Preaching The Word Of The Lord: Cornelius Van Til, V.D.M. -- By: Edmund P. Clowney

Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 46:2 (Fall 1984)
Article: Preaching The Word Of The Lord: Cornelius Van Til, V.D.M.
Author: Edmund P. Clowney


Preaching The Word Of The Lord:
Cornelius Van Til, V.D.M.*

Edmund P. Clowney

The portrait of Dr. Cornelius Van Til that hangs in Machen Hall differs from the paintings of his colleagues of Westminster’s distinguished original faculty. It is the work of the same artist, DeWitt Whistler Jayne, but the pose is unique. Indeed, it is not a pose at all. The others are painted seated, gowned in academic regalia. But Dr. Van Til is not only standing, he is teaching. I well remember when the artist made the photographs and studies from which the portrait was painted. The room in Machen Hall that is now the president’s office was then a classroom. Dr. Van Til stood in front of the blackboard at the battered lectern which served him as a stage prop. In that familiar setting he did not pose; he lectured. DeWitt Jayne and I were the whole class on that occasion, but Dr. Van Til had lectured to smaller classes, and he has never despaired of advancing my education! He reviewed the history of modern philosophy, tracing the consequences of its departure from the authority of the Word of God. In his usual style he spattered the blackboard with half-written words, mostly in German: Geist, Lebensphil., Existenzphil. I am grateful that the artist, who was delighted with both the lecture and the lecturer’s animation, also faithfully captured the blackboard graffiti. That painting well portrays the teacher to whom this lecture series is dedicated.

I am honored to be invited to lecture in this series; I welcome the opportunity to express a little of the immense personal debt that I owe to Dr. Van Til and his teaching. In particular, I am glad to attempt an important task: to show the close relation between Dr. Van Til’s biblical apologetics and preaching.

* The Van Til Lecture for 1983–84, delivered on October 26, 1983, at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia.

One major undertaking of Dr. Van Til’s scholarly work has been his analysis of the writings of Karl Barth. Barth’s theology is usually characterized as kerygmatic, a theology of the Word, and particularly of the Word in preaching. Barth criticized the old liberalism for destroying the foundations of preaching. He found that as a pastor he could not preach in the mold provided by Schleiermacher. Barth’s call for a return to the preaching of the Word was expressed in his commentary on Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. That commentary was described as a bombshell exploding in the playground of the theologians.

Everywhere advocates of preaching rejoiced. A trumpet had sounded, calling for a return to the proclamation of the Word of God. But Cornelius Van Til did not join in the celebrati...

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