[Covenantal apologetics] seeks to take the truth of Scripture as the proper diagnosis of the unbelieving condition and challenge the unbeliever to make sense of the world he has made, given that such a world is based on a fundamentally irrational construct ... Given any fact or experience, it asks the question as to the presuppositions behind that fact, and which make it possible. -K. Scott Oliphint
"...only the Christian worldview provides the necessary preconditions for the intelligibility of human experience.That is, only the Christian view of God, creation, providence, revelation, and human nature can make sense of the world in which we live. So, for example, only the Christian worldview can make sense out of morality since it alone provides the necessary presuppositions for making ethical evaluations, namely, an absolute and personal Law Giver who reveals His moral will to mankind. It does not make sense, however, for the atheist/materialist to denounce any action as wrong since, according to his worldview, all that exists is matter in motion. And matter in motion is inherently non-moral. That is, since the world according to the materialist is totally explicable in terms of physical processes, and since physical processes are categorically non-moral, moral considerations have no place in his worldview. Thus for the materialist to say that stealing is morally wrong makes as much sense as saying that the secretion of insulin from the pancreas is morally wrong. [This is not to say, however, that atheists never act morally. Atheists feed their children, give money to charity and often make good neighbors. But atheists cannot give a justification for their actions. In the words of Cornelius Van Til, they are living on "borrowed capital" from the Christian worldview. Thus they profess one thing, but their actions belie this profession].- Michael Butler
In defending the Christian faith, the most important question before us is "What sort of defense will best glorify our God (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31)?" God forbid that in seeking to defend the faith before others we should in that very act compromise it. The so-called "presuppositional" school of apologetics is concerned above all with answering this question. Among all the sources of divine revelation (including nature, history, human beings in God's image), Scripture plays a central role. Indeed, though the point cannot be argued in detail here, my view is that Scripture is the supremely authoritative, inerrant Word of God, the divinely authored, written constitution of the church of Jesus Christ. Scripture is therefore the foundational authority for all of human life including apologetics. As the ultimate authority, the very Word of God, it provides the foundational justifications for all our reasoning, without itself being subject to prior justification.
John Frame
| Title |
Notes |
Justifying Non-Christian Objections  |
Douglas Wilson & Farrell Till |
Let God Be True: A Brief Defense of the Christian Faith  |
Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. |
Apologetics  |
John M. Frame - This article was originally published in Kevin Vanhoozer, ed., Dictionary for the Theological Interpretation of the Bible |
Is Christianity Good for the World?  |
Atheist Christopher Hitchens and Theologian Douglas Wilson Debate |
The Complete Wilson-Hitchens Debate (.pdf)  |
Douglas Wilson (theist) & Christopher Hitchens (Atheist) |
Certainty  |
John M. Frame |
Presuppositional Apologetics  |
John Frame - from IVP Dictionary of Apologetics. |
Epistemological Perspectives and Evangelical Apologetics  |
John M. Frame |
Cornelius Van Til and Romans 1:18-21  |
David L. Turner (pdf) - A Study in the Epistemology of Presuppositional Apologetics |
Transcendental Arguments  |
John Frame - from IVP Dictionary of Apologetics. |
Unbelievers and the Knowledge of God: Biblical Warrant for a Presuppositional Apologetic  |
K. Scott Oliphint |
Old Princeton Apologetics: Common Sense or Reformed?  |
Tim McConnel - Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (Dec 2003) |
Approaching Cults and World Religions from A Presuppositional Apologetic Perspective  |
Jeff Downs |
Reason, Evidence and Presuppositional Apologetics  |
Rev. Brian M. Abshire |
Presuppositional Procedure  |
Greg Bahnsen. |
Van Til: His Logic, Epistemology, and Apologetic  |
Nathan Pitchford |
A Christian Appraisal of Contemporary Philosophy  |
Gordon H. Clark |
"The Heart of the Matter: Knowing and Believing,"  |
Dr. Greg Bahnsen - An introduction for beginners in apologetics. |
Presuppositional Apologetics  |
Mark Duncan |
A Defence of Christianity  |
C. VanTil |
Apologetics and the Heart  |
Douglas Wilson |
Presuppositional Reasoning With False Faiths  |
Dr. Greg L. Bahnsen |
Presuppositional Apologetics  |
- Well-Written explanation from Wikipedia |
Presuppositional Apologetics and the Moral Government of God  |
Jay Wegter |
Van Til's "Presuppositionalism  |
Dr. Greg Bahnsen |
Van Til and the Ligonier Apologetic  |
John M. Frame |
A Critique of the Evidentialist Apologetical Method of John Warwick Montgomery  |
