Presuppositional Apologetics
The next apologetic strategy discussed in Five Views on Apologetics is the Presuppositional approach espoused by John M. Frame. Frame’s presuppositional approach differs in many important aspects from that of some other presuppositionalists, including Cornelius Van Til. Frame begins his discussion by talking about biblical empistemology (theory of knowledge). Our fundamental presupposition must be that God’s words are true. Therefore, scripture is the ultimate criterion of truth.
Frame rejects theological rationalism, that is, that reason is ultimate. Instead, he argues that faith governs reason. Only when one has accepted the presupposition of God’s revelation as truth can he know the truth. Only when our rational faculties have been submitted to God can they function properly. Although Frame did not claim this, some presuppositionalists claim that the unbeliever can have no knowledge at all. As Frame puts is:
Unbelief distorts human thought.
Frame lists several points which should be noted in dealing with an unbeliever to accept Christian presuppositions:
1. Faith is a demand of God.
2. The apologetic argument based on biblical presuppositions conveys truth.
3. God made all humans to think with the Christian-theistic worldview as their presupposition.
4. Knowledge suppressed creates contradiction in thought and life.
5. The apologist should require the unbeliever to reason on Christian presuppositions.
He further makes the following points regarding apologetic method:
1. The goal of apologetics is to evoke or strengthen faith, not merely to bring intellectual persuasion.
2. Apologists must resist temptations to contentiousness or arrogance.
3. Apologists should present God as he really is: as sovereign Lord of heaven and earth.
4. Our argument should be transcendental (I think this is the most important point Frame makes):
It should present the biblical God, not merely as the conclusion to an argument, but as the one who makes the argument possible. We should present him as the source of all meaningful communication, since he is the author of all order, truth, beauty, goodness, logical validity, and empirical fact.
5. Many traditional arguments (e.g., cosmological argument) can be used to reach this transcendental conclusion.
6. Nothing should be said to the unbeliever to reinforce his pretense to autonomy or neutrality.
7. The actual arguments used will vary. Apologetics is “person variable.”
8. It is useful to show how the errors of non-Christian worldviews arise from religious rebellion, not merely logical mistakes or factual inaccuracy.
So, in conclusion, the presuppostional approach focuses on the presuppostions we all hold and argue that only the Christian presupposition provides a basis for true knowledge. It challenges the unbeliever to look at the world through the worldview of Christianity and see if it doesn’t make sense.
The last apologetic approach to be examined is “reformed epistemology.”