Lewis' Presuppositionalism (Part 2)
As promised, here's a quote from "Miracles" along the same lines as the quote from "The Case for Christianity" that I referred to in my previous post.
This quote, written by J.B.S. Haldane in 1927 is strikingly similar to the previous one from Lewis' "The Case for Christianity". The connection between this idea put forth by Lewis (and Haldane) and the Trancendental Argument for God (a fancy term for Greg Bahnsen's presuppositionalism), has been noted elsewhere (See footnote 10 on this article).
One thing that I haven't mentioned yet is the difference between the Bahnsenian presuppositionalism and the presuppositionalism advocated by my mentor at the Bible Church of Little Rock, Dr. George Zemek. Dr. Zemek's doctorial dissertation at Grace Theological Seminary was entitled "Exegetical and Theological Bases for a Consistantly Presuppositional Approach to Apologetics." Dr. Zemek's dissertation is one of many things that is on my list to read.
If you want to hear Dr. Zemek's explanation of apologetic methodology, you can listen to his three sermons on the topic given at the Bible Church. They were on 01/09/2005, 01/16/2005 and 01/23/2005.
"Thus a strict materialism refutes itself for the reason given long ago by Professor Haldane: 'If my mental processes are determined wholly by the motions of atoms in my brain, I have no reason to suppose that my beliefs are true and hence I have no reason for supposing my brain to be composed of atoms.' (Possible Worlds, p. 209)."
This quote, written by J.B.S. Haldane in 1927 is strikingly similar to the previous one from Lewis' "The Case for Christianity". The connection between this idea put forth by Lewis (and Haldane) and the Trancendental Argument for God (a fancy term for Greg Bahnsen's presuppositionalism), has been noted elsewhere (See footnote 10 on this article).
One thing that I haven't mentioned yet is the difference between the Bahnsenian presuppositionalism and the presuppositionalism advocated by my mentor at the Bible Church of Little Rock, Dr. George Zemek. Dr. Zemek's doctorial dissertation at Grace Theological Seminary was entitled "Exegetical and Theological Bases for a Consistantly Presuppositional Approach to Apologetics." Dr. Zemek's dissertation is one of many things that is on my list to read.
If you want to hear Dr. Zemek's explanation of apologetic methodology, you can listen to his three sermons on the topic given at the Bible Church. They were on 01/09/2005, 01/16/2005 and 01/23/2005.
posted by jigawatt at 8:56:00 AM
1 Comments:
Good Afternoon James,
Interesting posts. Although I can see how presuppositionalists might claim them, I'm still not sure how these quotations would necessarily be peculiar to presuppositional apologetics. I suppose you could argue that Lewis and Bahnsen are hanging their opponents with their own rope! But, this is also a kind of philosophical mode of refutation -- to undermine one's opponents, attack their presuppositions! (The word "presupposition" was coined by Kant's translators, I believe?) Van Til's apologetic, in many senses, was nothing new. "Elenkhos," the Greek word for refutation, was employed by Socrates and others in a form quite similar to what Van Til had in mind, when he spoke of getting on the other person's ground. Socrates did this by asking questions. Aristotle came along later and argued that the rhetor ought to be able to argue both sides of an opinion (see _On Rhetoric_). Van Til borrowed heavily from Greek philosophy. So much so, that many of his courses at Westminster Seminary reflect lengthy surveys of the history of Greek philosophy. I think Van Til's goal was, in large part, to construct an apologetic using the philosophical terms rooted in antiquity and modernity, but only in so far as they were in accord with Reformed theology. Unfortunately, many of these philosophical terms and concepts carry heavy loads of idealogical baggage! This may be the point of origin from which all the fuss over his method stems!
All best,
Wade
Post a Comment
<< Home