Cornelius Van Til

This research on compression rolling of timber boards concentrates on the following aspects: 1. Analysing the compression rolling process. 2. Developing the instrumentation and the computerized data acquisition to acquire the parameters of compression rolling. 3. Studying the effects of compression rolling on timber boards A theoretical model approaches the results of the experiment on compression rolling of timber boards. The surface and properties of timber boards are not obviously changed if the compression level is less than 10%, but are changed to a small degree when the compression level is increased from 10% to 17%%. There are splits and resin expellation on the surface of timber board when the compression level is more than 17%. The hardness on the surface of the timber boards is increased 4% at 15% compression level and 6.6% at 17% compression level. This thesis includes eight chapters. Its main contents are Chapter 3-theoretical analysis, Chapter

A common theme in Christian school literature is the search for and/or description of the distinctiveness of the Christian school and the Christian school movement.  There is general recognition that the Christian school exists as an alternative to public schools and even non-religious private schools for a variety of historical, philosophical, and practical reasons.  Faith-based schools, that is, religious schools in general, and Christian schools in particular, have a unique place in the United States and Canada, in particular, but even more broadly in Europe.

In A Spirituality of Character Formation, Ribera presented four affirmations to frame the
discussion about character education: 1) Character formation is the responsibility of the home,
the church, and the state, 2) Character formation is a spiritual endeavor, 3) Character formation
addresses standards, motives, and ends, and 4) Character formation makes room for ambiguity,
tension, and paradox. In the course of the discussion Ribera interacted with several prominent
voices in the field of character education, namely Alfie Kohn, David Purpel, and Glenn Tinder.
In addition, Ribera made use of a triadic framework of prophet, priest, and king, and integrated
the ethical work of thinkers like: C. S. Lewis, Cornelius Van Til, and Louis P. Pojman.

Lewis (1952) says that Christian behavior is concerned with three things: first, fair play and harmony between individuals, or relations between man and man; second, tidying up or harmonizing things inside each individual, or things inside each man; and third, the general purpose of human life as a whole: what man was made for, or relations between man and the power that made him. The heading under which Lewis writes about ethics is Christian behavior, or human action, or what one does with natural inclinations. Lewis likens moral individuals to sailing ships. The fair play and harmony relate to ships not running into one another or getting in each other's way; the tidying up and harmonizing things inside the individual relates to ensuring that one's own ship is seaworthy and has her engines in good order; and the general purpose of human life relates to what course the whole fleet ought to be on.

Cornelius Van Til was part of the Dutch reformed or Calvinist day school movement in both the Netherlands and America. He attended a two-room schoolhouse in an immigrant Dutch community in Hammond, Indiana. During his days as professor at Westminster Theological Seminary he founded an independent Christian school that still serves students on three campuses in suburban Philadelphia.

The establishment of Dutch reformed day schools has an important place in the history of America education. Dutch Christians migrated to pursue religious liberty, and settled throughout America establishing Calvinistic schools. Their motivation was the freedom to educate their children in religious schools not controlled by the government. The establishment of these schools was not a reaction to a public school system that was too traditional or too progressive. It was a decision based on religious convictions, and a philosophy of education that considered faith more essential than anything else.

Dutch reformed schools were founded on principles derived from the Reformation. Though outside the common school and public school movements, they have nevertheless been influential on the American educational landscape.  Van Til brings a new perspective to the ongoing traditionalist/progressive debate, suggesting that the differences may be more of a “family quarrel.”

Finally, teachers in Christian schools may appreciate a fresh perspective on the distinctives of a Christian education. The Christian school is not just a public school with some prayer and Bible reading sprinkled on a common curriculum. Van Til addresses what makes a Christian school unique.

The efforts in the Christian school to effectively integrate faith and learning lead one to consider foundational theories of knowledge. Defining knowledge raises questions about the knower and the known, the relationship between experience and knowledge, and the certainty of knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to examine the literature as it relates to theistic (specifically Christian) and non-theistic epistemologies and their impact on the integration of faith and learning. Kant, Pearson, Russell, and Dewey presented theories that attempted to ensure objective knowledge. Polanyi, Gill, and Palmer supported the view that knowing is always personal. Polanyi’s theory of tacit knowing was especially important. The modern debate has roots in ancient theological formulas regarding the relationship between faith and reason. Kuyper, Bavinck, and Van Til presented a revelational epistemology founded in the Dutch Reformed tradition. Finally, the author examined a model of integration based on these ideas and discussed the implications.

