AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: An Introduction to Christian Philosophy by Gordon H. Clark, John W. Robbins ISBN: 0-940931-38-9 Publisher: Trinity Foundation Pub. Date: August, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $8.94

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)

Rating: 4
Summary: Excellent Introduction to Gordon Clark
Comment: Like many people, my first introduction to Gordon Clark (1902-1985) came in reading John Robbins' ANSWER TO AYN RAND (which was revised by Robbins a few years ago as WITHOUT A PRAYER). Robbins used Clark's philosophy to mount an attack on Objectivism, which varied from the insightful to the ill informed.

Gordon Clark was a Calvinist philosopher and theologian. He wrote numerous books, including RELIGION, REASON AND REVELATION, one of the classics of twentieth century apologetics. He may be best known today for his dispute with fellow Calvinist apologist Cornelius Van Til. In 1966 he gave three lectures at Wheaton College, which form AN INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY.

This work serves as an excellent introduction to Clark's philosophy and apologetics. In Part I, Clark attacks secular thought, arguing that it is incapable of providing knowledge or a coherent ethics or politics. In Part II, Clark develops his Calvinist alternative to secularism, which he later called "rational spiritualism." In Part III, Clark applies his apologetics to various issues.

According to Clark, all systems of thought (religious or secular) rest on an axiom or a series of axioms. These axioms cannot - strictly speaking - be proved, they can only be tested. Clark's test is: "Does revelation make knowledge possible. Does revelation establish values and ethical norms? Does revelation give a theory of politics? And are these results consistent with each other?" [p. 59.] I don't find this particularly persuasive. While Clark's attack on secularism is quite profound, his positive case for Christianity is considerably less persuasive. In this respect, Van Til strikes me as the more original apologist. (See Bahnsen, ed., VAN TIL'S APOLOGETICS for Van Til's critique of Clark.)

The most curious aspect of Clark's thought his attack on empirical knowledge and science. Clark didn't simply attack empiricism and scienticism (which are incompatible with a personal theism) but the ability of science to discover laws and the senses to discover truth. So far as I can tell, Clark never set forth a Scriptural argument for his skepticism. In fact - contrary to Clark - the Bible seems to assume that the senses provide knowledge of religious and non-religious truth. (See Frame, THE DOCTRINE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, pages 332 to 335.)