The twentieth century was unkind to classical Reformed theology.
While theological conservatives often blame liberals for undermining traditional Protestant doctrines, the staunchest conservatives and neo-Orthodox also revised several key doctrines. Although Cornelius Van Til developed presuppositional apologetics as an attempt to remain faithful to timeless Christian truth as the Reformed tradition expresses it, he sacrificed the catholic and Reformed understanding of the use of natural revelation in theology and apologetics in the process.
“The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made…so that they are without excuse,” writes the Apostle Paul. Without Excuse seeks to grapple with this indictment and show how Van Til’s presuppositionalism fails as an account of natural revelation in light of Scripture, philosophy, and historical theology. It argues that these three sources speak with one voice: creation reveals itself and its God to the believer and unbeliever alike.
From the Introduction
This volume is quite critical of the philosophy of Cornelius Van Til (1895–1987) and his followers. But many of this volume’s authors offer such criticism in the spirit of theological sons to a father, recognizing that Van Til’s influence has also been for their good. These essays are, therefore, offered to the church in a spirit of gratitude for our fathers in the faith and for their virtues—even if we seek to make the case that the Van Tillian tradition has committed several errors that have had a significant impact on the life of the church. Balancing on these registers is difficult, and because there is to be no party spirit in the kingdom of God, it is fitting at the outset to name some of the ways in which the Van Tillian movement served the church during the complex twentieth century.
Of first importance, Van Til and his disciples were confident in the authority and inerrancy of Scripture. For all the ways we have perhaps disagreed about the usefulness and necessity of extra-scriptural revelation, in no way should we neglect the example of their unwavering confidence in Scripture (God’s own speech to us). Indeed, for the Christian, the Bible is of the greatest importance, the very word of God. God’s word is a source of truth and life, that which is worthy of our reliance and which both fittingly commands and has rightfully earned our trust. In this, we should not be one iota less confident than the followers of Van Til.