Apologetics to the Glory of God

Tag: philosophy of religion

  • Debate: Is there good reason to believe that the Christian God exists?

    Resolved: There is good reason to believe that the Christian God exists.

    Moderator: Brian Knapp

    Affirmative: Chris Bolt

    Chris Bolt holds a B.A. Philosophy (High Honors) and B.A. Religion from Lynchburg College (Magna Cum Laude) as well as an M.Div. from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (School of Theology) where he is a Ph.D. candidate in Christian Philosophy. Bolt is the recipient of a number of awards for his work in philosophy and religion and a member of the Evangelical Philosophical Society. He has participated in debates on the existence of God and on ethics and wrote a chapter of …

  • Should Presuppositionalists Be Taken Seriously?

    While digging through ancient discussions on the Internet concerning presuppositional apologetics I came across what is posted below. It is written by an “ex-Van Tilian” who is a friend of mine, and though I do not endorse what is said in the post (at least not all of it) it may be of some interest, provide a critical look at this method from another perspective, or provide fodder for future posts. Enjoy.

    Allow me to offer a theistic perspective on this issue (of whether presuppositionalists should be taken seriously).

    I believe that if they really want to be “taken seriously”

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  • What Happened to Paul Manata? and "Free Will, Moral Responsibility, and Reformed Theology: A Contemporary Introduction"

    Paul Manata has been silent for nearly a month. Where did he go? Well, now we know. He has been writing a lengthy paper called, “Free Will, Moral Responsibility, and Reformed Theology: A Contemporary Introduction.” Find out more about it and get a copy here.…

  • "Getting to God" – Thomistic Misconceptions of Van Tilian Presuppositionalism (Updated)

    David Gadbois from Green Baggins wrote the following in a comment on Fides, Ratio, et Mysterium:

    I’m definitely in the camp that doesn’t believe that Christianity is transcendentally necessary. I think the VanTilian presuppositionalists overreached in trying to make Christianity, as a package deal, into a transcendental necessity. The various transcendental arguments that have been offered really only get you as far as God’s existence, a personal and just God, not [sic] doubt, but really nothing beyond what is revealed in general revelation. God’s acts of redemption in time and space, as recorded in special revelation, were

    …

  • A Tale of Two Philosophers

    Those of you who are actually good at philosophy spend so much time reading and studying it that you forget what it is you started studying it for in the first place. You are more concerned about the accuracy of your abstract analytic philosophical musings than you are about defending the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. You look down upon those who are not gifted the way that you are and immediately dismiss entire realms of Christian thought in the areas of historical and systematic theology (etc.) because of it. You are more concerned about how the philosophical community …

  • Introduction to Presuppositional Apologetics by D.S. Smith

    These are recordings of a lecture that our new contributor D.S. Smith gave on presuppositional apologetics.

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  • Various and Sundry Issues to Recap

    Last week, my comment at Aporetic Christianity resulted in a bit of a firestorm – of posts, and sometimes fiery discussion. I’d like to use this opportunity to make a few comments on this exchange, and exchanges in general. In the exchange between Paul, myself, and BK, some might consider the “tone” in places to be overly harsh. While I think Paul may have thought at one point that I was objecting to the tone, I think we’ve come to at least a partial understanding of the other’s goals. That being said, there’s a balance to be had in the …

  • Knowledge, Attenuated VanTillianism, and a False Dilemma

    Yesterday, I did some commenting on a post by Paul Manata entitled “Do All Men Know that God Exists?“.

    In this post, he offers a couple possible responses he would consider Van Tillians to potentially offer, tells us he’s an “attenuated” Van Tillian (which is unsurprising, at best); we interacted in the comments for a bit, (complete with his typical ad hominem) and he returns today with a bit of screed, venting about Van Tillians. His problem, apparently, seems to be my “certainty”. Far be it from me to point out that he acts anything but uncertain, but …

  • 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 …

  • Apologetic Mirror Objection

    David Byron recently commented on this post which concerns TAG and Islam. Rather than letting a rather lengthy comment linger on an old post I have decided to post it here in full. Part of being a good apologist is being aware of common objections to one’s methodology and arguments. This leads to further study and a stronger apologetic. It also equips the apologist to be able to at the very least recognize a particular objection in the context of an apologetic encounter. Byron writes out a helpful description of what has elsewhere been labeled the Apologetic Mirror Problem (AMP). …