The Kingdom Come

Sometimes when Christians think of the word presuppose they consider it a negative since Christians want not to presuppose or assume but rather allow the Bible to determine our beliefs. But theologically and philosophically speaking, everyone presupposes when is comes to claims or propositions. What is important is whether our presuppositions are accurate or are flawed.

In this 44 minute podcast Roderick is joined by Dr. James Anderson of the Reformed Theological Seminary as Dr. Anderson gives an introductory summation of Presuppositionalism and especially how it is articulated from the two dominant "schools"; that of the late Cornelius Van Til and Gordon Clark.

The entry in the online dictionary, dictionary.com defines the word axiom as:

"1.a self-evident truth that requires no proof.
2.a universally accepted principle or rule.
3.Logic, Mathematics. a proposition that is assumed without proof for the sake of studying the consequences that follow from it." -- source

Clarkianism in summary, is the teaching by theologian Gordon Clark (1902-1985) that the presupposition or starting point of Christian theology is the axiom:

"The Bible is the Word of God written"

-- Quo Vadis, Evangelicalism?: Perspectives on the Past, Direction for the Future

This specific reference to Clark's axiom is a quote of an address he gave while president of the Evangelical Theological Society. The fuller axiom and its conclusions are, "The Bible is the Word of God written. Therefore the conclusion is the Bible is inerrant. God cannot lie."

Now, the reason this axiom is actually irrelevant is because it doesn't really start in the correct place. Let us examine.

Liberal politicians in America are known for spinning history in a manner that helps their agenda.  For example, the Democratic Party holds itself up as the champion of minorities, yet historically this is not true.  After the Civil War, the Republican led government intended to integrate blacks into the general American society.  This effort was called "Reconstructionism".

In the great debate of how we know what we know, or in theology it is called epistemology comes the question about starting points or "presuppositions".

Whether we like or not, we ALL have a presupposition or starting point when it comes to belief...belief in anything, be it religious or scientific.  These presuppositions or assumptions often determine our unfolding conclusions or "logic" to next steps.