Reforming Apologetics: Retrieving the Classic Reformed Approach to Defending the Faith

Challenging the dominant Van Tillian approach in Reformed apologetics, this book by a leading expert in contemporary Reformed theology sets forth the principles that undergird a classic Reformed approach. J. V. Fesko’s detailed exegetical, theological, and historical argument takes as its starting point the classical Reformed understanding of the “two books” of God’s revelation: nature and Scripture. Believers should always rest on the authority of Scripture but also can and should appeal to the book of nature in the apologetic task.

View an excerpt here.

272 pages

Contents
Introduction
1. The Light of Nature
2. Common Notions
3. Calvin
4. Thomas Aquinas
5. Worldview
6. Transcendental Arguments
7. Dualisms
8. The Book of Nature and Apologetics
Indexes

“Fesko writes with learning and verve as he ploughs up the baked ground of much current Reformed apologetics, letting in light and fresh air. His basic charge is that the apologetics of Van Til and Dooyeweerd is inconsistent in its basic method: they criticized other apologetics as unholy mixtures of the biblical and the pagan, while their own efforts did not escape from such ‘synthesis.’ In the final chapter, Fesko sets out afresh the methods and objectives of the classical tradition of Reformed apologetics. If you are skeptical about whether a book on apologetics can be good reading, then this incisive treatment will convince you.”

— Paul Helm, author of Human Nature from Calvin to Edwards

“Fesko has given us a clear, scholarly, and comprehensive analysis and critique of post-Enlightenment Reformed apologetics. His work goes a long way toward restoring classical Reformed theology and apologetics.”

— R. C. Sproul, founder of Ligonier Ministries