Having appreciated the work of Richard Muller, and his students, and having benefited immensely from their writings, I am still far from an expert in the area of Reformed scholasticism.
I often receive questions about Barth’s views on the Bible, which admittedly is a challenging topic. According to Karl Barth, the Bible is not revelation. The Bible is one of
It is a great strength of our Presbyterian and Reformed ethos that we are historically conscious. We enjoy history and pride ourselves on being self-consciously rooted in the past. Confessional and conservative
Part of a good transcendental critique must be drawing the lines between the dots for people to see clearly. If I have any critique of Van Til, it
“Yet the Aristotelianism of Rome, with its idea of potentiality, offers, we are bound to think, a point of contact with the underlying philosophy of Dialecticism. Rome occupies an
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus (2 Tim 2:3). Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Tim 3:12).
In The New Modernism Van Til identifies the Theology of Crisis with “dialectical theology.” But what is dialectical theology? Van Til explains that dialectical theology is
Moving on from Van Til’s first published criticism of Barth (see the previous six posts entitled In The Beginning) we now consider his first published monograph
At long last we have come to the end of the beginning (see parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). We have reviewed Van Til’s opening salvo against Barth’s theology
Van Til now turns to Barth’s doctrine of creation.
Barth denies that creation as it came forth from the hand of God was good, and was to have
As we continue to unpack Van Til’s review of Zerbe’s book we come to the second part of the review, which concerns Barth’s epistemology. Van Til opens with an
When I first heard about Barth’s concept of the “wholly other” God, it sounded perfectly orthodox. Barth’s emphasis on the qualitative difference between God and man struck me as
In the last post we began to consider Van Til’s first published criticism of Barth. It was set in the context of a book review.[1] There we
It is often assumed that The New Modernism (1946) is Van Til’s first published writing in which he evaluates Barth’s thought. Actually Van Til first
For Van Til no form of unbelief escapes the charge of rationalism. Irrationalism is only a disguised form of rationalism. But before getting to that, it might help to
Last week we talked about Barth’s “absolutely other” god. There we noted how Barth begins with an unknown and unknowable god. In other words, he begins with the god
It is often said that Barth believed in a god who was “wholly other.” It’s an oft repeated phrase, but rarely understood. Van Til would say “absolutely other.” By that
In chapter 3 of Christian Apologetics Van Til addresses the issue of the “point of contact” (Anknüpfungspunkt). That is to say, the point at which the believer may make contact
Both Van Til and Barth rejected all forms of bare theism. That is, they denied a generic view of God. Both believed this “god” was an idol. This is the
Now we begin to make a definite turn toward Barth in Van Til’s writing. Thus far this blog series has been a smattering of topics arising from my rereading
Van Til used the word “scholasticism” (or its other variations) as shorthand for Thomistic dualism (and with it the medieval synthesis of Christian and pagan thought). In short Thomistic
This post is a kind of follow-on from a previous post about “as-suchness.” In The New Synthesis Van Til writes:
Paul does not discuss
There is still a great deal of confusion out there concerning the difference between orthodox Reformed theology and the theology of Karl Barth. Are they not the same? Is
The triumph of the eternal decree of God over history is just as much a problem as the triumph of history over the eternal decree. In an attempt
It is often assumed that Karl Barth’s thought is the antithesis of medieval scholasticism. It is true that Barth is exceedingly critical of Aquinas. But does Barth offer us
I am always edified when I read Van Til. I am also always challenged to conform my thinking to the Holy Scriptures and the Reformed faith. But I am
Who says Van Til is impractical? I would argue that Van Til in all his writing always has an eye towards the church. All of his theologizing, all of
In his writings, Van Til used what has now become a defunct moniker to describe an early 20th century theological movement surrounding Karl Barth and
Going hand-in-hand with what we said in a previous post about rendering God not God, Van Til points up how unbelieving thought assumes a neutral view of reality, and
The below observation is not a criticism of the PCA or the 2017 Assembly. I watched much of the Assembly on-line and was greatly blessed by so many of
Van Til is a master at exegeting unbelief. This is helpful for apologetics. If we do not understand the unbeliever in a biblical way, inevitably our approach to defending the
We at the Reformed Forum have a burning desire to see Christ as preeminent in all things. We believe that the Scriptures reveal to us Christ, from Genesis to Revelation.
