The Jack Miller Archive

Writing for the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC about what it is like being a student in Dr. Cornelius Van Til's class as a seminary student.
Location: Presbyterian Guardian, 34:4:April 1965:55

Just for a moment imagine that you are sitting in one of Dr. Van Til's classes at Westminster Seminary. A bright student has posed a difficult question about the philosophy of Kant, and a spirited discussion follows. To you some of the terms seem as long as freight cars: "epistemological self-consciousness," "concrete universal," "ontological Trinity," and "the Creator-creature distinction."

You feel lost-but only for a moment. A young man in the back row raises his hand. "Dr. Van Til," he says with a timid smile, "I'm afraid I didn't quite get that last point about the Creator-creature distinction." (As a matter of fact he has missed the whole point of the discussion.')

Then with untiring patience and a touch of humor Professor Van Til takes the time to bring this student back into the mainstream of the class discussion. He illustrates the Christian position by telling a story about a man (the believer) who wanders into a valley where everyone is blind (un-regenerate men). The blind people then offer to sew the man's eyes shut so that he will see no more "illusions." Or he may tell an original parable about the owner of an estate (God) who stamps his name on all his property (the creation). Then he points out how foolish it is for the servants on the estate (men) to pretend that they have no knowledge that the Lord of the property exists.

As he continues using his picturesque language, the shy student and you begin to get the point. You see that this approach has a basic simplicity. It is just the old-fashioned gospel applied to the broad problems of human thought and to the defense of Christian doctrine.

One of the high points of the class hour is Dr. Van Til's work at the blackboard. To the delight of the students the blackboard soon comes to resemble a modern abstract painting with crisscrossing lines, arrows, names. of thinkers, and circles. The circles, of course, are the key to the whole design. At bottom, he says, there are only two ways of looking at the relationship between God and man: there is the Christian approach with two circles, and the non-Christian approach with one circle. The Christian recognizes in his reasoning that he is a dependent creature made in the image of God; the unbeliever thinks of himself as an independent being who is self-existent.

To those who know him, however, Dr. Van Til is more than a "classroom thinker." To many of the people of Calvary Orthodox Presbyterian Church of Glenside he is almost a second pastor, frequently making sick calls or visits to those with special needs. A nearby hospital has been a part of his "parish" and as a summer pulpit supply in Wisconsin he has sought also to minister to the sick and the shut-ins. To sum it up, here is a man whose scholarly teaching ministry is warmed by the heart of a true pastor both within and outside the classroom.

C. JOHN MILLER Mr. Miller, after a decade as teacher, pastor, and doctoral candidate in the field of literature at the University of the Pacific, has returned to Westminster to complete his seminary training. He is also writing for the Committee on Christian Education of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.