Christianity and Idealism
Overview
Van Til writes in the Preface, “It is obvious that such philosophies as materialism and pragmatism are foes of Christianity. It is less obvious but no less true that Idealism and Christianity are mutually exclusive. Christianity teaches man to worship and serve God the Creator. Idealism, no less than materialism or pragmatism, teaches man to serve and worship the creature. Idealism has a language which resembles that of Christianity but its thought content leads inevitably toward pragmatism.”
Do not miss out on the updated release of The Works of Cornelius Van Til.
Product Details
- Title: Christianity and Idealism
- Author: Cornelius Van Til
- Publisher: Presbyterian and Reformed
- Publication Date: 1955
About Dr. Cornelius Van Til
Dr. Cornelius Van Til, served as a professor of apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, for 43 years. He retired in 1972, but remained as an emeritus professor until his death in 1987. Van Til, an immigrant from The Netherlands, was one of the most respected apologetic theologians of his time.
Van Til earned degrees from Calvin College, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Princeton University on his way to becoming an Orthodox Presbyterian Minister. He served throughout the ministry and scholarly fields, including teaching as an instructor of apologetics at Princeton Theological Seminary and being heavily involved with the foundation of the Philadelphia-Montgomery Christian Academy.
His most noted writings include The New Modernism, The Defense of the Faith, and Christianity and Barthianism. Much of his work with apologetics focuses on the presuppositions of humans, the difference between believers and non-believers, and the opposition between Christian and non-Christian worldviews.
More information about Van Til as a teacher and Reformed theologian is available in an article Eric Sigward wrote for New Horizons entitled "Van Til Made Me Reformed." Read the article as HTML or PDF (copyright 2004 by New Horizons; used by permission)
Top Highlights
“Theism considers Pragmatism its foe because Pragmatism serves another God than the God of Theism. Theism serves God; Pragmatism serves gods.” (Page 7)
“In metaphysics Theism has an absolute God and temporal creation, while Pragmatism has no absolute God and no temporal creation, but a space-time Universe in which God and man are correlatives. In epistemology Theism avows that man’s thought is receptively reconstructive of God’s interpretation, while Pragmatism says man is ‘neutral’ and therefore creatively productive in the matter of interpretation.” (Page 13)
“Apart from questions of historicity, we may say that for Pragmatism the ‘ideals’ of goodness, truth and beauty exist independently of Christ, while according to Christianity these principles issue from Christ. This distinction one finds to be a never-failing shibboleth.” (Page 7)
“Theism says that God created the world; Pragmatism says that the world created God.” (Page 8)
“‘These considerations have often made me more ‘biased’ than ever. I feel that it is better to be ‘biased’ in favor of the Absolute and admit my bias than to be ‘biased’ against him and deny my bias. I do not close my eyes to difficulties as they center about God’s relation to his temporally created world, but I have yet to find a solution of these difficulties that does not begin by dissolving one of the terms to be related, that does not begin by assuming metaphysical relativism. Is it hard to believe in God? It is far harder not to believe in him.’” (Page 12)
- Title: Christianity and Idealism
- Author: Cornelius Van Til
- Publisher: P&R
- Print Publication Date: 1955
- Logos Release Date: 2008
- Era: era:modern
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Idealism; Philosophy and religion
- Resource ID: LLS:CVTCHRIDEAL
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-02-02T19:25:25Z
Cornelius Van Til (1895–1987) was one of the most respected apologetic theologians of his time. Van Til earned degrees from Calvin College, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Princeton University on his way to becoming an Orthodox Presbyterian Minister.
He served throughout the ministry and scholarly fields, including serving as a professor of apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary and Princeton Theological Seminary and being heavily involved with the foundation of the Philadelphia-Montgomery Christian Academy.
His most noted writings include The New Modernism, The Defense of the Faith, and Christianity and Barthianism which can all be found in The Works of Cornelius Van Til (40 vols.). Much of his work with apologetics focuses on presuppositions, the difference between believers and non-believers, and the opposition between Christian and non-Christian worldviews.
