What once was lost, now is found! Dr. Greg L. Bahnsen, the definitive champion of Cornelius Van Til's revolutionary Reformed apologetical method, wrote this systematic treatise and defense of Biblical apologetics many years before his untimely death. Dr. Bahnsen received the typeset proofs for editing, but due to the unfortunate accidents of history the only copy was lost. The work, consequently, was never published.
In our Lord's Providence, after some twenty years, our friends at Covenant Media Foundation discovered the lost proofs. They recently sent them to us at American Vision where our enthusiastic editors busily began preparing the work for publication. Finally, our work has paid off!
This magnum opus of apologetics lays out the Biblical presuppositional method, provides rigorous Biblical proof, and defends the uniqueness of the method. This is the work we all longed for Bahnsen to write, yet never knew that he already had written it! Now rescued from the dustbin of history, this monument of apologetics will provide must-reading for Christian defenders of the faith for generations to come.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bahnsen at His Best,
This review is from: Presuppositional Apologetics Stated and Defended (Hardcover)
The publishers bequeath eager Van Tilians a new and superb offering from the late Dr. Greg L. Bahnsen. Bahnsen, as a formal debater, was regarded as the "man atheists feared the most." This new book, "Presuppositional Apologetics: Stated and Defended," demonstrates some of the reasons for such an assessment. The author has been deeply missed and this volume of systematic apologetics is a blessing to all who sought a fresh resource that would be compatible with his earlier books. This precise and orderly defense of the faith was not available because it was lost. It was only recently discovered and brought to press. Bahnsen's philosophical labor is clear, succinct, and commanding.The editors supply the brilliance of Bahnsen's apologetic in a methodical and lucid manner. This is a brand new publication that helps make Van Til's remarkable thought accessible to ordinary believers as well as the most widely read scholars. In this volume we have apologetic clarity and a philosophical depth illuminating issues surrounding a faithful defense of Christian theism. I encourage all to purchase this stupendous edition of Bahnsen's scholarly toil to help equip the church to proclaim and defend the truth of the ontological Trinity. Bahnsen offers many unique gems in this never-before-published volume including powerful and lengthy critiques of the apologetic systems of: - Gordon H. Clark - Edward Carnell - Francis Schaeffer - Ronald Nash (this one is brief but convincing). Additionally he provides a plethora of Vantilian type quotes from Clark (2 ½ pages), Carnell, and Schaeffer. This alone makes "PASD" worth much more than the cost. This is an absolutely necessary apologetic resource for the active apologist. Greg Bahnsen wrote that the unbeliever "has no intelligible place to stand, no consistent epistemology, no justification for meaningful discourse, predication, or argumentation." Other than that, you're fine! Bahnsen goes on to lay bare anti-theism: he writes that "the Christian worldview is true because of the impossibility of the contrary. When the perspective of God's revelation is rejected, then the unbeliever is left in foolish ignorance because his philosophy does not provide the preconditions for knowledge and meaningful experience." Only Christian theism can supply the pre-essentials needed for debate, evidence, and knowledge. Bahnsen asserts that "the proof that Christianity is true is that if it were not, we could not be able to prove anything." Bahnsen was once described as "the man atheists fear most" because of the controversy surrounding the Bahnsen-Martin debate, which was cancelled by Michael Martin. Some quotes: "In various forms, the fundamental argument advanced by the Christian apologist is that the Christian worldview is true because of the impossibility of the contrary. When the perspective of God's revelation is rejected, then the unbeliever is left in foolish ignorance because his philosophy does not provide the preconditions of knowledge and meaningful experience. To put it another way: the proof that Christianity is true is that if it were not, we would not be able to prove anything." "An unbeliever is not simply an unbeliever at separate points; his antagonism is rooted in an overall philosophy (Col. 2.8) which is according to the world's tradition; thus is an enemy of God in his mind (Col. 1.21; Jam. 4.4) and uses his mind to nullify or obviate God's word (Mk. 7.8-13)." "In what way does knowledge go beyond belief? Knowledge includes having justification or good reason to support whatever it is you believe. Imagine that I believe there are thirty-seven square miles in a particular city, and imagine also that it just so happens that this claim is accurate - but imagine as well that I simply got this answer by guessing (rather than doing measurements, mathematics or checking an almanac, etc.). I believed something which happened to be true, but we would not say that I had 'knowledge' in this case because I had no justification for what