The Recent Rise of Covenantal Apologetics

The Recent Rise of Covenantal Apologetics (10 of 10)

September 11, 2012 / C. L. Bolt / One Comment

I began this series with the claim that covenantal (or more popularly, “presuppositional”) apologetics are on the rise. I noted that I don’t have hard evidence that there are any more people now who know what presuppositional apologetics are than there were people who knew what they were ten years ago. However, I have spent a fair amount of time familiarizing myself with the method and its practitioners and feel confident in asserting that there are. My stated goal in writing this series was to provide an explanation of the aforementioned phenomenon. The series consists of my observations regarding why …

The Recent Rise of Covenantal Apologetics (9 of 10)

September 10, 2012 / C. L. Bolt / 2 Comments

In my previous post for this series I provided a list of covenantal apologetic links. As mentioned in that post, a number of sites were likely left out. Like the previous post, this post will no doubt leave much to be desired in terms of how exhaustive it is. There are now enough new covenantal apologetics books coming out that it is difficult to list them all in a post like this one.

Years ago books like Every Thought Captive and Apologetics to the Glory of God were, other than books by Cornelius Van Til, just about the only thing …

The Recent Rise of Covenantal Apologetics (8 of 10)

September 10, 2012 / C. L. Bolt / 2 Comments

(Links in this post are temporarily down.)

Today I met with another presuppositionalist for lunch. The Internet is where I first heard about him and wrote to him and eventually I was able to meet him in person. There have been at least a dozen other presuppositionalists I have met in like manner. I feared for my life in only about half of those meetings. The Internet has made it possible to have presuppositional discussions with people I would otherwise have never known exist.

“The Internet” is an obvious answer to the question of what major factors have …

The Recent Rise of Covenantal Apologetics (7 of 10)

August 30, 2012 / C. L. Bolt / 3 Comments

Sye TenBruggencate is the man responsible for restoring my confidence in a presuppositional method of apologetics. He is also responsible for introducing the method to countless other Christians who have heard his debates and seen his website.

The popularity of Sye TenBruggencate seems to have skyrocketed following his appearance on Justin Brierley’s Unbelievable where he debated atheist Paul Baird. But Sye has been around for quite some time. Those in presuppositionalist circles knew him from his unique proofthatgodexists.org website long before it hit the public eye.

Sye writes:

I’m 48 years old, single, and live in Ontario, Canada. I was

The Recent Rise of Covenantal Apologetics (6 of 10)

August 27, 2012 / C. L. Bolt / 0 Comments

One of the largest contributing factors to the recent rise of covenantal apologetics is, oddly enough, the response of its anti-Christian critics.

Just in the last year or two, podcast after atheistic podcast has trumpeted everything from mere disdain for to the utter defeat of presuppositional apologetics. Podcasts that come to mind are Fundamentally Flawed, Skepticule Record, and Reasonable Doubts. There are others. Militant atheists are also mouthy atheists. On the one hand, they want to dismissively scoff at covenantal apologetics, making up some of the worst puns on “presuppositionalism” you have ever heard. On the other …

The Recent Rise of Covenantal Apologetics (5 of 10)

August 21, 2012 / C. L. Bolt / 0 Comments

“Theology matters and theology determines apologetic methodology.” – Dr. James R. White

The entire program of presuppositional apologetics can be summed up in the “need for consistency” challenge constantly set forth by Dr. James R. White of Alpha and Omega Ministries. If one ever wonders where the present day Greg Bahnsen of apologetics is one need look no further than Dr. White. Such a statement might ruffle some feathers, but having followed Dr. White’s ministry for a few years now I believe the statement is substantiated by the ministry delivered to Dr. White by the grace of God.

From C.L. …

The Recent Rise of Covenantal Apologetics (4 of 10)

July 30, 2012 / C. L. Bolt / 2 Comments

Happy Birthday Choosing Hats!

If I am going to post anything resembling an attempt to “toot my own horn” I might as well get it done early so that people will forget about it by the time I write on more significant contributing factors to the recent rise of covenantal apologetics.

Choosing Hats was founded by Brian Knapp and Chris Bolt in July of 2008 in an effort to promote Van Tilian presuppositional apologetics at an introductory level and free of charge on the Internet. Choosing Hats is four years old today, and the next issue of the In Antithesis…

The Recent Rise of Covenantal Apologetics (3 of 10)

July 18, 2012 / C. L. Bolt / 18 Comments

Covenantal apologetics have virtually no place in the academy.

It’s not that they shouldn’t have a place in the academy. It’s just that they don’t.

But why would we expect anything different? Covenantal apologetics are firmly grounded in the Christian worldview and are used to cast down every thought exemplifying its antithesis. It is not merely that non-Christians will misunderstand or reject covenantal apologetics in an intellectual sense, but rather that they will not even like them. So we should not expect to see covenantal apologetics pulling up a chair next to Naturalistic Atheism or Thomistic Christianity in the …

The Recent Rise of Covenantal Apologetics (2 of 10)

June 28, 2012 / C. L. Bolt / 2 Comments

Douglas Wilson contends that there are, “…two tenets (of modern feminism): 1. men are jerks, and 2. women should strive by all means to become like them.” So who is this Doug Wilson? He is the witty guy who made the similar claim that, “There are two tenets of atheism: One, there is no God. Two, I hate him.” Wilson holds undergraduate degrees in Classical Studies and Philosophy and a Master’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Idaho. He serves in Idaho as the pastor of Christ Church and is a professor at New Saint Andrews College (which he …

The Recent Rise of Covenantal Apologetics (1 of 10)

June 25, 2012 / C. L. Bolt / 6 Comments

Years ago (oh how time flies!) I read a series of posts by Mark Dever called, “Where’d All These Calvinists Come From?” You may read the series here. Dever provides observations pertaining to the apparent recent growth of Calvinist(ic) theology amongst younger generations as famously pointed out by Collin Hansen here. Some believe these claims erroneous. Others consider them truthful, good news. Others true, but harmful. Whatever your opinion on the matter, I suspect that the “New Calvinism” just has to be an improvement upon “Ancient Pelagianism.” And who wouldn’t agree that it is better to be “Young, …