Monday, February 7

Gordon Clark

I am reading a logic book by America's "foremost" theologian. I like it alot, so far. It's a nice brush up after I take my regular logic class every day, and you know, there have been other logicians prior to good ol' Doug and James...gulp* (I wait for the lightning to strike because of blatant heretical rhetoric* but alas, none comes). My principal noted today in Art History that Gordon views logic a little to highly. I realize that Gordon is very persistent in his apologetic for logic, but come on, who wants to read a book that isn't persuasive? I mean, pshh, rather than saying that we study logic because, because, logic is an attribute of God (Wilson, cough*) and for some reason that makes it final, (it actually does, but since Sir Douglas doesnt teach us about enthymemes until exercise 22, how is a moron like myself going to decipher that conclusion?) which is where Monsieur Clark comes into play. Had I read the intro to Clark's book, I would be well versed in the biblical argument pro logic, and had I been exposed to a good Biblical exegesis of John 1:1 the world would have meant so much more and my comprehension of logic would have been snazzy. If Clark's book is this good, I wonder what other logic books by better authors are like. They must be better! Dude, logic is "the crap". Clarks book is all dinky too, I want a drinkin' book, a freaking volume and-a-half. Something that would take 3 good bags of tobaccy. No just kidding about the drinkin' and tobaccy, lest my family view me devilish, but not even Clinton can stop me when I am of age(I already have my pipe model selected, and a nice humidor to boot), therefore (insert "dot" symbol here) Christian liberty is the true meaning of logic. Do you hear the sound? The sound that it makes?

I am so tired

5 Comments:

At 4:42 PM, Blogger Dave said...

You never actually gave me your password, you just emailed me your blog code :D

 
At 6:11 PM, Blogger Nathan said...

yeah sorry about the present use. I typed that directly from what the back of the book said, which was published in 1983 or somewhere around the time. So at the time, according to the editor, Clark was America's foremost theologian. I am pretty sure thats why I put quotes around it. But props for bolding my lack of tense knowledge.
Now, about your beef with Van Til and Clark. From the logic book I am reading, what I have gathered is simply that Clark had a profound appreciation for logic, given the complexity and majesty of God and His word. But you can't even box Clark and Van Til together because Van Til and Clark had vastly different approaches to apologetics as well as a very different understanding of theology. Clark and Van Til even debated on the "Incomprehensibility of God" in 1940. But if both, as you seem to assert, thought that they could "investigate God in a logical sort of way" apart from Scripture, then why did they debate in the first place? Scott Oliphint noted, "Van Til while developing, expanding, and elaborating his approach throughout his career as an apologist, never wavered from his fundamental conviction that God is the presupposition behind all thought and all life. Whatever man thinks and whatever he does, God is there sustaining and maintaining." Van Til denied the rationalism of Clark and the irrationalism of Barth. You said,

-"I think that's the error of people like Clark and Van Til, both of whom want to investigate God in a logical sort of way: that is, a philosophical, intellectual examination apart from Scripture. Human reason is too corrupt for this task, and so they end up reading a lot of their own ideas into religion. This is what happens when you try to "naturalise" religion."-

I agree totally and completely with what you when you say that human reason is too corrupt for this task, and I can assuredly tell you that Van Til wholeheartedly raises his cup of coffee in seconding this. Anyone who has remotely studied presuppositional apologetics knows that the epistemic Lordship of Christ is the foundational principle argued, defended, and then believed to be the main precondition for intelligibility. Van Til not only had a distinct "theology" but more so, he had a distinct "Christology".

 
At 6:34 PM, Blogger Nathan said...

hey man, good reply, I need to get some crap together before I can respond, and no I didn't figure you were angry or trying to be belligerent. You angry? pshh, not a chance. Read back here soon... : )

 
At 5:49 PM, Blogger Nathan said...

or not, because I don't want to take the time to find you a quote, and mostly because even if I do find a quote I can't really tell you for sure that he lived consistent with his theory, but I mean, who can? I'm sure when Barth had a bad day he was more heretical than usual : )

 
At 12:54 AM, Blogger Nathan said...

Ok, I will just say that Van Til always started with Scriptural definitions of God. Reason has to start there or else it is irrational. If I know this, Van Til had to know this. For as learned a man as he was, nothing he assumed or proved could have been proven unless he based everything on this "point 1". And it is a living proof that he did because his apologetic theories have yet to be underminded by any arguments. Show me one. One argument that undermines what he has "proven". Nothing fallacious or unbiblical can be deduced from presuppositionalism, which is the aspect of Van Til that I am defending. I am obviously not saying he was perfect, so any other areas, I am not defending. Since he was Reformed Dutch, there are obvious disagreements that come right to mind (e.g. law versus grace, etc.)

 

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