# Best Book on Vantillian Apologetics



## TylerRay

What is the best treatment of Vantillian Presuppositionalism and the Transcendental Argument? An awful lot has been written.


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## RamistThomist

TylerRay said:


> What is the best treatment of Vantillian Presuppositionalism and the Transcendental Argument? An awful lot has been written.



The best all-around book in terms of usefulness is Frame's _Apologetics to the Glory of God_. Mind you, Frame rejects the idea that TAG can function as a magical silver bullet. 

Scott Oliphint's _Faith has its Reasons_ is well-written, if somewhat difficult.

The best book on Van Til's apologetics is Bahnsen, obviously.

The best book on Van Til's theology is Frame's book on Van Til.

One of the best essays on TAG is by Michael Butler in _The Standard Bearer_


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## jwright82

_Reason and Revelation: Essays in Reformed Apologetics_ edited by Oliphint and Tipton and _Covenantal Apologetics_ by Oliphint are great. A more accessible one is _Reasons of the Heart _ by Oliphint's colleague Dr. William Edgar, very good.


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## MW

There is a vague idea going around that Van Til was not able to clearly communicate his thoughts, and he needs secondary material to properly explain his position. If one starts with his work on the Reformed Pastor I think his position will be made clear in his own terms. After that his Christian Apologetics should fall into place.

Twenty plus years ago Richard Pratt's Every Thought Captive was considered a good entry-level text. I'm not sure if that has changed in a world that craves change for change's sake. Dr. Pratt also has a paper correcting common misunderstandings of CVT, which I think is online somewhere.


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## Ask Mr. Religion

MW said:


> Twenty plus years ago Richard Pratt's Every Thought Captive was considered a good entry-level text. I'm not sure if that has changed in a world that craves change for change's sake. Dr. Pratt also has a paper correcting common misunderstandings of CVT, which I think is online somewhere.


Indeed. Pratt's paper is available here: http://thirdmill.org/newfiles/ric_pratt/TH.Pratt.VanTil.1.html *and *http://thirdmill.org/newfiles/ric_pratt/TH.Pratt.VanTil.2.html

Reactions: Informative 1


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## RamistThomist

MW said:


> There is a vague idea going around that Van Til was not able to clearly communicate his thoughts, and he needs secondary material to properly explain his position. If one starts with his work on the Reformed Pastor I think his position will be made clear in his own terms. After that his Christian Apologetics should fall into place.
> 
> Twenty plus years ago Richard Pratt's Every Thought Captive was considered a good entry-level text. I'm not sure if that has changed in a world that craves change for change's sake. Dr. Pratt also has a paper correcting common misunderstandings of CVT, which I think is online somewhere.



The new books on apologetics aren't simply craving to be new. They are responding to new challenges. And at one time, even Van Til and Pratt were considered new.

True, Van Til is clearer than some of his interlocutors, but he does presuppose some knowledge of German Idealism. I read Hegel for fun so I am able to follow Van Til's discussion of the concrete universal, but this probably isn't the case for most readers.


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## MW

ReformedReidian said:


> The new books on apologetics aren't simply craving to be new. They are responding to new challenges. And at one time, even Van Til and Pratt were considered new.



"Ad fontes." In a thread seeking resources on "VanTillian Presuppositionalism" one would expect a reference to Van Til somewhere.


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