Book Review: Always Ready
Author: Greg L. Bahnsen; Publisher: Covenant Media Foundation; Length: 289 pages; Available From: Amazon
This book was published shortly after the all too premature death of Greg Bahnsen, and serves as a medium length study of presuppositional apologetics and epistemology (theory of knowledge), which should be useful both for those new to the study of apologetic methodology, and those who are already knowledgeable in this field.
While many have complained that Cornelis Van Til was much too hard to read, Greg Bahnsen’s work is the perfect antitdote to such a complaint. Indeed, Dr. Scott Oliphant (a lecturer in apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary) said that ‘for those who want to understand Van Til, whether to agree or disagree, at least two things are both essential and too often neglected. The first is to read Van Til, the second is to read Greg Bahnsen.’
The book is divided into five sections, each containing a number of relatively short chapters, followed by a useful exposition of Paul’s encounter with the Athenian philosophers at Mar’s Hill in Acts 17. Section on examines the Lordship of Christ in the realm of knowledge; here Dr. Bahnsen exposes the mythological nature of the notion that fallen human reason is neutral, and shows us that we must be dependent upon God for any true knowledge we possess – and thus any knowledge that the unbeliever has is borrowed capital. The next four sections deal with how we are to defend the faith at a theoretical and practical level, and how the Christian can overcome objections to the faith posed by unbelievers with humble boldness.
Although it is not possible for me to convey the contents of this work fully in such a brief review, what I can say is that Always Ready will tell you how to defend the faith in an explicitly Christian and Calvinistic fashion, as opposed to other apologetic methods which conceed too much ground to autonomous human reason (i.e. Classical Apologetics). Therefore, the importance of such a book cannot be underestimated; and, like anything by Greg Bahnsen, Always Ready is clearly and logically written. So, if nothing else, reading Dr. Bahnsen should teach you how to reason cogently.
Rating: 9/10
June 24, 2008 at 4:38 am
*Always Ready* is a contribution worthy of Dr. Bahnsen. Booth did a good job editing it, in contrast to, say, the job he did editing Bahnsen’s *Victory in Jesus*, which basically proved the latter’s wisdom in expressing, when he was alive, his desire not to have his sermons published as books.
June 24, 2008 at 8:40 am
Interesting; I picked up Victory in Jesus last week.