This paper proposes a biblical and theological rationale for art education in Christian schools. I first examine art and art education as components of the original, Edenic cultural mandate, and then under the renewed cultural commission signified in the resurrection. I argue that in the post-fall context, the cultural mandate for art and art education must incorporate consciousness of what some have called a cultural 'antithesis'. That is, the practice and teaching of art are properly undertakings of the body of Christ and must be always mindful of sin.

A review of the Christian school literature finds a common theme, that is, the search for and description of the distinctives of the Christian school. There is an understanding that the Christian school exists as an alternative to public schools and non-religious private schools for a variety of historical, philosophical, and practical reasons. The literature makes it clear that Christian educators need to clarify their distinctiveness and pass on to the next generation of Christian educators the history, foundations, and vision of Christian education. The purpose of this paper is to examine the literature as it relates to the definition of the Christian school, specifically, the meaning of the expression “the integration of faith and learning,” which is frequently used in descriptions of the distinctive features of the Christian school. In the course of this review the concepts of the religious experience of the faculty, the covenantal nature of education, religious neutrality, epistemological dualism, philosophical antithesis, and the expressions “all truth is God’s truth,” and “thinking God’s thoughts after Him” are explored.

Este trabalho procura considerar a questão do ponto de contato entre cristão e não-cristão na apologética. Busca descrever este aspecto na proposta apologética de Cornelius Van Til e Francis Schaeffer, estabelecendo a relação entre eles. Mediante pesquisa bibliográfica, procura descrever o ambiente no qual tais pensadores viveram, apresentar os fundamentos da apologética pressuposicionalista, e traçar uma comparação entre os pensadores em pauta. O trabalho é concluído percebendo as diferenças e similaridades entre Schaeffer e Van Til no que diz respeito à questão do ponto de contato na apologética, e identificando Schaeffer com o pressuposicionalismo.

In this short treatise I will be considering the relationship between Van Til’s Presuppositionalism and Natural Theology, and will attempt to demonstrate that the philosophical foundations of this system force him into a Relativism of Interpretative Schemes, and, consequently, self-contradiction.  I will begin by considering the inner workings of his overall system, followed by an explanation of how he attempts to fit natural theology into his overall system. I will conclude by demonstrating that Van Til’s system is subject to a number of serious flaws.  It seems that if the Presuppositionalist system succumbs to these flaws, then its most difficult objections to the traditional understanding of Natural Theology do not hold. If this is the case, then we may be warranted in engaging in natural theology as traditionally understood.

The integration of faith and learning is essential to religious schools. Though there are practical differences in how faith is integrated, fundamental differences exist in how schools conceive and articulate such integration. Beginning with a review of the historical, political, and philosophical roots of the religious school movement in America, this study examined the beliefs of religious schools about the integration of faith and learning, and how those beliefs work out in the school program. Examples included Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and various Protestant schools in the United States and Europe. Several integration models were presented. Finally, a model of integration based on the work of the 20th century theologian, apologist, and educator Cornelius Van Til was presented.

The broad scope of apologetical models that exist today can take the novice by surprise if he is not careful. The differences between apologetical methodologies can be overwhelming, even for that seminary student who is eager to learn all of it. Who knew about all of the different approaches to defending the Christian faith? Christian apologists throughout the history of the church have been faithful to rise to the challenges of their day and show that Christianity is compatible with reality. But the challenges have varied and thus, so have the methods. This has led to a considerable amount of disagreement over metapologetical issues. Issues such as epistemology, the value of theistic proofs, degree of certainty, the relationship between faith and reason, the role of evidence, and the existence and nature of common ground between believers and non-believers have been main topics of discussion and disagreement among apologists (Boa and Bowman 33).

In this article I will be proposing that there is a fatal flaw in the presuppositionalist position, specifically the position held by Cornelius Van Til. I will begin by giving a brief overview of defining elements of Van Til's version of Presuppositionalism. This will be followed by an argument in which I seek to demonstrate that there is a seemingly insurmountable obstacle that plagues Van Til's Presuppositionalism. I will conclude by noting some consequences that follow if my argument is successful.

Karl Rahner, SJ (1904–1984) was one of the most influential Catholic theologians of the twentieth century. Theologians often encounter him first through his trinitarian “rule,” which states that the “economic” Trinity is the “immanent” Trinity and the “immanent” Trinity is the “economic” Trinity. While many can recite the rule, few understand its significance. We endeavor to offer a comprehensive study of Rahner’s doctrine of trinitarian personality by tracing this thread through the doctrine of God, theological anthropology, Christology, and soteriology.