I believed. When we claim to know that something is true, we are thereby claiming to have adequate evidence, proof or good reason for it." "Imagine a person who comes in here tonight and argues 'no air exists' but continues to breathe air while he argues. Now intellectually, atheists continue to breathe - they continue to use reason and draw scientific conclusions [which assumes an orderly universe], to make moral judgments [which assumes absolute values] - but the atheistic view of things would in theory make such 'breathing' impossible. They are breathing God's air all the time they are arguing against him." Bahnsen adds concerning God's Word: God's "Word cannot be found in error to the exaltation of man's independently acquired knowledge." God's "Word is true in virtue of its being His Word. We define Scripture as truth, therefore presuppose its authority; this is not the conclusion of an independent line of thought but the starting point of all our reasoning" (p. 59). "Knowledge and understanding are impossible aside form revelation from God" (p. 36). And "The Lord's word must be presupposed and obeyed in everything we do." ----- ----- I would add: Suppose my wife took my i-pod off our dinning table and put it on an obscure shelf before she ate lunch. When I returned home and found it missing on the table, I phoned my wife. She said that she needed space to eat and so she put my iPod away. I asked her how I could find my iPod now that she moved it to an unknown location. She told me that she had put a post-it note on the iPod. That, of course, would not have done me, her befuddled husband any good. The portable stereo would have been hidden, and a note on a hidden stereo was lost to me until my wife informed me where she put it. Such is the problem of an unsaved person. He is lost, and cannot use his own reason or experience to find his way to truth. He is lost, and his autonomous reason is lost with him. The only way he can find the truth is through an objective, unchanging source. The God of the Bible is the unchanging rational bedrock and fountainhead. God is the pre-necessity for self-knowledge and the intelligibility of the world. Without God, man is lost, holding his own note of a man-made holy book. Only through God and His revelation can a man be found and have an objective basis for truth. God is the absolute and transcendental necessity for the intelligibility of all human apprehension. He is the precondition for the grounding and understanding of knowledge. Buddhism, Hinduism, and atheism cannot justify knowledge or truth. If you do not presuppose the truth of God, you cannot make sense out of the cosmos and all of reality. Christianity is true not because it makes better sense, but because it supplies the foundation for the laws of reason (A=A; A~~A); it is true because without it you cannot make sense of anything. Other religions, philosophies, and worldviews lack the transcendentally required truth condition (Yahweh's ontic stature) for predication, intelligibility, the laws of logic, fixed ethics, and truth. Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). Only the transcendent, aphysical, invariant, and multi-personal-unified God can provide the necessary a priori truth conditions for the transcendent, aphysical, invariant, and multi-unified laws of logic. Even non-Christians presuppose its truth while they verbally reject it." We ask the nonbeliever "what are the conditions that make thought possible?" Only the Triune God can furnish the rational and moral pre-environment to establish the rational flooring for intelligibility. Van Til called this truth "the method of implication into the truth of God a transcendental method. That is, we must seek to determine what presuppositions are necessary to any object of knowledge in order that it may be intelligible to us." Transcendental scrutiny of anti-theism demonstrates that it is self-destructive inasmuch as it fails to give what it does not possess. Man is devoid of eternal omniscience, aseity, sovereignty, and omnipotence. Bahnsen set forth transcendental analysis as that "which asks what the preconditions are for the intelligibility of human experience. Under what conditions is it possible, or what would also need to be true in order for it to be possible, to make sense of one's experience of the world? To seek the transcendental conditions for knowing is to ask what is presupposed by any intelligent experience whatsoever." Humankind does not need to exist for the intelligibility of the universe. Mere men cannot supply the transcendental conditions that are needed for the laws of logic, love, and morality. Van Til contended that "the general precedes the particular" in our reality. This implies that the anthropology of atheism cannot supply the general and universal realities that must be present, for the necessary and unavoidable transcendental conditions listed above. ---------- also see the new generation apologetic book: Truth, Knowledge, and the Reason for God at: Truth, Knowledge and the Reason for God: The Defense of the Rational Assurance of Christianity Dr. Greg L. Bahnsen had heart valve implant surgery on December 5, 1995. After the completion of the operation, serious complications developed within twenty-four hours. He then became comatose for several days and died on December 11, 1995 at the age of forty-seven. ------ See the New Book that contends for the existence of God using a Presuppositional Apologetic view of moral absolutes by Mike Robinson: ------ or additionally see the new Presuppositional Apologetics book on World Religions: "One Way to God: Christian Philosophy and Presuppositional Apologetics Examine World Religions" type in ASIN #:1432722956
