What is Vantillian Presuppositional Apologetics?
Here is an article from Reformation Theology. Consider it a basic understanding of Van Til’s presuppositional apologetic. If you want to read the article in its entirety CLICK HERE.
It is an unfortunate circumstance that some persons have attempted to argue against Van Til’s presuppositionalism without possessing a thoroughly Van Tilian conception of what constitutes presuppositionalism. Van Til’s most fundamental point was that, before the arguments (for anything) are weighed, we must have a set of criteria by which to weigh them. This set of criteria, in order legitimately to be able to pass a meaningful judgment on its subject, must be more fundamentally true than its subject. What is the most fundamentally true set of criteria? The pagan philosophers would hold that either empirical data or logical axioms are the most foundational set of criteria with which to pass judgment on propositions. All propositions are of lesser authority than these criteria, and so are true and real only as the criteria assert that they are true and real. Now, if the Christian accepts this presupposition, he is, from the beginning, acknowledging that human sensibility and reason can pass judgment on God; that God is a lesser reality than logical systems, and that his Word is only true according as it is given credence by a humanistic analysis. The burden of Van Til’s apologetic, therefore, is not about “proving” God, the bible, or any other thing (which would make God, etc., subject to humanistic substantiation); but rather, about showing that the very hermeneutic of empiricism or rationalism is self-destructive and untenable; and further, about demonstrating that the only presupposition which does not self-destruct is the proposition that God is, and that he reveals himself. This leads to an understanding that the scriptures contain a self-authenticating stamp of divinity, by virtue of the fact that it is through them that the Spirit speaks to mankind. The basic “proof” that the Bible is God’s word is that, it is only when the Bible is proclaimed that God reveals himself savingly to mankind. Hence, for reasons of evangelism, the proclamation of the Word must be everything, and it must be the Word as self-authenticating, not the Word as subjected to tests of (flawed) humanistic epistemological foundations. Regardless of how we react to any other facet of Van Til’s teaching, I think we would do well to think long and deeply on this profound observation. Instead of using logic and evidence as self-authenticating systems capable of leading to God, we must acknowledge the immediacy of divine self-revelation; and ultimately, the divine origin even of the logical and evidential systems themselves. In other words, for the Christian to extend knowledge at all, he must first receive the initial truth that God is the source of all knowledge, and that God is the source of every method whereby knowledge may be attained; that is, God is the ultimate source, not only of truth, but also of logic and perception, or the systems by which all truths are recognized and interrelated. When we approach the acquisition of knowledge from this foundation, knowledge can be arrived at certainly: we know that pure reason is reliable, because it derives from the orderly and immutable character of God; we know that empirical evidence is authentic because it has its origin in the creative energy of God. Our only possibility for error lies in our distortion of true logic and sensuous perception. But this confidence can only come by the presupposition that God is, and that he has spoken to us through his Word, which we have as the infallible, written scriptures. In summary, God is not authentic because reason supports his existence, but reason is authentic because it comes from God. God cannot be proved true, because he fundamentally is true.
Let me make one final observation regarding those biblical passages which assert that God may be apprehended through creation.The basic presupposition of Van Tilianism is that there is a God who reveals himself. In fact, he reveals himself to all men to the extent that they are justifiably damned for rejecting that which can be known about him through creation. The passages of scripture that teach that God can be seen in his creation are not properly a threat to presuppositionalism, because they assume an absolutely existing, transcendent God, that is condescending to reveal himself. There is no hint of making nature the fundamental reality which, by passing judgment on a proposition, is able to give odds to God’s existence — rather, it is one means through which the fundamentally real God displays himself. But in order to be known savingly, he must be displayed through the Bible, and not nature alone. On this note, see the common example of evangelists such as Paul (e.g. Acts 17, Mars Hill); in no case is their first point to establish the existence of God; but rather, assuming that there is a God who made everything and who reveals himself to some degree to all men (even pagan poets), they customarily proceed, through God’s inspired revelation, to teach truths about who this self-revealing God is.
Good summary