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35 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Bernard Ramm's Systems in "Varieties of Christian Apologetics"
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Stressing Subjective Immediacy
Stressing Natural Theology Stressing Revelation |
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Ramm's System Stressing Subjective Immediacy Proponents (3)
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Pascal
Kierkegaard Brunner |
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Ramm's System Stressing Subjective Immediacy Characteristics (7)
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1. stress upon the inward and subjective experience of the gospel
2. a marked hostility towards traditional philosophy and a sympathy for an existential philosophy 3. emphasis upon the supra‐rational or paradoxical character of Christian teaching 4. rejection of natural theology and theistic proof 5. emphasis on the transcendence or hiddenness of God 6. strong doctrine of the blinding effects of sin 7. the apologetic of oneʹs own personal testimony |
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Ramm's System Stressing Natural Theology Proponents (3)
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Thomas Aquinas
Joseph Butler F.R. Tennant |
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Ramm's System Stressing Natural Theology Characteristics (4)
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1. a robust faith in the rational powers of the mind to find the truth about religion
2. an effort to ground faith in the empirical foundations 3. a belief that the imago Dei (image of God in man) was weakened but not seriously damaged by the Fall and sin 4. religious propositions enjoy the same kind of verification that scientific assertions do |
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Ramm's System Stressing Revelation Proponents (3)
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Augustine
Calvin Kuyper |
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Ramm's System Stressing Revelation Characteristics (6)
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1. conviction that faith precedes understanding
2. once we do believe we are to seek understanding as comprehensively as we can 3. the personal experience of the gospel is anchored in the objective work of Christ, the objective justification of God, and the objective word of God 4. a special act of the Spirit is indispensable for Christian faith and enlightenment 5. human depravity has made human reason as it functions within a depraved soul untrustworthy 6. truth in religion must suffer no dilution |
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Gordon Lewis's Systems in "Testing Christianity's Truth Claims" (6)
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1. Pure Empiricism
2. Rational Empiricism 3. Rationalism 4. Biblical Authoritarianism 5. Mysticism 6. Verificational Approach |
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Lewis's Pure Empiricism Proponent (1) and Characteristic (4)
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1. proponent: J. Oliver Buswell
2. characteristics: a. examines observable evidence b. mind is a blank tablet (tabula rasa) c. uses induction d. no claim is shown to be true beyond a high degree of probability |
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Lewis's Rational Empiricism Proponent (1) and Characteristics (4)
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1. proponent: Stuart Hackett
2. characteristics: a. truth of Christianity can be conclusively proven b. mind brings with it to the investigation certain ʺbuilt‐inʺ principles which make valid conclusions certain (1) logic (2) causality c. with these principles the mind systematizes its experiences and draws necessary conclusions d. a true conclusion coheres with the mindʹs categories and the facts of experience |
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Lewis's Rationalism Proponent (1) and Characteristics (8)
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1. proponent: Gordon H. Clark
2. characteristics: a. agrees with Hackett that the mind has principles of reasoning ʺprogrammed inʺ b. disagrees with Hackett that the starting pint of thought is objective experience c. ʺAny attempt to discover objective facts without an interpretative principle is press to the logical extreme of skepticism.ʺ d. scientific knowledge about reality is not possible e. Rather, the interpretive system that gives the most consistent system is true. f. Everyone comes to the evidence with presuppositions. g. Existence of God and the truth of the Bible are fundamental axioms necessary to all thought about Christianity. h. Starting with these, one can deduce a consistent system of philosophy with the certainty of logical syllogisms. |
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Lewis's Biblical Authoritarianism Proponents (1) and Characteristics (4)
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1. proponent: Cornelius Van Til
2. characteristics: a. Begins with the presupposition of the triune God and the truth of Scripture. b. They are not justified by their consistency or confirmation by facts. c. Only by starting with these presuppositions can one interpret facts according to their true meaning. d. There is in principle no epistemological common ground with those who start thinking from non‐Christian assumptions. |
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Lewis's Mysticism Proponents (1) and Characteristics (2)