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bahnsen's Apologetic at Its Systematic Best,
This review is from: Presuppositional Apologetics: Stated and Defended (Hardcover)
The publishers bequeath eager Van Tilians a new and superb offering from the late Dr. Greg L. Bahnsen. Bahnsen, as a formal debater, was regarded as the "man atheists feared the most." This new book, "Presuppositional Apologetics: Stated and Defended," demonstrates some of the reasons for such an assessment. The author has been deeply missed and this volume of systematic apologetics is a blessing to all who sought a fresh resource that would be compatible with his earlier books. This precise and orderly defense of the faith was not available because it was lost. It was only recently discovered and brought to press. Bahnsen's philosophical labor is clear, succinct, and commanding.The editors supply the brilliance of Bahnsen's apologetic in a methodical and lucid manner. This is a brand new publication that helps make Van Til's remarkable thought accessible to ordinary believers as well as the most widely read scholars. In this volume we have apologetic clarity and a philosophical depth illuminating issues surrounding a faithful defense of Christian theism. I encourage all to purchase this stupendous edition of Bahnsen's scholarly toil to help equip the church to proclaim and defend the truth of the ontological Trinity. Bahnsen offers many unique gems in this never-before-published volume including powerful and lengthy critiques of the apologetic systems of: - Gordon H. Clark - Edward Carnell - Francis Schaeffer - Ronald Nash (this one is brief but convincing). Additionally he provides a plethora of Vantilian type quotes from Clark (2 ½ pages), Carnell, and Schaeffer. This alone makes "PASD" worth much more than the cost. This is an absolutely necessary apologetic resource for the active apologist. Greg Bahnsen wrote that the unbeliever "has no intelligible place to stand, no consistent epistemology, no justification for meaningful discourse, predication, or argumentation." Other than that, you're fine! Bahnsen goes on to lay bare anti-theism: he writes that "the Christian worldview is true because of the impossibility of the contrary. When the perspective of God's revelation is rejected, then the unbeliever is left in foolish ignorance because his philosophy does not provide the preconditions for knowledge and meaningful experience." Only Christian theism can supply the pre-essentials needed for debate, evidence, and knowledge. Bahnsen asserts that "the proof that Christianity is true is that if it were not, we could not be able to prove anything." Bahnsen was once described as "the man atheists fear most" because of the controversy surrounding the Bahnsen-Martin debate, which was cancelled by Michael Martin. Some quotes: "In various forms, the fundamental argument advanced by the Christian apologist is that the Christian worldview is true because of the impossibility of the contrary. When the perspective of God's revelation is rejected, then the unbeliever is left in foolish ignorance because his philosophy does not provide the preconditions of knowledge and meaningful experience. To put it another way: the proof that Christianity is true is that if it were not, we would not be able to prove anything." "An unbeliever is not simply an unbeliever at separate points; his antagonism is rooted in an overall philosophy (Col. 2.8) which is according to the world's tradition; thus is an enemy of God in his mind (Col. 1.21; Jam. 4.4) and uses his mind to nullify or obviate God's word (Mk. 7.8-13)." "In what way does knowledge go beyond belief? Knowledge includes having justification or good reason to support whatever it is you believe. Imagine that I believe there are thirty-seven square miles in a particular city, and imagine also that it just so happens that this claim is accurate - but imagine as well that I simply got this answer by guessing (rather than doing measurements, mathematics or checking an almanac, etc.). I believed something which happened to be true, but we would not say that I had 'knowledge' in this case because I had no justification for what I believed. When we claim to know that something is true, we are thereby claiming to have adequate evidence, proof or good reason for it." "Imagine a person who comes in here tonight and argues 'no air exists' but continues to breathe air while he argues. Now intellectually, atheists continue to breathe - they continue to use reason and draw scientific conclusions [which assumes an orderly universe], to make moral judgments [which assumes absolute values] - but the atheistic view of things would in theory make such 'breathing' impossible. They are breathing God's air all the time they are arguing against him." I would add: