Van Til's Apologetics Qwest Questions

Front 1

What is apologetics?

Back 1

Apologetics is the theory and practice of defending the Christian faith.

Front 2

What is autonomy?

Back 2

Autonomy refers to being a law unto oneself, so that one’s thinking is independent of any outside authority, including God’s. Autonomous reasoning takes itself philosophically as the final point of reference and interpretation, the ultimate court of intellectual appeal; it presumes to be self-governing, self-determinative, and self-directing.

Front 3

What is the difference between only starting with Christ and ending with Christ in our argument?

Back 3

If the apologist treats the starting point of knowledge as something other than reverence for God, then unconditional submission to the unsurpassed greatness of God’s wisdom at the end of his argumentation does not really make sense. There would always be something greater than God’s wisdom – namely, the supposed wisdom of one’s intellectual starting point.

Front 4

In order not to be profane and audacious, what must an apologist do?

Back 4

The personal prerequisite for offering a reasoned defense of the Christian faith is to have “set apart Christ as Lord in your hearts.” Christ must be the ultimate authority over our philosophy, our reasoning, and our argumentation – not just at the end, but at the beginning of the apologetic endeavor.

Front 5

What is another name for our least negotiable belief?

Back 5

A “presupposition” is an elementary assumption in one’s reasoning or in the process by which opinions are formed. Presuppositions form a wide-ranging, foundational perspective in terms of which everything else is interpreted or evaluated. As such, presuppositions have the greatest authority in one’s thinking, being treated as one’s least negotiable beliefs and being granted the highest immunity to revision.

Front 6

What constitutes the strongest intellectual challenge that can be directed to the thinking of the unbeliever?

Back 6

An epistemologically self-conscious method of defending the faith is not simply philosophically necessary and morally appropriate . It also constitutes the strongest intellectual challenge that can be directed to the thinking of the unbeliever. God’s revelation is more than the best foundation for Christian reasoning; it is the only philosophically sound foundation for any reasoning whatsoever.

Front 7

What is the major task of the apologist?

Back 7

The task of the apologist is not simply to show that there is no hope of eternal salvation outside of Christ, but also that the unbeliever has no present intellectual hope outside of Christ. It is foolish for him to build his house on the ruinous sands of human opinion, instead of the verbal rock of Christ. He needs to see that those who suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness inescapably “become vain in their reasoning…Professing themselves to be wise, they become fools.” Their opposition to the faith amounts to no more than a “knowledge falsely so called,” by which they actually “oppose themselves” in ignorance.

Front 8

What is meant by an accurate defense of Christianity?

Back 8

The unbeliever attempts to enlist logic, science, and morality in his debate against the truth of Christianity. Van Til’s apologetic answers these attempts by arguing that only the truth of Christianity can rescue the meaningfulness and cogency, of logic, science, and morality. The presuppositional challenge to the unbeliever is guided by the premise that only the Christian worldview provides the philosophical preconditions necessary for man’s reasoning and knowledge in any field whatever. This is what is meant by a transcendental defense.

Front 9

What must be presupposed in order for reasoning to be intelligent and coherent?

Back 9

Upon analysis, all truth drives one to Christ. From the beginning to end, man's reasoning about anything whatsoever is unintelligible and coherent unless the truth of the Christian Scriptures is presupposed. Any position contrary to the Christian one, therefore, must be seen as philosophically impossible. It cannot justify its beliefs or offer a worldview whose various elements comport with each other

Front 10

Presuppositional apologetics argues for the truth of Christianity ______________.

Back 10

"From the impossibility of the contrary."

Front 11

Be able to rephrase any part of the article in your own words.

Back 11

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Front 12

Summarize, in your own words, the gist of the article.

Back 12

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