Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Reason, Arguments, and Presuppositions - E. Linnaman

"Reason is a whore, Luther says. There is nothing for which logical arguments cannot be adduced. We should resist beguilement through logical arguments. Our minds are swayed by logical arguments, but such arguments are never free standing. They are always wrapped up in a complex of presuppositions. It is not just that questions arguments exist: arguments themselves are questionable-that is, they must be traced back to their presuppositions. Insofar as they are logical, they may appear to be neutral, but they are most assuredly not.

"That is why God's Word admonishes us: 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.' (Prov. 3:5) Is this a denigration of our God-given intellectual capacity? No; it is simply a reminder of why our minds were given and what they were never designed to be: objects in which to place our total trust."

Eta Linnaman, "Biblical Criticism on Trial", trans. Robert Yarbrough. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2001, p. 180.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Happy New Year!

Yes, I have been absent from my blog for a ridiculously inexcusably long period of time. My apologies to those who wondered where I have been! Our family traveled from our current home in Louisville, Kentucky, to our 'home' town of Edmonton, Alberta for Christmas. We celebrated two weddings, along with Christmas, with family and friends back in Alberta. It was a nice trip, but took us entirely out of the loop for a few weeks.

We are now back, and, God willing, I will be more faithful with my blogging this year. My first offering is a review of Tim Keller's 'The Reason for God,' a helpful little apologetics book which I highly recommend to readers of all stripes.

God's Blessings to you through this new year,
Tawa

Timothy Keller, The Reason for God - book review

Keller, Timothy. The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. New York: Dutton, 2008. 293 pp.

Timothy Keller planted Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan in 1989. In the past twenty years, Redeemer has reached out to (and reached) tens of thousands of young, professional New Yorkers with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Today it ranks as a major church-planting center, with daughter churches not just throughout New York City, but in major urban centers around the world. Keller’s expositional preaching continually has in mind the objections that may arise in the minds of skeptics and non-Christians in his congregation. Every Sunday, the worship service is followed by at least an hour of question and answer, where Keller remains in order to respond to the questions and doubts of those (usually unbelievers) in attendance.