Following Kuyper and Bavinck, Van Til so emphasized the antithesis between believer and unbeliever that many have concluded that Van Til cuts the unbeliever off from
I’ve come again, afresh, to the writings of Cornelius Van Til. Lord willing, my plan is to compose a monograph on Van Til’s critique of Karl Barth over the
The Primacy of the Trinity in Theology In the closing section of Herman Bavinck’s chapter on the Trinity, the Dutch theologian makes some very important and keen observations on the
This morning I was taking my daughter to school when “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” came on the radio. I was surprised to hear, however, an interesting change in the
Being that we do not know the exact year John Knox was born, that means we can stretch out the celebration of his 500th for multiple years! Scholars continue to
The below is a historical preamble written by the session of South Austin Presbyterian Church which explains why the church has a voice to speak to both the state
The way Barth understands the relation between eternity and time manifests itself in how he answers the theological problem of how the once and for all work of Christ on
Thus far in this series we have looked at the life of Barth as well as begin to explore his theology as well. In particular we have shown how Christ
This is the third part of a four part series on the life and thought of Karl Barth. After completing a brief biography, we now turn to examine his thought.
In our previous post, part 1, we introduced our thesis and opened with the beginning of Barth’s life. We pick up here with his years from the beginning of his
“Christ is All: An Introduction to the Life and Thought of Karl Barth”1
Part I
Introduction and Thesis
A. Introduction
You are reading the first installment of
Barth’s theology, fairly early on, received the label “neo-orthodox.” Barth himself rejected the label (CD III.3, xii). It is regarded by some today as a misnomer. As early as 1972,
Eberhard Busch describes Barth’s approach to theological prolegomena:
he saw the prolegomena as being a first step into the subject-matter itself, bringing about a first clarification of what revelation was
Bavinck in the first volume of his Reformed Dogmatics is very clear about revelation becoming nature. God reveals himself in, by, and with nature. Bavinck is clear that revelation is
President Obama may some day, if not already, rue the day he compared the Crusades to the current terror tactics of ISIS. But, was his comparison completely off-based?
Several well-circulated
A recent firestorm has arisen within the blogosphere concerning an alleged failure by Karl Barth. It was initiated by Matthew Rose over at First Things here, responded to by IVP
John Piper’s recent Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. Lecture at Westminster Theological Seminary was vintage Piper: passionate, learned, articulate, and just right. The connection between Calvinism, sovereign grace, justification by faith
The history of biblical exposition boasts of a rich heritage when it comes to commentaries on Galatians. We cannot list all of the great commentaries here, so I simply offer
Being interested in learning more about the theology of Karl Barth can be an overwhelming experience. Where does one begin? I would like to offer here just five books to
The following was sent in to my local newspaper for consideration in the editorial page (it was, however, rejected by the editor):
In no way do I pretend to represent
* This review is an abbreviated version of a review of the same book I wrote for the 2012 Confessional Presbyterian Journal
Introduction
Not long ago, we did a show
Laura Story’s newish song-hymn, “What a Savior,” presents us with an interesting theological conundrum. It’s a kind of brain-teaser not unlike the one introduced to many confused Christians when they
For Reformed Christians we often struggle with the relation between the eternal decree of God and the historical manifestation of that decree in time. It is ingrained within our theological
By the time they stopped that night, the rain had abated somewhat. But it did not cease. Likewise, the sun never properly set. Robbed of its glory by the day’s
Why did the chicken cross the road? To escape from Chick-fil-A, of course. On August 1, I did not patronize a Chick-fil-A. Maybe I’m just chicken. The debate about the
For many of us in the Protestant Tradition, the idea of “Biblical Natural Law” may seem like an oxymoron. However, that is not the case for the one of the
Two new volumes are now available for purchase from InterVarsity Press on biblical hermeneutics. Both books seem like they will be great resources for the church. The first is a
To be sure, this story about the on-going battle over so-called gay marriage is disturbing, even if it is not surprising. The issue of “gay marriage” is an important
“To identify the redemptive kingdom of the God…with the common causes of the city of man is profaning of the holy, a prostitution of the gospel, a diabolical repudiation of
I want to once again reiterate my deep appreciation for the work done by 2K theologians. I believe their insights are important and essential for the church to hear today.
Having appreciated the work of Richard Muller, and his students, and having benefited immensely from their writings, I am still far from an expert in the area of Reformed scholasticism.