Dr. Greg Bahnsen |
Is Non-Christian Thought Justifiable?  |
A Debate among Douglas Jones, Michael Martin and Keith Parsons |
Jesus’ Sacrifice: a Dialogue between Ra McLaughlin and Various Members at Infidels.org  |
IIIM Magazine Online (.pdf) |
Biblical Rationalism vs. Psycho Assertionism  |
An informal email debate between Christian Vincent Cheung and atheist Derek Sansone |
The Martin-Frame Debate  |
The Transcendental Argument for the Non Existence of God |
Why I Believe In God  |
Cornelius Van Til |
Van Til and Plantinga: A Brief Comparison  |
James Anderson |
The Presuppositional Apologetic  |
James M. Harrison |
The Crucial Concept of Self-Deception in Presuppositional Apologetics  |
Greg L. Bahnsen |
At War With the Word:The Necessity of Biblical Antithesis  |
Greg L. Bahnsen |
Van Til's Most Succinct Synopsis  |
This the second excerpt from Dr. Bahnsen's book: "Van Til's Apologetics". A synopsis of his critique of the "traditional method" and a synopsis of the presuppositional apologetic that he feels is the best method to defend the |
A Primer on Presuppositionalism  |
S. Joel Garver |
The Apologetic Programme of Van Til as an Assault Against the Apologetic Tradition  |
Bob Brenton |
An Apology for my Theology: The Inseparable Link Between Reformed Theology and Presuppositional Apologetics  |
Bryan Neal Baird |
Apologetics at Westminster Seminary  |
John Frame |
Bahnsen at the Stein Debate  |
John Frame |
Cornelius Van Til  |
John Frame - from IVP's Dictionary of Apologetics |
How to Believe in God in the 2000s  |
John Frame |
Infinite Series  |
John M. Frame - from IVP Dictionary of Apologetics |
The Message of Cornelius Van Til  |
John Frame |
Ontological Argument  |
John Frame - from IVP Dictionary of Apologetics |
Reply to Don Collett on Transcendental Argument  |
John M. Frame (Westminster Theological Journal) |
Self-Refuting Statements  |
John Frame - from IVP Dictionary of Apologetics. |
Triads for Apologetics  |
John Frame |
Van Til: A Reassessment  |
John Frame |
Van Til: His Simplicity and Profundity  |
John Frame |
Van Til and the Ligonier Apologetic  |
John Frame |
A Van Til Glossary  |
John Frame |
Van Til on Antithesis  |
John Frame |
Van Til, The Theologian  |
John Frame |
Prolegomena to Apologetics  |
Dr. Greg Bahnsen - How to deal with being assaulted from every side by unbelief. |
"On Worshipping the Creature Rather Than the Creator,"  |
Dr. Greg Bahnsen - On Romans 1 and unbelieving thought |
"Van Til and Self-Deception,"  |
Dr. Greg Bahnsen |
Starbucks: The Land of Opportunity!  |
James (Jay) Wilson - a fictional encounter I had with Ed while studying in Starbucks |
Why is Secularism Exempt from the Separation of Church and State?  |
John Hendryx |
The Relevance of Presuppositions and Evidence  |
Carmen C. DiCello |
Hope's Reason: The Apologetic Significance of 1 Peter 3:13-17  |
DiCello, Carmen C. |
Lo, the Bombasticator Cometh  |
Doug Wilson Reviews - "God Is Not Great" by Christopher Hitchens |
I Can’t Repent  |
Ichabod S. Spencer |
Almost Lost – But Saved And Almost Saved – But Lost  |
C. F. Boerkoel, Sr |
The Epistemology of Pascal’s Wager: A Christian Presuppositional Argument  |
Joel Esala |
Presuppositions and Rational Belief  |
Keith Welton |
Jesus’ Sacrifice: a Dialogue  |
between Ra McLaughlin and Various Members at Infidels.org |
A Defense of Reformed (biblical) Apologetics  |
Cornelius VanTil |
Impossible Neutrality: An Analogy from Humanistic Geography  |
Jimmy Li |
A Brief Outline Against Religious Neutrality  |
Jimmy Li |
Apologetics for Hipsters & Other Secularists  |
J.W. Hendryx |
Monergism Interview with Dr. Tim Keller  |
J.W. Hendryx |
Richard Dawkins Snookered for Jesus?  |
Steve Hays |
The Reason for God: A Critical Interactive Review  |
David Robertson |
Schools Are Religious  |
Robert R. Booth |
The Charge of Hypocrisy, Violence and Oppression  |
John Hendryx |
Circularity and Christian Apologetics  |
Jay Wegter - Do we prove the Bible from the Bible? Are Christians using circular reasoning when they employ an internal defense of Scripture? |
Covenantal Apologetics  |
K. Scott Oliphint |
Caution - Depraved Minds at Work  |
Don Craig |
Christian Civilization is the Only Civilization  |
Michael H. Warren, Jr. |
Jonathan Edwards: Reformed Apologist  |
Scott Oliphint |
TAG vs. TANG  |
Michael Butler |
The Fountainhead of Presuppositionalism  |
Dr. James Oliver Buswell, Jr. |
Old Testament Vs. New Testament God  |
by John Hendryx |
Atheists Suck at Being Atheists  |
Christopher Hitchens and Pastor Douglas Wilson |
Presuppositionalism and Frame’s Epistemology (.pdf)  |
James N. Anderson |
A Proposal on the Occasion and the Method of Presenting Evidence within a Van Tillian Framework  |
Jimmy Li |
Presuppositional Apologetics Q&A  |
Douglas Wilson |
Why & What: A Brief Introduction to Christianity  |
Douglas Jones |
Win the Man, Not the Argument  |
Douglas Wilson |
What Is Presuppositionalism?  |
William Edgar |
Answering Objections to Presuppositionalism  |
K. Scott Oliphint |
How Pastors Can Make Time to Talk with Skeptics  |
Daniel Strange |
Taxonomy of Logical Fallacies  |
http://www.fallacyfiles.org |