til's books. This is the only reason this book gets two stars. John, if I wanted to know your life story I'd ask.

Rating:
Summary: Frame's Autobiography?
Review: Okay, I have to confess that I haven't read past chapter three of this book. It may be a fine analysis of Van Til's thought, but to get to that you have to put up with Frame talking about himself. He is (if you believe what he writes) just about the only person who can really figure Van Til in the right way, he wrote a 125 page paper for Van Til, he wrote a negative review of Van Til's authorized biography that Van Til appreciated (he even told Frame so, so there!), Gary North talks about him in the introduction to one of his books, he was the kind of thinker that Van Til liked to challenge in class (because he was so smart, see?) etc. etc. etc. BLAH BLAH BLAH. Frame talks about himself to a ridiculous extent in this book. Helpful is the appendix where Frame briefly discusses each of Van Til's books. This is the only reason this book gets two stars. John, if I wanted to know your life story I'd ask.

Rating:
Summary: Fresh view of Cornelius Van Til's thoughts!
Review: What John Frame does is take parts of Van Til's thoughts and explains them. So, what you're looking at here is a book that builds from the parts to the whole, sort of speak. And it works very effectively. Frame's book will help people look at the transcendental argument for the existence of God from a different point of view. Bear in mind though this is college level reading. If you're looking for something similar yet less technical get Frame's Apologetics to the Glory of God. And, if you search any web engine you're liable to find Frame's debate with Dr. Michael Martin who misrepresents and misunderstands the transcendental argument.