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1. proponent: Earl E. Barrett
2. characteristics: a. ʺThe case for Christianity … is more significant from internal and immediate experience of God Himself.ʺ b. ʺNo argument is considered convincing until a person has a unique, personal encounter with God.ʺ |
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Lewis's Verificational Approach Proponents (1) and Characteristics (2)
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1. Proponent: Edward John Carnell
2. characteristics: a. treats Christianityʹs truth‐claims as scientific hypothesis to be verified by manʹs total experience b. ʺThe hypothesis that can consistently account for both internal and external data with the fewest difficulties is true.ʺ |
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Norman Geisler's Systems in "BECA" (5)
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1. Classical
2. Evidential 3. Experiential 4. Historical 5. Presuppositional |
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Geisler's Classical System Proponents (15) and Characteristics (6)
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1. proponents: Augustine; Anselm; Aquinas; John Locke; William Paley; B. B. Warfield; C. S. Lewis; Norman Geisler; Stuart Hackett; John Gerstner; R. C. Sproul; Peter Kreeft; Winfried Corduan; William Lane Craig; J. P. Moreland
2. characteristics: a. two basic steps supporting truth of Christianity (1) theistic arguments (2) evidential arguments b. theistic arguments establish the truth of theism apart from special revelation c. logical inference drawn from the existence of God to the possibility of miracles d. argument from miracles essential to the second step e. also historical evidences are amassed to substantiate the New Testament f. New Testament is used to show who Jesus is |
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Geisler's Evidential System Proponents (2) and Characteristics (3)
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1. proponents: Bernard Ramm, Josh McDowell
2. characteristics: a. overlaps with Classical approach in the use of evidences b. less stress on the logical priority of theism to other evidences c. sometimes uses evidence of miracles as evidence of God |
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Geisler's Experiencial System Proponents (6) and Characteristics (2)
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1. proponents: Meister Eckart; Søren Kierkegaard; Rudolph Bultmann; Karl Barth; Friedrich Schleiermacher, Paul Tillich
2. characteristics: a. appeals primarily if not exclusively to experience as evidence for the Christian faith b. experiences can range from religious experience in general to mystical experience |
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Geisler's Historical System Proponents (6) and Characteristics (2)
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1. proponents: Tertullian; Justin Martyr; Clement of Alexandria; Origen; John
Warwick Montgomery; Gary Habermas 2. characteristics: a. generally focuses on historical evidence b. more of a logical order of the evidence than one finds in evidentialism (viz., claims from Scripture establishing theism; Bible is the Word of God; Christ is the unique Son of God) |
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Geisler's Presuppositional System Sub systems
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1. Revelational
2. Rational 3. Systematic Consistency 4. Practical |
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Geisler's Revelational Presuppositionalism Proponents (3) and Characteristics (2)
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a. proponents: Cornelius Van Til; Greg Bahnsen; John Frame
b. characteristics: (1) one must posit the Triune God and Scripture before any sense can be made of anything else (2) referred to as a transcendental argument |
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Geisler's Rational Presuppositionalism Proponents (2) and Characteristics (2)
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a. proponents: Gordon H. Clark; Carl F. H. Henry
b. characteristics: (1) also begins with God and the Scriptures (2) but the test is the logical law of non‐contradiction |
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Geisler's Systematic Consistency Presuppositionalism Proponents (2) and Characteristics (2)
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a. proponents: Edward John Carnell; Gordon Lewis
b. characteristics: (1) a true system must be rationally consistent (2) ʺIt must comprehensively take into account all facts.ʺ |
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Geisler's Systematic Consistency Presuppositionalism Proponents (1) and Characteristics (2)
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proponent: Francis Schaeffer
b. characteristics: (1) false systems are unlivable (2) only Christianity is livable |
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Steven B. Cowan's Systems in "Five Views on Apologetics" (5)
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1. Classical Method
2. Evidential Method 3. Cumulative Case Method 4. Presuppositional Method 5. Reformed Epistemological Method |
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Cowan's Classical Method Proponents (5) and Characteristics (3)
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1. proponents: William Lane Craig (contributor to the book); R. C. Sproul; Norman Geisler; Stephen T. Davis; Richard Swinburne
