Apologetics to the Glory of God

Tag: Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics

  • An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 19 – Religions that share our authority.

    By C.L. Bolt

    Our most recent discussion will lead more careful thinkers to question what we should say about religious positions that also claim faith as a starting point for knowledge. First it should be said that most religious varieties of the non-Christian worldview are excluded from the discussion. Most religious views of the world are reducible to atheism. It is extremely rare to find versions of the non-Christian worldview which claim a personal revelation from God. Those who profess belief in some god-like entity who has not revealed itself to humanity have no way of knowing that their god-like …

  • An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 18 – Starting point of knowledge.

    By C.L. Bolt

    If we are going to be able to think about anything at all then we have to start somewhere. The question becomes where we should start in an epistemology and why we should start there. When we speak of an epistemology we are mostly speaking of a structure or program explaining what we can know and how we can know it. If we do not know where to begin with an epistemology then we do not know how to answer the challenge of skepticism that we discussed in the previous part of this introduction. Without a solid …

  • An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 17 – Universal problem of skepticism.

    By C.L. Bolt

    In the last part of this introduction we discussed the method of internal critique, but there is a sense in which internal critique is working at a level that is one step too far in the direction of granting the non-Christian worldview too much. There already exists within philosophy and specifically epistemology the problem of skepticism. Epistemology refers to the particular branch of philosophy that asks questions about whether or not we can know anything, how much we can know, how we know, etc. From the beginning of philosophy there have been those pesky skeptics who have …

  • An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 16 – Internal critique.

    By C.L. Bolt

    It follows from what has been said up to this point that ultimately the way to engage in an apologetic encounter is at the level of worldviews. A worldview must be taken as a whole and looked at that way. It is possible to critique a worldview from another worldview. It might even be beneficial to do so. For example, the reason that the non-Christian worldview fails ultimately is because it does not match up to the Christian worldview. We look at the claims of the Christian worldview and find fault with other worldviews in part and …

  • An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 15 – Illustrating necessity by the impossibility of the contrary.

    By C.L. Bolt

    We’ve said some important things concerning the sufficiency of the Christian worldview and the nature of the transcendental. Let’s set aside these previous discussions for now and focus on demonstrating the necessity of the Christian worldview by virtue of the impossibility of the contrary. You will recall our much earlier discussion of the impossibility of the contrary in Part 12.

    In the context of transcendental arguments one need not speak of competing transcendentals (plural) but only of a competing transcendental (singular). If one is to demonstrate that some given condition is necessary then one need only to …

  • An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 14 – Nature of the transcendental.

    By C.L. Bolt

    We spoke before of beliefs that are preconditions for intelligible experience; transcendental beliefs. A set of transcendental beliefs constitute what we might call the transcendental conceptual scheme. If there were some view of the world that were completely “other” with respect to our own then we would be unable to comprehend it as a competitor. When no comparison can be made between two different schemes the two schemes are not recognizable by their respective adherents. The foreign scheme would simply not mate with our own. If we were unable to understand such an allegedly competing transcendental then …

  • An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 13 – Sufficiency of the Christian worldview.

    By C.L. Bolt

    It has been emphasized that there are ultimately only two worldviews though there are of course disagreements within the non-Christian worldview resulting in various manifestations of the non-Christian position. Here we focus briefly upon the Christian worldview and will in the following part of this introduction explain how it relates to transcendental argumentation and in particular the nature of a transcendental view.

    The Christian believes that God has revealed Himself in His creation. We are created in the image of God, and Scripture is His special revelation to us. God has gifted us with the faculties of …

  • An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 12 – Transcendental argumentation.

    By C.L. Bolt

    We have said that the apologetic encounter involves a clash of worldviews which are opposite one another and are held at the deepest level of thought determining how evidence, argumentation, and even fundamentals and concepts like possibility and logic etc. are thought of and interpreted. We have said also that the unbeliever suppresses the truth in unrighteousness and that objections to the Christian faith could not even be raised were it not for the unbeliever knowing God. We might plainly assert all of these things, but they do not thereby constitute an apologetic argument. How then might …

  • An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 11 – Unbeliever’s suppression of the truth.

    By C.L. Bolt

    It follows from what has been said especially in the last part of this introduction concerning Romans 1 that something rather strange is going on with those who in some form or fashion deny the existence of God. First, those who deny the existence of God in any way do so even though they know God to the extent that they have no excuse for doing so. Given that if God exists, He is known by everyone, then anyone who rejects that he or she knows God must take a “hard” atheistic stance against God. That is, …

  • An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 10 – Unbeliever’s knowledge of God.

    By C.L. Bolt

    The God of the Bible is knowable. Throughout all of Scripture God never presumes Himself to be unknown or unknowable but rather known. The Bible contains no proofs in the strictest sense for the existence of God. The Bible starts out with a declaration that God exists and assumes His existence throughout. The Bible teaches throughout that people can and do know God. The Bible never offers anything like the traditional proofs considered earlier in this introduction. God is assumed at the beginning of the Bible and makes Himself known throughout the remainder of its pages. There …