Apologetics to the Glory of God

Month: March 2011

  • An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 36 – Aesthetics.

    By C.L. Bolt

    We make qualitative judgments about art and beauty. Some works of art are considered better in some way(s) than other works of art, and some things are considered more beautiful than others. There is a large amount of subjectivity involved in determining whether or not something is beautiful, not to mention a large amount of expertise which is needed to make a better judgment on such issues.

    An old cliché claims that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” but few, if any, consider this to be true. Such an account is wholly subjective, meaning that …

  • An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 35 – Normative justification and warrant.

    By C.L. Bolt

    Something that is widely agreed upon across different views concerning the world is that there is an element of knowledge called “justification” or “warrant.” Broadly conceived, it is that element of knowledge pertaining to the basis, reason, evidence, etc. that we have for believing that something is true. There is also widespread disagreement as to what exactly constitutes justification or warrant, but most do agree that there is something like this necessary for knowledge. If there are those who do not believe that this is an element of knowledge then they have a radically different understanding of …

  • An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 34 – Problem of evil.

    By C.L. Bolt

    It follows from what has been written regarding morality that a consistent unbeliever is unable to account for evil. Yet the existence of evil is one of the most used objections to the existence of the good and powerful Christian God. The consistent unbeliever is unable to account for the problem of evil when it comes to moral evil, but cannot raise the problem of evil through natural evil either. In this sense evil becomes a real problem for the non-Christian worldview, not the Christian worldview. The non-Christian cannot account for evil within his or her own …

  • An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 33 – Ethics and morality.

    By C.L. Bolt

    Moral values, rules, laws, principles, standards, etc. cannot be seen, smelt, touched, heard, or tasted. They are not empirically verifiable entities. They are not part of the material or physical realm, or so most would hold. Still, people will believe that morality exists and will believe this even more strongly than they do that other empirically verifiable entities exist. Even those who deny that morality of any kind exists tend to behave in ways that contradict this claim, if they do not outright reject the claim through other claims and assumptions found elsewhere in their thought. Good …

  • Reminder and Resource

    Based on some of the comments we have received lately, I feel it is necessary to remind folks that the purpose of this blog is educational, and is not intended as a forum for debate.  While we may make exceptions to this rule from time to time if we feel there is educational benefit to be seen, in general we will not allow comments through which will end up initiating a debate-through-comments.  This is one of the primary reasons we set up a chat channel, which we encourage everyone to take advantage of. We will be more than happy …

  • Starting Point Online Journal

    Choosing Hats is beginning work on an online journal called Starting Point. The journal will include articles that pertain to the Presuppositional/ Covenantal/Van Tilian variety of apologetics. Our readers are strongly encouraged to contribute toward this project.

    Contributors must be believers in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and must be members of a local church. Other qualifications will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

    Submissions should evidence critical thought on some topic or topics related to P/C/VT apologetics. Articles may be critical of this particular method of apologetics; however the larger purpose of progress or development of …

  • Recent SBTS Resources

    As some of you know, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky recently had Dr. Richard Bauckham and Dr. Greg Beale in for lectures on campus. I do not want to encourage anyone to be a couch potato, but here they are. As far as I know they are in order. Mike Licona also recently spoke at SBTS, but unfortunately it looks like his lecture was either not recorded or not posted. I have also included chapel messages from Dr. Mark Coppenger, Professor of Apologetics at SBTS and Dr. Gregory A. Wills, Professor of Church History at SBTS because …

  • But you have to start with yourself! (Updated)

    Today on the Dividing Line Dr. White took a call on presuppositionalism concerning R.C. Sproul’s objection that we cannot escape from ourselves and hence must start with ourselves in epistemology. Dr. White did not have any problem pointing out the fundamental reason that Sproul is wrong (and inconsistent) by appealing to the theological argument that we are epistemologically tied to God as it were by virtue of our having been created in the image of God. John Calvin notes this right away in his Institutes. Make sure to listen to Dr. White’s answer provided at the link above as …

  • A Paradigm Shift

    As we enter into a discussion of apologetics, the very first thing we must contend with is the fact that the apologetic methodology set forth in scripture is at odds with the way in which we typically reason. This fact entails that we must prepare ourselves for a paradigm shift in the way we approach the apologetic task, and is therefore by no means a trivial a matter. The Biblical method of apologetics requires that we reason in a way that is quite unfamiliar to the average person, yet is wholly consistent with a Biblical anthropology. In other words, the …

  • James Anderson's Response to David Reiter on TAG

    Some time ago I linked to a summary of and posted some Initial Comments on the Reiter Article.

    Shortly thereafter I heard that two different philosophers who have been influenced by Van Til were working on responses to the Reiter article. However, the response is now complete, and was posted today by James Anderson. If I am not mistaken this is the first positive, “peer reviewed journal entry” on the Transcendental Argument for God. I know, I know, some people will argue that Philosophia Christi is not one of the journals that critics of TAG have had in …