I often receive questions about Barth’s views on the Bible, which admittedly is a challenging topic. According to Karl Barth, the Bible is not revelation. The Bible is one of
It is a great strength of our Presbyterian and Reformed ethos that we are historically conscious. We enjoy history and pride ourselves on being self-consciously rooted in the past. Confessional and conservative
Part of a good transcendental critique must be drawing the lines between the dots for people to see clearly. If I have any critique of Van Til, it
“Yet the Aristotelianism of Rome, with its idea of potentiality, offers, we are bound to think, a point of contact with the underlying philosophy of Dialecticism. Rome occupies an
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus (2 Tim 2:3). Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Tim 3:12).
In The New Modernism Van Til identifies the Theology of Crisis with “dialectical theology.” But what is dialectical theology? Van Til explains that dialectical theology is
Moving on from Van Til’s first published criticism of Barth (see the previous six posts entitled In The Beginning) we now consider his first published monograph
At long last we have come to the end of the beginning (see parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). We have reviewed Van Til’s opening salvo against Barth’s theology
Van Til now turns to Barth’s doctrine of creation.
Barth denies that creation as it came forth from the hand of God was good, and was to have
As we continue to unpack Van Til’s review of Zerbe’s book we come to the second part of the review, which concerns Barth’s epistemology. Van Til opens with an
When I first heard about Barth’s concept of the “wholly other” God, it sounded perfectly orthodox. Barth’s emphasis on the qualitative difference between God and man struck me as
In the last post we began to consider Van Til’s first published criticism of Barth. It was set in the context of a book review.[1] There we
It is often assumed that The New Modernism (1946) is Van Til’s first published writing in which he evaluates Barth’s thought. Actually Van Til first
For Van Til no form of unbelief escapes the charge of rationalism. Irrationalism is only a disguised form of rationalism. But before getting to that, it might help to
Last week we talked about Barth’s “absolutely other” god. There we noted how Barth begins with an unknown and unknowable god. In other words, he begins with the god
It is often said that Barth believed in a god who was “wholly other.” It’s an oft repeated phrase, but rarely understood. Van Til would say “absolutely other.” By that
In chapter 3 of Christian Apologetics Van Til addresses the issue of the “point of contact” (Anknüpfungspunkt). That is to say, the point at which the believer may make contact
Both Van Til and Barth rejected all forms of bare theism. That is, they denied a generic view of God. Both believed this “god” was an idol. This is the
Now we begin to make a definite turn toward Barth in Van Til’s writing. Thus far this blog series has been a smattering of topics arising from my rereading
Van Til used the word “scholasticism” (or its other variations) as shorthand for Thomistic dualism (and with it the medieval synthesis of Christian and pagan thought). In short Thomistic
This post is a kind of follow-on from a previous post about “as-suchness.” In The New Synthesis Van Til writes:
Paul does not discuss
There is still a great deal of confusion out there concerning the difference between orthodox Reformed theology and the theology of Karl Barth. Are they not the same? Is
The triumph of the eternal decree of God over history is just as much a problem as the triumph of history over the eternal decree. In an attempt
It is often assumed that Karl Barth’s thought is the antithesis of medieval scholasticism. It is true that Barth is exceedingly critical of Aquinas. But does Barth offer us
I am always edified when I read Van Til. I am also always challenged to conform my thinking to the Holy Scriptures and the Reformed faith. But I am
Who says Van Til is impractical? I would argue that Van Til in all his writing always has an eye towards the church. All of his theologizing, all of
In his writings, Van Til used what has now become a defunct moniker to describe an early 20th century theological movement surrounding Karl Barth and
Going hand-in-hand with what we said in a previous post about rendering God not God, Van Til points up how unbelieving thought assumes a neutral view of reality, and
The below observation is not a criticism of the PCA or the 2017 Assembly. I watched much of the Assembly on-line and was greatly blessed by so many of
Van Til is a master at exegeting unbelief. This is helpful for apologetics. If we do not understand the unbeliever in a biblical way, inevitably our approach to defending the
We at the Reformed Forum have a burning desire to see Christ as preeminent in all things. We believe that the Scriptures reveal to us Christ, from Genesis to Revelation.
