This new, annotated edition of The Defense of the Faith restores the full text of the original 1955 edition in a form that is more easily understood. Cornelius Van Til, who taught for more than forty-five years at Westminster Seminary, sometimes used philosophical vocabulary in The Defense and many of his conversation partners and critics were not widely known. When later editions greatly abridged this work for these reasons, valuable discussions were laid aside.
Now they are restored, and with added clarification. Newly edited and retypeset, this unabridged edition features a foreword and explanatory notes by K. Scott Oliphint, which help us grasp a method of apologetics consistent with the nature of Christianity itself and continually relevant to our time.
As attacks on Christianity become more numerous and pronounced, Cornelius Van Til's classic treatment on apologetics endures as crucial reading for our time. Designed to stop secularists in their tracks, it is the kind of work that serious defenders of the faith cannot afford to ignore.
After laying a foundation in the Christian views of God, Van Til explores the roles of authority, reason, and theistic proof, while contrasting Roman Catholic, Arminian, and Reformed methods of defending the faith. "Nothing short of the Christ of the Scriptures, as presented in historic Reformed theology, can challenge men to forsake their sin and establish them in truth and life," writes Van Til. "The natural man must be shown that on his presupposition or assumption of man's autonomy human predication has no meaning at all."
3rd edition:
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