Suppose my wife took my i-pod off our dinning table and put it on an obscure shelf before she ate lunch. When I returned home and found it missing on the table, I phoned my wife. She said that she needed space to eat and so she put my iPod away. I asked her how I could find my iPod now that she moved it to an unknown location. She told me that she had put a post-it note on the iPod. That, of course, would not have done me, her befuddled husband any good. The portable stereo would have been hidden, and a note on a hidden stereo was lost to me until my wife informed me where she put it. Such is the problem of an unsaved person. He is lost, and cannot use his own reason or experience to find his way to truth. He is lost, and his autonomous reason is lost with him. The only way he can find the truth is through an objective, unchanging source. The God of the Bible is the unchanging rational bedrock and fountainhead. The biblical God is the pre-necessity for self-knowledge and the intelligibility of the world. Without God, man is lost, holding his own note of a man-made holy book. Only through Yahweh and His revelation can a man be found and have an objective basis for truth. God is the absolute and transcendental necessity for the intelligibility of all human apprehension. He is the precondition for the grounding and understanding of knowledge. Buddhism, Hinduism, and atheism cannot justify knowledge or truth. If you do not presuppose the truth of God in Christ, you cannot make sense out of the cosmos and all of reality. Christianity is true not because it makes better sense, but because it alone supplies the foundation for logic; it is true because without it you cannot make sense of anything. All other religions, philosophies, and worldviews lack the transcendentally required precondition (Yahweh) for predication, intelligibility, logic, ethics, and truth. Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). Only the transcendent, aphysical, invariant, and multi-personal-unified God can provide the necessary preconditions for the transcendent, aphysical, invariant, and multi-unified laws of logic. I will argue from the shoulders of giants as I press the truth that there is "absolutely certain proof for the existence of God and the truth of Christian theism. Even non-Christians presuppose its truth while they verbally reject it." We ask the nonbeliever "what are the conditions that make thought possible?" Only the Triune God can furnish those preconditions to establish the rational flooring for intelligibility. Van Til called this truth "the method of implication into the truth of God a transcendental method. That is, we must seek to determine what presuppositions are necessary to any object of knowledge in order that it may be intelligible to us." Transcendental scrutiny of anti-theism demonstrates that it is self-destructive inasmuch as it fails to give what it does not possess. Man is devoid of eternal omniscience, aseity, sovereignty, and omnipotence. Bahnsen set forth transcendental analysis as that "which asks what the preconditions are for the intelligibility of human experience. Under what conditions is it possible, or what would also need to be true in order for it to be possible, to make sense of one's experience of the world? To seek the transcendental conditions for knowing is to ask what is presupposed by any intelligent experience whatsoever." Humankind does not need to exist for the intelligibility of the universe. Mere men cannot supply the transcendental conditions that are needed for the laws of logic, love, and morality. Van Til contended that "the general precedes the particular" in our reality. This implies that the anthropology of atheism cannot supply the general and universal realities that must be present, for the necessary and unavoidable transcendental conditions listed above. "God Does Exist!: Defending the Faith using Presuppositional Apologetics, Evidence, and the Impossibility of the Contrary" ASIN#:1420827626 Dr. Greg L. Bahnsen had heart valve implant surgery on December 5, 1995. After the completion of the operation, serious complications developed within twenty-four hours. He then became comatose for several days and died on December 11, 1995 at the age of forty-seven. ------ See the New Book that contends for the existence of God using a Presuppositional Apologetic view Truth, Knowledge and the Reason for God: The Defense of the Rational Assurance of Christianity ------ or additionally see the new Presuppositional Apologetics book on World Religions: "One Way to God: Christian Philosophy and Presuppositional Apologetics Examine World Religions" type in ASIN #:1432722956
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stated and Defended Indeed,
By
This review is from: Presuppositional Apologetics: Stated and Defended (Hardcover)