Following Kuyper and Bavinck, Van Til so emphasized the antithesis between believer and unbeliever that many have concluded that Van Til cuts the unbeliever off from
I’ve come again, afresh, to the writings of Cornelius Van Til. Lord willing, my plan is to compose a monograph on Van Til’s critique of Karl Barth over the
The Primacy of the Trinity in Theology In the closing section of Herman Bavinck’s chapter on the Trinity, the Dutch theologian makes some very important and keen observations on the
This morning I was taking my daughter to school when “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” came on the radio. I was surprised to hear, however, an interesting change in the
Being that we do not know the exact year John Knox was born, that means we can stretch out the celebration of his 500th for multiple years! Scholars continue to
The below is a historical preamble written by the session of South Austin Presbyterian Church which explains why the church has a voice to speak to both the state
The way Barth understands the relation between eternity and time manifests itself in how he answers the theological problem of how the once and for all work of Christ on
Thus far in this series we have looked at the life of Barth as well as begin to explore his theology as well. In particular we have shown how Christ
This is the third part of a four part series on the life and thought of Karl Barth. After completing a brief biography, we now turn to examine his thought.
In our previous post, part 1, we introduced our thesis and opened with the beginning of Barth’s life. We pick up here with his years from the beginning of his
“Christ is All: An Introduction to the Life and Thought of Karl Barth”1
Part I
Introduction and Thesis
A. Introduction
You are reading the first installment of
Barth’s theology, fairly early on, received the label “neo-orthodox.” Barth himself rejected the label (CD III.3, xii). It is regarded by some today as a misnomer. As early as 1972,
Eberhard Busch describes Barth’s approach to theological prolegomena:
he saw the prolegomena as being a first step into the subject-matter itself, bringing about a first clarification of what revelation was
Bavinck in the first volume of his Reformed Dogmatics is very clear about revelation becoming nature. God reveals himself in, by, and with nature. Bavinck is clear that revelation is
President Obama may some day, if not already, rue the day he compared the Crusades to the current terror tactics of ISIS. But, was his comparison completely off-based?
Several well-circulated
A recent firestorm has arisen within the blogosphere concerning an alleged failure by Karl Barth. It was initiated by Matthew Rose over at First Things here, responded to by IVP
John Piper’s recent Richard B. Gaffin, Jr. Lecture at Westminster Theological Seminary was vintage Piper: passionate, learned, articulate, and just right. The connection between Calvinism, sovereign grace, justification by faith
The history of biblical exposition boasts of a rich heritage when it comes to commentaries on Galatians. We cannot list all of the great commentaries here, so I simply offer
Being interested in learning more about the theology of Karl Barth can be an overwhelming experience. Where does one begin? I would like to offer here just five books to
The following was sent in to my local newspaper for consideration in the editorial page (it was, however, rejected by the editor):
In no way do I pretend to represent
* This review is an abbreviated version of a review of the same book I wrote for the 2012 Confessional Presbyterian Journal
Introduction
Not long ago, we did a show
Laura Story’s newish song-hymn, “What a Savior,” presents us with an interesting theological conundrum. It’s a kind of brain-teaser not unlike the one introduced to many confused Christians when they
For Reformed Christians we often struggle with the relation between the eternal decree of God and the historical manifestation of that decree in time. It is ingrained within our theological
By the time they stopped that night, the rain had abated somewhat. But it did not cease. Likewise, the sun never properly set. Robbed of its glory by the day’s
Why did the chicken cross the road? To escape from Chick-fil-A, of course. On August 1, I did not patronize a Chick-fil-A. Maybe I’m just chicken. The debate about the
For many of us in the Protestant Tradition, the idea of “Biblical Natural Law” may seem like an oxymoron. However, that is not the case for the one of the
Two new volumes are now available for purchase from InterVarsity Press on biblical hermeneutics. Both books seem like they will be great resources for the church. The first is a
To be sure, this story about the on-going battle over so-called gay marriage is disturbing, even if it is not surprising. The issue of “gay marriage” is an important
“To identify the redemptive kingdom of the God…with the common causes of the city of man is profaning of the holy, a prostitution of the gospel, a diabolical repudiation of
I want to once again reiterate my deep appreciation for the work done by 2K theologians. I believe their insights are important and essential for the church to hear today.
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Miracle of Spring A strange thing has taken place
A labor overnight—
That by the thousands apace
New births brought forth to light.
Till now my yard was winter,
The wind turns south, I wing
Back
Summer1
By Geerhardus Vos Translated by Daniel Ragusa
Though thousands of signs do brim
That he the land has graced,
How shall I ever find him?
Where do his
Autumn1 By Geerhardus Vos Translated by Daniel Ragusa Still lingers golden autumn, still stand harvest colors,
Ripening in field, still roams through woods and gardens
A lovely postlude
I had the privilege of participating in a panel discussion on Danny Olinger’s excellent biography of Geerhardus Vos at the Presbyterian Scholars Conference, held at Harbor House, Wheaton College, on