By understanding the hypostases of Son and Spirit as ad intra self-communications, Rahner formulates a means for the triune God to communicate himself to human beings, the divinely equipped recipient of his gift of self. When the eternal Son of God expresses himself concretely, he is expressed as a hypostatic union of divine and human natures. Through this hypostatic union Christ actualizes and consummates the relationship between God and man by becoming the climax of divine gift and its human acceptance in freedom. For Rahner, this divine self-communication elevates humanity to consummate life through the beatific vision.

In this study, we argue that Rahner’s formulation of trinitarian personality cannot sustain a fully trinitarian gift of self, because it is trinitarian in mode of delivery only—in manner, but not in matter. Therefore, it is not properly a divine gift of self. By
appealing to the twentieth-century Reformed theologian Cornelius Van Til (1895–1987), we propose a doctrine of perichoresis to ground a biblical-theological and systematic model of æonic image conformity as an alternative. The beatific vision (and glorification) ought to be construed in a covenantal context as an eschatological transformation, which recovers the threefold image of God bestowed upon man at creation and elevates him to an estate higher than that in which he was created. In contrast to Rahner’s theology of divine self-communication, the glorified man does not become incorporated ontologically or hypostatically into God. Rather, as believers are conformed to the image of Christ, they participate in his resurrection glory, manifesting more fully its ultimate source, the triune God himself.

There are presently more believers from a Muslim background (BMBs) than any point in history. This unprecedented movement presents a missiological challenge: how to disciple BMBs through the unique barriers they face. This study evaluated Reformed presuppositional apologetics (RPA) as a discipleship model to practically address barriers to spiritual growth unique to BMBs. 
This study required a mixed approach of descriptive research through bibliographic and qualitative research methods. Bibliographic methods analyzed the theological, biblical, and historical references to RPA in relation to discipling BMBs. An evaluative approach interpreted surveys which identified BMBs’ barriers to discipleship. Survey respondents revealed what theological, spiritual, and socio-cultural barriers of discipleship BMBs face. A theoretical model of discipleship with BMBs was derived from the synthesized findings of this mixed methods approach. 
RPA was found to have clear biblical and theological foundations as a model for discipleship. Historical research indicated all elements of RPA were used in many early (634-900 A.D.) and middle era (900-1400 A.D.) Christian approaches with Muslims. In the modern era (1800-present), Samuel M. Zwemer and Samuel P. Schlorff utilized a Reformed presuppositional approach with their ministries to Muslims and BMBs.
The survey research produced crucial categories of discipleship to be addressed with BMBs. Barriers to BMBs’ spiritual growth were found to include the following areas: theology, biblical narratives, spiritual disciplines, church attendance/discipline, finances, ethics, relationships, family, marriage, childrearing, and folk practices.
The survey research also established that the major barrier to BMBs’ spiritual growth in these categories stem from residual influences of their former Muslim worldview and primary sources (Qur’an, Hadith, Sirat). Results further demonstrated that Muslim primary sources and worldviews must be intentionally deconstructed and reconstructed upon the Bible and the Christian worldview for the BMB to grow spiritually. The survey research thus supported the theory that RPA is not only biblically grounded, theologically coherent, and historically applied, but that it practically addresses discipleship issues unique to BMBs. 
Considering BMBs’ religio-cultural background, this study answered how the unprecedented number of converts might be discipled. The theoretical discipleship model derived from the research, a Reformed presuppositional approach to discipleship of BMBs (PAD model) practically helps the discipler prepare and apply discipleship plans for BMBs. The theoretical PAD model has two steps, each addressing three aspects in each category of BMBs’ discipleship. Step one (N1-3) includes deconstruction and renunciation of the BMB’s former Muslim worldview, practices, and primary sources. Step two (P1-3) reconstructs upon, and affirms allegiance to, Christ and Scripture.
Further studies may measure the spiritual growth of and benefits for BMBs discipled using the PAD model. Further studies should establish if RPA is a practical model of discipleship with believers from Hindu, Buddhist, and other religious backgrounds. Can this model also be applied to the unique challenges that these believers face?

