Raschke's Attack on Presuppositionalism
I mentioned a few posts ago that there was a section coming up in Raschke's book on "presuppositionalism," and I briefly typed out a few of my own thoughts on the value of such a doctrine for Christian apologetics in a postmodern world.
Raschke saw things much differently than I had anticipated. For Raschke, presuppositionalism is a form of "foundationalism," which is bad, according to postmoderns. It is a sort of arrogance that says, "My worldview is right, and as we work out our worldviews to their logical conclusions (reason!), mine will be shown to be superior to yours."
I'll have to look up my Reformed systematic theologies again, but I'm not sure this is what most of us mean by presuppositionalism. At least it's not what I mean; perhaps I've missed what most Reformed believers say.
Over all thus far (about halfway through), Raschke's work is an incredible disappointment. The first few chapters are simply unreachable for most evangelical Christians. I have no idea how he think such a work could spark "the next Reformation." He spent so much time writing explanations of Derrida, Heidegger, et. al, in the first few chapters (explanations which would cause most laypersons, untrained in philosophy, to set the book down after a paragraph and grab the remote control), he spent a mere 15 pages explaining what sola fida looks like in this next Reformation. Basically, it means not enlightenment and not presuppositionalism (which is the same thing as enlightenment, but not really, but still - which is about what Raschke sounds like in plain words).
While Luther is his hero, Luther uttered his famous words, "Here I stand; I can do no other," after being attacked for his study and teaching on the word of God itself. Raschke spent 98 pages exegeting Derrida and then wrote, "Here we stand. We can do no other." Shocking.
I'm not giving up, though. There are some decent points in the book, and I will get to them once I've finished. Hopefully things will get better from here.
Raschke saw things much differently than I had anticipated. For Raschke, presuppositionalism is a form of "foundationalism," which is bad, according to postmoderns. It is a sort of arrogance that says, "My worldview is right, and as we work out our worldviews to their logical conclusions (reason!), mine will be shown to be superior to yours."
I'll have to look up my Reformed systematic theologies again, but I'm not sure this is what most of us mean by presuppositionalism. At least it's not what I mean; perhaps I've missed what most Reformed believers say.
Over all thus far (about halfway through), Raschke's work is an incredible disappointment. The first few chapters are simply unreachable for most evangelical Christians. I have no idea how he think such a work could spark "the next Reformation." He spent so much time writing explanations of Derrida, Heidegger, et. al, in the first few chapters (explanations which would cause most laypersons, untrained in philosophy, to set the book down after a paragraph and grab the remote control), he spent a mere 15 pages explaining what sola fida looks like in this next Reformation. Basically, it means not enlightenment and not presuppositionalism (which is the same thing as enlightenment, but not really, but still - which is about what Raschke sounds like in plain words).
While Luther is his hero, Luther uttered his famous words, "Here I stand; I can do no other," after being attacked for his study and teaching on the word of God itself. Raschke spent 98 pages exegeting Derrida and then wrote, "Here we stand. We can do no other." Shocking.
I'm not giving up, though. There are some decent points in the book, and I will get to them once I've finished. Hopefully things will get better from here.
posted by Travis Prinzi @ 4:57 PM
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