This website seeks to promote the apologetical approach of Charles Hodge (1797-1878), A. A. Hodge (1823-1886), B. B. Warfield (1851-1921), and J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937) typically referred to as the "tradition of Old Princeton," or as "Old School Presbyterianism." This approach would also necessarily include Francis Turretin (1623-1687) through Hodge's use of Turretin's Institutes as the primary theological textbook at Princeton, until Hodge's own publication of his Systematic Theology in 1872.
Tertullian once asked, "What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" -- We answer, "A lot!"
"Jerusalem has a lot to do with Athens, intellectually as well as in many other ways, because both of them belong to the one and only world there is, the world that is created and sustained by the one and only God there is" -- George I. Mavrodes
We will be placing many articles, links, and papers that promote Warfield's apologetical approach as time permits. Not all the links or articles will be from Warfield's rigorous Calvinism, which we equally share, but they will attempt to give a reasonable argument for the faith once delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3).
"Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence" (1 Pet. 3:15).
"God has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead" (Acts 17:31).
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it,
but because by it I see everything else."
C. S. Lewis
"Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered."
C. S. Lewis
"Christian apologetics is useful most of all in producing an intellectual atmosphere in which the acceptance of the gospel will seem to be something other than an offence against the truth."
J. Gresham Machen
"You will not take it amiss that I still agree strongly with Dr. Warfield about the place of apologetics. It is quite true that the human reason because of the noetic effects of sin needs the Spirit of God in order to accept the truth of the reservation which God has given, but because the arguments for the truth of the Christian religion are insufficient to produce Christian conviction, it does not follow, I think, that they are unnecessary. On the contrary, it seems to me that they constitute one of the means which the Spirit of God uses in the production of Christian conviction and the conversion of the sinner.
J. Gresham Machen
"I hold (1) that the Christian religion, as it is set forth on the basis of Holy Scripture in the Standards of the Reformed faith, is true, and (2) that the Christian religion as so set forth requires and is capable of scholarly defense . . . . that the Christian religion requires and is capable of scholarly defense -- does not mean that a man ever was made a Christian merely by argument. There must also be the mysterious work of the Spirit of God in the new birth. But because argument is insufficient, it does not follow that is is unneccesary. From the very beginning, true Christianity has always been presented as a thoroughly reasonable thing. Men sometimes tell us, indeed, that we ought not to be everlastingly defending Christianity, but rather ought simply to go forth to propagate Christianity. But when men talk thus about propagating Christianity without defending it, the thing that they are propagating is pretty sure not to be Christianity at all. Real Christianity is no mere form of mysticism, but is founded squarely upon a body of truth."
J. Gresham Machen
"It is the primary claim of Christianity that it is 'the truth.' Jesus Christ, its founder calls himself significantly 'the truth' (John xiv. 6), and sums up his mission in the world as a constant witness-bearing to 'the truth' (John xviii. 37). It is accordingly as 'the truth' that the gospel offers itself to men; and it seeks to propagate itself in the world only as 'truth' makes its way . . . Confident that it is the only reasonable religion, it comes forward as pre-eminently the reasoning religion. The task it has set itself is no less than to reason the world into acceptance of the 'truth.'"
B. B. Warfield
Soli Deo Gloria
The history of American Presbyterianism developed into two strands, following the thoughts of two theologians: B.B. Warfield, the Old Princeton tradition, and Abraham Kuyper, also known as Neo-Calvinism. B. B. Warfield, in strong opposition to Kuyper's antithesis, built his theological, philosophical, and apologetical approach upon a Reidian Common Sense Epistemology.
Common Sense Philosophy
A summary of Reid's epistemology (in a long tradition of the Perennial Philosophy of the Classical Realist Tradition; also see What is Philosophical Realism?) begins with a belief that the Creator has endowed all mankind with an innate knowledge of certain self-evident truths, also known as "first principles." These first principles usually include such things as: laws of logic, knowledge of the external world, knowledge of other minds, memory, etc. Though these first principles cannot be proven directly (because they are "first" principles, or properly basic beliefs) they must be proven by use of a reductio, the denial of which leads only to skepticism (i.e. without first principles analytical reasoning could have no end -- an infinite regress). Without first principles all knowledge would be impossible.
