Compiled By Joshua Pillows
Preface
The notorious abstruse nature of Van Til’s style of writing has, naturally, dissuaded many of those less-academic from wanting to learn of his Thought directly from him himself—whether friend or foe. After all, Dr. Bahnsen,Van Til’s protégé, made it one of his lifelong missions to elucidate the difficulty behind Van Til’s writings, especially evidenced by the last book he wrote before his untimely death: “Van Til’s Apologetic: Readings and Analysis.”
And while the successful elucidation on Bahnsen’s part succeeded—whether directly through exegesis (such as the mentioned book, as well as his tapes) or implicatorily through his own writings (which would obviously imitate Van Til’s philosophy but in a more down-to-earth manner)—still, the enterprise of wanting to read Van Til and study his philosophy and apologetic can seem daunting from a quantity-perspective – Van Til was a prolific writer and one may not even know where to begin. Hence the impetus of this work. While the intent of this project is not to naturally dissuade the reading of Van Til’s works, the aim is to give the reader a broad understanding of his Thought from a categorical and methodological perspective, granted there are some quotes which are inherently difficult to understand (but AI can be your best friend). In so doing, the benefits of studying it are multi-faceted: 1. for basic apologetical study, 2. for aid in writing papers, 3. for responding to interlocutors who strawman Van Til and his position (i.e., him being an idealist, in which the reader will see Van Til wrote emphatically against it), 4. to prime the reader via a bullet-pointed aspect with the goal of eventually reading Van Til, and 5. to utilize it in any combination of the above 4 other points. The writer and editor of this work intends to publish more projects in the same manner with Van Til’s other books and pivotal articles, as well as hopes that this project will bless you all, the Saints, in being equipped “to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the hope that is in you” from the only objective and Biblical method of defending the Faith.