‘Van Til’s apologetic is thoroughly determined by his theological commitments. Indeed, he believed that the most important and distinctive aspect of his apologetics was its consistency with Reformed theology.’ Everyone proceeds on the basis of certain presuppositions. Inevitably, these devolve into two fundamental approaches to understanding reality, viewing things from the standpoint of human reason and experience or of God and his Word. The only one who can choose his approach is the Christian, since the unregenerate naturally assume their own ultimacy and neutrality, neither of which is, in fact, the case. The Christian cannot by his method deny what God’s Word has made clear to him, that he is dependent on God for all truth, meaning, and coherence.

At the heart of Van Til's critique of Barth's theology is the Westminster professor's understanding of the latter's Christology as re-cast along actualistic lines.  If Van Til is correct that at the heart of Barth's theology is an actualized Christology, then the basic tenants of Van Til's read are sound, contrary to recent Barthian and Evangelical dismissals of the Reformed apologist's work.  We seek to show that Van Til's understanding of Barth's theology is actually supported by recent scholarship on Barth's thought.

The presuppositional approach of Cornelius Van Til draws on the epistemological ideas found in Herman Bavinck and Abraham Kuyper to bring Reformed epistemology and its application to apologetics into line with its Calvinist foundations. This transcendental approach accents the ultimacy of God for all knowledge over against the Kantian transcendental critique which, with its accent on autonomy, forms the basis for all approaches to knowledge that do not start with the necessity of the revelation of God in creation and Scripture. The
Christian cannot by his method deny what God’s Word has made clear to him, that he is dependent on God for all truth, meaning, and coherence.

In addition to the Protestant theologians who have explicitly contributed to a new evangelical natural law theory, and the Christian scholars in non-theological fields who have written eloquently on this topic, there are two other theologians whose contributions merit careful review. While neither one contributed specifically to a renewed Protestant natural law theory, they have both clearly developed other theological topics that support this project. They are Cornelius Van Til and Albert Wolters.

I. INTRODUCTION We may say that as the second person of the Trinity Christ had heard of the Greek virtues before the Greeks had heard of them. In other words, it was because in the pactum salutis that Christ took it upon himself to save the world, which would fall into sin and try in vain through its own ethics and its own virtues to save itself, that he now put forth his righteousness as the foundation of the virtues of those who should be in him.-Van Til, Christian Theistic Ethics, 12 Cornelius Van Til is well known for his apologetic method, commonly labeled "Presuppositionalism." 1 However, he is less known for his covenant theology, as he learned it in its most academic form from Geerhardus Vos. Even still, those who do understand Van Til's covenant theology still debate its center, and therefore differ on the nature and 1 The word "presuppositionalism" was originally placed on Van Til by other authors, and he only then used it out of convenience. But in second, and now third and even fourth generation presuppositionalism, the camps are so splintered, and the word used so loosely, that the word now hardly indicates more than a Christian use of a reduction ad absurdum argument.

This study presents a theological account of moral experience and of the nature and possibility of evil in conversation with Herman Bavinck, Johan Herman Bavinck, Geerhardus Vos, and Cornelius Van Til. In light of their work, the fall is examined as the prototypical instance of religious intercourse with God, one in which religious symmetry and ontological asymmetry appear in concentrated juxtaposition. The first sin, expressive of original moral mutability, unfolds against a backdrop of the absolute God non-necessarily self-expressed as moral norm for the creature. The neo-Calvinist position is that this is a covenant condescension of God establishing the moral mutability of Adam’s original state and that it is thus the primary theological account of history and human moral self-understanding. Furthermore, the covenant condescension of God is understood, by Bavinck and Van Til in particular, as the original incarnation of God. The uniqueness of the incarnation proper, beginning with conception in the womb of Mary, is therefore not primarily metaphysical but redemptive-historical. When the Son appears in the fullness of time, he expresses an incarnational relation which predates the fall but which is now amplified by his mediatorial humiliation for the accomplishment and vindication of both the long-suffering and the special grace of God. The primary claim of this book is that, according to major voices in neo-Calvinism, the triune God has self-revealed as absolute person and that the condescension of the absolute, personal God primarily in the Son is the necessary and sufficient condition for creaturely moral experience, for moral meaning in the realm of human self-understanding.

Neste ensaio nós examinaremos o livre arbítrio como é definido pelos arminianos, e veremos que o estudo das seitas revela que essa doutrina é muitas vezes central nas suas teologias. Mas se isso for verdade, então, para montar uma apologética suficiente contra as seitas será necessário também refutar essa doutrina chave. Isso significa que, no fim das contas, somente uma apologética plenamente reformada é adequada para conseguir a derrota das teologias e heresias das seitas. Uma apologética comprometida com o arminianismo já concorda com as seitas sobre a questão central da autonomia metafísica do ser humano. Veremos que isso tem implicações graves que inevitavelmente solapam tal apologética. Por outro lado, a apologética reformada é capaz de detonar a base das heresias e mostrar que todas elas levam logicamente ao irracionalismo e, finalmente, o niilismo. Neste trabalho estudaremos o mormonismo como exemplo para demonstrar a eficácia da apologética reformada contra as seitas.