Therefore, these self-evident truths are known by "common sense," (meaning that any rational mind, which is functioning properly can grasp them) upon which all knowledge is built, or what modern epistemologists refer to as "foundationalism."
Now, the question that is often asked today is whether or not "belief in God" is one of those "self-evident truths" or a "properly basic belief" (reformed epistemology) or whether "belief in God" is never justified without sufficient evidence (evidentialism). Alvin Plantinga (see below) rejects a "narrow" foundationalism that would restrict these self-evident truths to only a small handful (self-evident propositions, incorrigible propositions, and claims that are evident to the senses). He argues for a "broad" foundationalism which would allow other beliefs as being rationally justified even though they would not fulfill these strict requirements, such as belief in God as a properly basic belief.
Hodge, Warfield, and Machen all followed this "common sense" approach to epistemology and argued that "belief in God" must be based upon sufficient evidence for God's existence, placing them clearly in the evidentialist tradition of apologetics. While this webpage is in full agreement with this evidentialist approach in the Old Princeton tradition, following a "cumulative case approach," also called "the inference to the best explanation approach," we would be remiss to ignore the invaluable insights provided from the modern Reformed epistemological approach to religious belief, especially the very helpful insights of Alvin Plantinga (i.e. "Reformed Epistemology" should not be seen as a distinctive approach for apologetics). Note also that while Alvin Plantinga does not agree with the evidentialist approach that argues that a belief in God must be based on sufficient evidence to be justified, nevertheless he does think those evidences (e.g., natural theology) may be useful in an apologetic dialogue with unbelievers -- see his "Two Dozen (or So) Theistic Arguments."
On Reformed Epistemology (also see below)
Papers on Warfield's Apologetics
Evolution, Science, and Scripture -- Selected Writings of B. B. Warfield, Edited by Mark A. Noll and David N. Livingstone
Papers on Machen's Apologetics
The Princeton Mind in the Modern World and the Common Sense of J. Gresham Machen -- by D. G. Hart
Apologetics Articles
"Natural Law and the Noetic Effects of Sin: The Faculty of Reason in Francis Turretin's Theological Anthropology" Stephen J. Grabill in WTJ 67 (2005), 261-79. -- Excellent!
"Alleged Rationalism: Francis Turretin on Reason" by Sebastian Rehnman in CTJ 37 (2002), 255-269 -- refutes that the use of reason and natural theology is an inferior epistemological task, not worthy of Reformed scholars.
Are There "Two Sciences" or "One Science"?
"We must not, then, as Christians, assume an attitude of antagonism toward the truths of reason, or the truths of philosophy, or the truths of science, or the truths of history, or the truths of criticism. As children of the light, we must be careful to keep ourselves open to every ray of light. Let us, then, cultivate an attitude of courage as over against the investigations of the day. None should be more zealous in them than we. None should be more quick to discern truth in every field, more hospitable to receive it, more loyal to follow it, whithersovever it leads"
B. B. Warfiled Selected Shorter Writiings (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 1970), 463-465.
See "The Evangelical Love Affair with Enlightenment Science" in Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism by George M. Marsden (Eerdmans, 1991), 122-152.
The New Atheism
In 2006 three books, and in 2007 a fourth, were published that took a new approach to religion. The authors of these books don't merely make the traditional atheistic arguments against theism or religion, but they have "come out" with the fervor of religious fundamentalists against all religion or faith in the supernatural as the cause of evil in the world. It is immoral and a delusion that needs to be expunged from all culture. The four books were Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel Dennett, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris, and God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens.
These works need to be both respectfully and seriously engaged. Several in the Christian community have already begun to respond in such a way that, while not the final answer, I think have provided a good foundation to build on.
Helpful Links
Helpful Books on Perennial Philosophy in the Classical Realist Tradition
[NB: All of these can be ordered at the link above even if they are not on the webpage.}
