Christ and Human Thought

Christ and Human Thought – A lecture series by Cornelius VanTil ★★★★★
This is a lecture series by VanTil, which can be obtained for free from UTunes University. It is essentially a history of philosophy from the perspective of VanTil. It is 28 lectures long, with many of the lectures longer than 90 minutes. VanTil is a giant, a tour-de-force, a masterful analyzer of human philosophy in the light of Christianity. VanTil shows the defect of all thinking outside of the Christian mindset. He stands with wonder as to why the Catholics would idolize the ancient Greeks and their monistic thinking, failing to identify a creator/creature distinction. VanTil marches through the middle ages to spend much time on Kant, followed by even more time on Karl Barth and his followers. Finally, he takes some jabs at the thining of Berkouwer and Gordon Clark. VanTil adds numerous personal anecdotes such as his sole encounter with Karl Barth. The last five lectures are actually separate from the lecture series but topically related, and tend to be reviews of the prior 23 lectures.
I took to listening to VanTil’s lectures with a mild sense that I would disagree with his thinking and outcomes. VanTil is quite persuasive in his arguments, and I would not hesitate at this point to cast my lot in the VanTillian camp. He does a marvelous performance of showing how secular theology has sunk into the Christian mindset, and how we can re-orient toward thinking Biblically. VanTil, like Francis Schaeffer, stands as a veritable giant in the philosophic landscape of the 20th century.  To avoid him and his writings/lectures is to our own peril.