Reviews for Three Types of Religious Philosophy

The average rating for Three Types of Religious Philosophy based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-11-25 00:00:00 Pedro A Barriga I'm a Van Tillian presuppositionalist, so while I disagree with Clark's presuppositionalism [AKA Dogmatic or Axiomatic or Rational or Deductive Presuppositionalism], there are nevertheless some useful nuggets I can glean from his works and employ them in my apologetics. Anyone reading Clark's books should also read the online critiques of Clarkian Scripturalism by a person who uses the pseudonym "Aquascum". I don't know who Aquascum is, but since his website is hosted by well known Christian apologist James N. Anderson, it's reasonable to suspect that it might be Anderson himself. See, for example, Aquascum's paper, "A Response to Vincent Cheung". See also Greg Bahnsen's critiques of Clarkianism (both written and audio/visual materials). Reading the book, I would agree that non-Christians, on their non-Christian ground(s), would have a difficult or impossible time justifying their empiricism and/or rationalism. Clark correctly affirms the propriety of rational thought while rejecting rationalISM. Unfortunately he further argues that empirical investigation is entirely useless even on Christian grounds. Van Til's approach that grounds the rational and the empirical in the Christian worldview does a better job at making sense of human experience in general, as well as Christian theology and practice. The ending of the book was disappointing. He answers the question of how one determines which religious/sacred book to choose by appealing to predestination. As a Calvinist, I believe in a high and strong view of predestination, but Clark conflates the *cause(s)* OF belief with the *reason(s)* FOR belief. Yes, the ultimately reason why anyone becomes a Christian is because of God's efficacious grace that inexorably brings about their belief in the truth of Christianity. But that doesn't answer the question posed. On what grounds ought people to believe the Bible and Christian theology as opposed to some other religious book or belief system? Predestination doesn't leave humans as unthinking robots. We normally have reasons for believing what we do, including our Christian beliefs. Providing reasons is part of what apologetics is supposed to be about. Van Til's answer to the question is better and more Biblical than Clark's. I could say more, but other and more capable apologists have exposed the good and the bad in Clark's works.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-10-09 00:00:00 Lynn Smith ****5/8