Sean Gerety on Cornelius Van Til, Karl Barth, and The Federal Vision | God's Hammer

Consequently, when someone like Peter Leithart or Jeff Meyers come along and say both “Yes” and “No” to the vitals of the faith, even the Gospel, those trained in Van Til’s theology of paradox chalk up the contradictory statements of these unrepentant heretics to just another apparent contradiction. -- Sean Gerety


Sean Gerety of the God's Hammer blog noted that Jim Cassidy, a Presbyterian Church in America minister, said that Peter Leithart's theology was dialectical, which allowed him to speak out of both sides of his mouth.  Basically,  heresy always begins with dishonesty and twisting words so that what is really meant is hidden behind terms that everyone else takes for granted.  What is amazing is that the more conservative ministers in the PCA and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church cannot see the implications of Van Til's theology.  In fact, Van Til' theology of paradox and analogy is dialectical is really just an Evangelical form of neo-orthodoxy.   Sean says:

While Cassidy attributes Leithart’s snakelike ability to speak out of both sides of his mouth to the influence of Karl Barth, he is blind, as are others, to the influence Cornelius Van Til.  Van Til is well known for his belief that the Scriptures are riddled with logical paradoxes along with his theory of analogy where all the so-called “apparent contradictions” of Scripture are mystically harmonized in the hidden mind of God.

Further, this belief that these biblical paradoxes cannot, and even must not, be resolved at the bar of human reason is the heart of Van Til’s Creator/creature distinction and is the core of his theology and the theology of every Federal Visionist along with the vast majority of their opponents.  On this score the connection between Barth and Van Til is unmistakable, even if men educated in most Reformed seminaries are too enamored by personalities to notice, much less care. 

Further down the page, Sean says:

Consequently, when someone like Peter Leithart or Jeff Meyers come along and say both “Yes” and “No” to the vitals of the faith, even the Gospel, those trained in Van Til’s theology of paradox chalk up the contradictory statements of these unrepentant heretics to just another apparent contradiction.

Click here to read the rest of Sean's article:

Cornelius Van Til, Karl Barth, and The Federal Vision | God's Hammer