Shortly before heading out for a 10 day Caribbean
cruise, I came across a dissertation that caught my eye:
The Apologetic Methods of Isma'il R. al-Faruqi and
Cornelius Van Til - Eric R. Dye, University of London, 2000 (LINK
to online PDF copy)
I downloaded a copy to my
tablet to read during the cruise and travel time; I also took my copy of
al-Faruqi's, Christian Ethics, finishing both before my return home last
Friday.
It had been years since
my first reading of al-Faruqi, but I know for fact that I did not back then
discern the remarkable parallels between al-Fauqi's and Van Til's apologetic
method, as uncovered and related by Eric Dye in his dissertation. But my second
reading, enlightened by Eric Dye's insightful reflections, has me wondering how
I missed the parallels during my first reading.
Anyway, though this topic
may not be of much interest to many of my readers, I felt compelled to bring it
up....
Grace and peace,
North, Bahnsen, et al., are among the nastiest, most incorrigible theologians I've ever come across.
ReplyDeleteGary North was an economist who published under the Institute for Christian Economics publishing house based in Tyler, Texas, my hometown. Seems as if it is defunct as of the early 1990s.
They were theologians under the teaching of Van Til and Rushdoony, Presbyterian amillennials advocating for a system they called Theonomy.
It basically means a very confused application of Old Testament, including stoning children for minor offenses and various other nasty policies.
Very nasty Calvinists, who additionally advocated the death penalty for many other very minor offenses, many of which would not even be considered illegal at all under our judicial system.
I did not earlier see other posts under the Theonomy heading but afte reading through it I do recall now a post a few years back including a long list of theonomy books for free online.
ReplyDeleteIt is my hope that every Baptist and/or Evangelical in America, who takes the Bible seriously, will read The Failure of the American Baptist Culture, and follow this book up with Dr. Bahnsen's, By This Standard, and then Dr. North's, Political Polytheism—this trio of books provides a devastating critique of the Anabaptist/Baptist tradition that began back in the 16th century, and has come to dominant the mindset of American evangelicalism."
Thank you for this information. I will try to study up on these matters, the "critique of the Anabaptist/Baptist tradition" strikes me as an eminently important topic.
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteSincerely appreciate your thoughts concerning North, Bahnsen, Van Til and Rushdooney. In your first post, you wrote:
==North, Bahnsen, et al., are among the nastiest, most incorrigible theologians I've ever come across.==
Me: I have read pretty much every book on theology that North and Bahnsen have written (though it has been well over a decade ago). I agree with you that Dr. North can be quite nasty, but I had a different experience concerning the late Dr. Bahnsen. I met him briefly in the late 80s after a lecture have gave on postmillennialism, and he was quite 'friendly'.
==Gary North was an economist who published under the Institute for Christian Economics publishing house based in Tyler, Texas, my hometown. Seems as if it is defunct as of the early 1990s.==
Me: Dr. North placed a lot of stock into his belief that Y2K would be a catastrophic event for the world. As you know, pretty much nothing happened, which significantly damaged North's reputation. I.C.E. pretty much vanished from the scene shortly after 01/01/2000.
==They were theologians under the teaching of Van Til and Rushdoony, Presbyterian amillennials advocating for a system they called Theonomy.==
Me: Van Til was an amillennialist, but not a theonomist. Rushdoony was a postmillennialist, as was Bahnsen, and as is North (most theonomists are postmillennialists).
==It basically means a very confused application of Old Testament, including stoning children for minor offenses and various other nasty policies.
Very nasty Calvinists, who additionally advocated the death penalty for many other very minor offenses, many of which would not even be considered illegal at all under our judicial system.==
Me: I am not a Calvinist, but I was for over a decade. I put a good deal of study into the history and theology Calvinism, and though I still have a great deal of respect for a number of Calvinist theologians, I came to the place where I could no longer count myself as an adherent of their system. Now, with that said, I would argue that Calvinistic Theonomists are the most consistent Calvinists out there. But, that in and of itself does not make their system true.
In your second comment, you posted:
==I did not earlier see other posts under the Theonomy heading but afte reading through it I do recall now a post a few years back including a long list of theonomy books for free online.
It is my hope that every Baptist and/or Evangelical in America, who takes the Bible seriously, will read The Failure of the American Baptist Culture, and follow this book up with Dr. Bahnsen's, By This Standard, and then Dr. North's, Political Polytheism—this trio of books provides a devastating critique of the Anabaptist/Baptist tradition that began back in the 16th century, and has come to dominant the mindset of American evangelicalism."
Thank you for this information. I will try to study up on these matters, the "critique of the Anabaptist/Baptist tradition" strikes me as an eminently important topic.==
Me: I hope you will take the time to share your thoughts with me here at AF (or via email), once you have taken the time to study "these matters".
Take care and God bless,
David