2. characteristics: a. uses natural theology to establish theism b. moves to a presentation of the historical evidences for the deity of Christ, the trustworthiness of Scripture, etc. to show that Christianity ʺis the best version of theism, as opposed to … Judaism and Islamʺ c. the order of these steps is essential |
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Cowan's Evidential Method Proponents (4) and Characteristics (3)
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1. proponents: Gary Habermas; John W. Montgomery; Clark Pinnock; Wolfhart Pannenberg
2. characteristics: a. characterized as the ʺone‐stepʺ approach b. admits to the legitimacy of the miracles‐to‐God argument c. tends to focus chiefly on the ʺlegitimacy of accumulating various historical and other inductive arguments for the truth of Christianityʺ |
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Cowan's Cumulative Case Method Proponents (4) and Characteristics (3)
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1. proponents: Paul Feinberg; Basil Mitchell; C. S. Lewis; C. Stephen Evans
2. characteristics: a. ʺdoes not conform to the ordinary pattern of deductive or inductive reasoning b. Seeks to supplement the primarily historical approach of Evidentialism with additional evidence. c. Maintains that evidentialists will not object to the supplementations that the Cumulative Case approach makes. |
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Cowan's Presuppositional Method Proponents (5) and Characteristics (5)
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1. proponents: John Frame; Cornelius Van Til; Gordon
Clark; Greg Bahnsen; Francis Schaeffer 2. characteristics: a. ʺDue to the noetic effects of sin, presuppositionalists usually hold that there is not enough common ground between believers and unbelievers that would allow followers of the … [other] methods to accomplish their goals.ʺ b. Apologetics must start with the truth of Christianity. c. Unless the truth of Christianity (triune God, authority of Scripture) is presupposed, nothing can be known at all. d. Christianity makes proving and knowing possible. e. It is transcendentally necessary. |
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Cowan's Reformed Epistemological Method Proponents (5) and Characteristics (4)
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1. proponents: Kelly James Clark; Alvin Plantinga;
Nicholas Wolterstorff, George Mavrodes, William Alston 2. characteristics: a. Rejects the widespread assumption that all our beliefs must be subjected to the criticism of reason. b. Reject that widespread assumption that if a belief is unsupported by evidence of some kind, that belief is irrational. c. Thus, the approach challenges the ʺevidentialistʺ assumptions. d. Opts rather for the notion that one can be justified in believing certain things for which there is no evidence. |
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Boa Systems in "Faith Has Its Reasons" (4)
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1. Classical (rationalistic) = Apologetics as Proof
2. Evidential (empirical) = Apologetics as Defense 3. Reformed (authoritarian) = Apologetics as Offense 4. Fideism (intuitive) = Apologetics as Persuasion |
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Boa's Classical System Proponents (3) and Characteristics (2)
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1. proponents: Thomas Aquinas; Norman Geisler; William Lane Craig
2. characteristics: a. two step method (1) uses philosophical reasoning to establish theism first (2) uses historical and other evidence to establish Christianity b. More and more today, a prior step is added at the beginning, viz., issues of truth and the knowability of reality |
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Boa's Evidential System Proponents (5) and Characteristics (3)
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1. proponents: Joseph Butler; John Warwick Montgomery; Richard Swinburne; Josh McDowell; Gary Habermas
2. characteristics: a. seeks to ground the Christian faith on empirically and historically verifiable facts b. seems very similar to the ʺsecond stepʺ of the Classical approach c. tends to repudiate the notion that theism is logically prior; thus they tend to make little use of philosophy |
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Boa's Reformed System Proponents (3) and Characteristics (4)
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1. proponents: John Calvin; Cornelius Van Til; Gordon Clark
2. characteristics a. One ought to ground reason and fact on the Christian faith, rather than ʺtrying to prove or defend the faith on the basis of reason or fact.ʺ b. Common types of apologetics (classical, evidential) are ʺdoomed to failure by the moral impairment of the human mind fallen in sin.ʺ c. Note that this approach is called "Presuppositionalismʺ by most other apologetics (including some of the proponents). d. Boa/Bowmanʹs term here is confusing because another approach to these questions is most often called ʹReformedʹ that is quite different than this approach (viz., Plantinga). |
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Boa's Fideism System Proponents (3) and Characteristics (2)
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1. proponents: Pascal; Luther; Kierkegaard
2. characteristics: a. repudiates natural theology b. sees human knowledge of truth as a personal matter of the heart or the will rather than of the intellect |
