Apologetics: A Justification of Christian Belief by John M. Frame
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
John Frame provides a useful gateway into the world of presuppositional apologetics. Building on such Christian thinkers like Van Til, he endeavors to show why Christian apologetics needs to operate with certain assumptions in place. In essence, we must avoid the temptation to think of reason as able to “stand on its own.” All arguments for, or against, Christianity must of course use reason and logic some arguments being stronger or more compelling than others; but the Christian apologist must not lean upon logic alone to “get us there.” Rather, Frame builds on Van Til and endeavors to show that it is impossible to stand in “neutral territory.” The very moment we reach for rational arguments for (or against) we are reaching for something which God made and intended to be used in knowing and trusting Him.
In essence, we must avoid the temptation to cede to godless wordlviews the idea that man is autonomous or that there is a “blank slate” from which to start from. In fact, for the presuppositionalist, man is not able to somehow start from scratch; all men know there is a God, but unbelieving man has suppressed this knowledge. That knowledge is there nonetheless and is an inescapable reality.
This would be a helpful introduction to thinking about apologetics in a presuppositional vein, and overall the book was very accessible, but of course takes some dedicated brain energy to follow extended arguments. What I’m saying is, this isn’t the sort of book to read right before bed…
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