This is truly an exceptional work on presuppositional apologetics. Complementary to his book, Van Til's Apologetic: Readings and Analysis, which is a comprehensive address of what presuppositional apologetics is, in this work Bahnsen offers an outright defense of presuppositional apologetics and a critique of those who have mistakenly been labeled as presuppositionalists.Part one addresses the method and defense of presuppositional apologetics as the only Biblically and theologically consistent approach to defending the faith. In chapter one, Bahnsen sets forth the presuppositional method and forcefully shows how presuppositionalism is (and must be) part of Christian theology. He demonstrates in chapter two the foundation for Christian presuppositionalism, namely revelational epistemology, and gives ample Scripture references to this effect. It must be said that if one is familiar with Bahnsen's writings or lectures, up to this point most of the material is nothing more than a heavy review, which seems very repetitive at times. However, in chapter three Bahnsen really pushes revelational epistemology to another level, effectively demonstrating the impossibility of divorcing one's metaphysic from one's epistemology. He shows that one must already know something about the state of affairs (metaphysics) before he establishes a criterion of how he can proclaim his beliefs justifiable (epistemology). One must know in order to know. This argument transitions perfectly into the presuppositional view that the unbeliever does know God (even while suppressing that knowledge); and his worldview is tainted by that metaphysic even though it is professed otherwise in his epistemology. Bahnsen then goes on to show (as Frame has done in his perspectivalism) that not only is one's epistemology undivorcible from one's metaphysic, but both are undivorcible from one's ethic. This only further shows the presuppositional implications in defending the faith - that the apologist must get straight to the heart of the matter and show that the unbeliever cannot give a rational account for his unbelief - epistemologically, metaphysically, or ethically. He then shows the foolishness of autonomous epistemology (contrasted to revelational epistemology) from both a Biblical and philosophical standpoint. Part two of the work focuses on showing the inconsistencies of certain apologists who historically have been labeled presuppositionalists but in practice have shown themselves to be otherwise. While being gracious to these men and quoting extensively in areas where he agrees with their works, Bahnsen maintains a critical approach toward them and is unrelenting in his push for revelational epistemology as a presupposition. Chapter four focuses on Gordon Clark and illuminates his true apologetic as being (roughly stated): (A) The best worldview will be the most logically consistent. (B) Christianity is the most logically consistent. Therefore, Christianity is the best worldview and should be adopted. Similarly, chapter five focuses on Edward J. Carnell and shows his true apologetic to be (roughly stated): (A) The best worldview will be the most internally coherent. (B) Christianity is the most internally coherent. Therefore, Christianity is the best worldview and should be adopted. Finally, chapter six discusses the beloved Francis Schaeffer and shows his true apologetic as thus (roughly stated): (A) The best worldview will give the most satisfactory answers to life. (B) Christianity gives the most satisfactory answers to life. Therefore, Christianity is the best worldview and should be adopted. In each of these chapters and culminating in chapter seven Bahnsen shows that these men establish a criterion for the best worldview - apart from Scripture - and then try to argue from the Scriptures that Christianity passes the test and should be considered the best worldview among all competitors. Suffice it to say, Bahnsen argues that true presuppositionalism establishes that it is not only the best worldview but the only worldview that will allow anyone to make sense out of anything. He further critiques these men on their internal inconsistencies with their respective views and shows the inadequacy of their ability to actually defend those views. He argues that, at best, all they have done is argued for the probability of Christianity rather than the certainty of it - and even in that they have not done a thorough job. Because no one knows when a worldview that will better fit their criterions will come along and how many of those worldviews exist, who can say that Christianity really is the 'best' worldview? Bahnsen concludes his book with a review that true Biblical, presuppositional apologetics always argues for the certainty of Christianity and the fact that it is the only viable worldview, not merely the most probable. The three appendices following the book are somewhat helpful, but did not really add a whole lot to what Bahnsen already addressed. For someone seeking simply to understand the basics of presuppositional apologetics and practical examples of how it works, I would much more refer them to Bahnsen's Always Ready: Directions for Defending the Faith than this book. But I highly recommend this book to be read by all who would teach presuppositional apologetics or to those who have a great desire to learn it more on the intellectual side. A good working knowledge of logic and philosophy is helpful to the reader but is not necessary. This book is an invaluable resource in presuppositional apologetics and a critical help in maintaining a solidly Biblical approach to the practice of defending the faith.
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