This article compares the views of Franciscus Junius and Cornelius Van Til regarding pre-and post-fall natural knowledge of God. It is argued that while differences are clear, Junius and Van Til both claimed that pre-fall natural theology was not intended to function independently of special revelation. Junius and Van Til also agree that post-fall natural theology, unaided by special revelation, is not theology in any meaningful sense. The conclusion, borrowed from Willem Van Asselt, is that for both Junius and Van Til the determining factor with regard to the structure and status of natural theology is the God-human relationship.

In this paper I introduce the transcendental argument for Christian theism in the context of Reformed theologian and philosopher Cornelius Van Til’s thought. I then present the critique proffered by Barry Stroud against ambitious transcendental arguments, and survey various formulations of transcendental arguments in the literature, seeking how the objection bears upon them. I argue that Adrian Bardon’s (2005) interpretation is the most helpful in understanding the Stroudian objection. From this interpretation, two types of possible rebuttals are deduced. Proceeding to survey the responses offered by Van Tillians to this objection in the recent literature, I discern two general strategies pursued in these responses, which map onto the previously deduced types of rebuttals: the Biblical justification strategy and the objection-undermining strategy. I argue that all the specific attempts to answer Stroud which I examine here (those of Butler, Bosserman, and Fluhrer) are inadequate and that these two strategies, in general, face serious problems. I conclude with considering the options before the proponent of the transcendental argument for Christian theism and with offering a new objection to the argument, which focuses on its inconsistency with the implications of Christian theism itself.

It is the purpose of this paper to look closely at one aspect of the Trinity, that is, perichoresis. First, we will give a brief overview of the doctrine as seen in Scripture. Second, we will look at the articulation of it in the context of the some representative teachers of the early church. And, lastly, we will look at Cornelius Van Til’s distinct formulation of perichoresis.

This article is offered as a preliminary 'pre-theoretical' groundwork for systematic Christian thinking. It seeks to describe the 'scholastic dilemma', that is the irresolvable question about whether God's relation to the world is necessary or contingent. One horn of the dilemma derives from the view of God primarily as intellect. The other horn of the dilemma derives from the view of God primarily as will. In his dictum, Deus legibus solutus est sed non exlex, John Calvin rejects both these positions. The trinitarian basis for this dictum was spelt out more fully by later Calvinistic thinkers, including Abraham Kuyper and Cornelius van Til. Implicitly for Calvin and explicitly for Kuyper and Van Til, the love of the Persons of the Trinity for one another is the basis for God's covenantal trustworthiness in his dealings with the world. Recognising this trinitarian basis allows us to conceive of God as at once faithful in his dealing with the world, and yet not dependent on the world for his existence. This has profound and far-reaching implications for our understanding of society, including the universal and institutional church, with a recognition of the priority of relationships.

In this paper, the influence of modern thought on Evangelical Protestant theology is analysed. It is argued that a critical engagement with the theology of Cornelius Van Til represents an ideal starting point for this analysis. Van Til's claim that all human knowledge must be analogical is defended. It is argued that rationalism is a specifically modern phenomenon, and that its root cause was the severance of the ontological bond between the Creator and His creation that occurred in the late medieval period. Rationalism is seen as inevitably ending in nihilism. Van Til is subject to criticism on the grounds that his metaphysics is inconsistent with his epistemology, and that he adopts the modern ontological Creator/creation split. In sympathy with the contemporary theological movement known as “radical orthodoxy”, it is argued here that a truly Christian theology must embrace the Platonic doctrine of participation. It is suggested that a revisitation of the Renaissance idea of a prisca theologia, thoroughly reformulated in the light of modern historical criticism, might be helpful to this end.

A distinctive of private religious schooling is the opportunity to integrate faith and learning in the school curriculum, or perhaps (according to one theological/philosophical construct) it is to recognize how faith is already an integral part of all learning, even all of life.  Were it not for the religious perspective, faith-based schools might look the same as many public and private non-sectarian schools.  The integration of faith and learning is an essential ingredient that makes religious schools what they are.