Apologetics | The Works of John Frame and Vern Poythress

Van Til and the Ligonier Apologetic

by John M. Frame Introduction * R. C. Sproul, John Gerstner, and Arthur Lindsley, Classical Apologetics (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984. x, 364. $12.95). A review article originally published in Westminster Theological Journal, 47.2 (Fall, 1985), 279-299. Used by permission. Classical Apologetics has been eagerly awaited. This book puts into systematic (and at least somewhat technical) form an apologetic approach of considerable interest, which up until now has been expressed primarily in popular...

Van Til on Antithesis

by John M. Frame [This article was originally published in Westminster Theological Journal 57 (1995), 81-102. Used by Permission.] As we seek to make the best use of Cornelius Van Til’s thought in our own time, it is especially important that we come to grips with his concept of antithesis, the diametrical opposition between belief and unbelief and therefore between belief and any compromise of revealed truth. The concept of antithesis is one of Van Til’s own major concerns, and it is that...

Structuralism and Biblical Studies

by Vern S. Poythress [Published in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 21/3 (September 1978) 221 -237. Used with permission.] In the nineteenth century, questions of historical origin formed the primary arena for theological ferment. Orthodox apologetics was largely occupied with defending the occurrence of the supernatural in history. In the area of general science, Darwinian evolution and uniformitarian geology challenged the traditional interpretation of the Biblical account of the origins...

Some Thoughts on Schaeffer’s Apologetics

by John M. Frame Explanatory introduction Steve Scrivener has gathered together John Frame’s comments on Francis Schaeffer’s apologetics from John’s various apologetics books. Steve has added some further reading, some Email correspondence between him and John, and then has reformatted everything into a question and answer format (so the questions [in italics] are Steve’s). The footnotes are John’s except where indicated by “SCRIVENER.” Abbreviations for Frame’s writings The...

A Van Til Glossary

by John M. Frame References: Bahnsen = Greg L. Bahnsen, Van Til’s Apologetic: Readings and Analysis (Phillipsburg: P&R, 1998). Frame = John M. Frame, Cornelius Van Til: an Analysis of His Thought (Phillipsburg: P&R, 1995). VT= Van Til Absolute Personality: VT’s basic characterization of God. Unlike any non-Christian view, the biblical God is both absolute (a se, self-existent, self-sufficient, self-contained) and personal (thinking, speaking, acting, loving, judging). See Frame,...

Van Til: His Simplicity and Profundity

by John M. Frame Our Orthodox Presbyterian Church is a small body and has little influence in the world or even in the worldwide Christian community. For its size, however, it has had as members a remarkable number and quality of Christian scholars. That fact may at times distort our perspective. We OP’s may be tempted, for instance, to think regarding Cornelius Van Til that since he is one of us he cannot really be very important. OP’s remember Van Til as a familiar, friendly face at...