Cornelius Van Til (1895–1987) is among the most notable apologists of the twentieth century. Much ink has been spilled over his apologetic methodology often referred to as presuppositionalism. In Letters from America: A Dutch Reformed Perspective on the Struggle for Orthodoxy in American Presbyterianism (1935–1940), now translated into English by Daniel Ragusa, the reader has the chance to hear Van Til’s personal reflections over the Presbyterian controversy in the United States. While in this book Van Til is not setting forth his apologetic method as in other books, certainly his commitment to revelational epistemology and to the authority of Holy Scripture shine through.
Letters from America is a collection of letters that Van Til wrote for the Dutch publication De Reformatie from 1935–1940 at the invitation of Klaas Schilder (see pp. 34–35). In the introduction, Daniel Ragusa provides helpful background on the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) as well as Dutch Reformed history that somewhat paralleled Machen’s dealings in the mainline Presbyterian church. He also notes the fraternity between the OPC and the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), and specifically Machen’s admiration for the CRC. Schilder found himself fighting against a modernism in the Netherlands similar to what Machen was dealing with in the United States. Ragusa says of Schilder’s inviting Van Til to write for his publication,
We can now summarize the possible reasons for Schilder’s invitation to Van Til. First, and probably foremost, Schilder found a gifted ally in Van Til. . . . Second, Schilder’s movement in the Netherlands paralleled in many respects Machen’s movement in America. The same emphasis on the historicity and truthfulness of Scripture as the divine Word of God and the maintenance of the Reformed confessions over against those who would so broaden them to render them useless was at the heart of both. (35)
Van Til’s letters demonstrate consistency throughout. There is a consistent concern for the purity of the church of Jesus Christ. These letters take the reader through the controversy over Machen’s trial to the founding of the Presbyterian Church of America and its later name change to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In these letters, Van Til’s polemics against the theological liberalism in the mainline Presbyterian church shine through, even as he attempts to explain these controversies to an outside, Dutch audience. The letters have the feel of a son overseas writing home, and readers can imagine that his letters were received with a sympathetic ear.
With respect to Machen’s trial, this book provides great help by simply adding the voice of one more witness to the fact that Machen was not a schismatic. Though he is sometimes portrayed that way, it is clear that Machen was removed from ministry in the Presbyterian Church in the USA largely over his biblical and missional fidelity. In the first letter, “The Foreign Mission Issue,” Van Til speaks both to Machen’s efforts to bring reformation to the already existing foreign mission board and then to the founding of the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions. Van Til contrasts Machen and his faithfulness with those who sought peace even at the expense of the truth. He writes, “The modernists and the peace-at-any-price orthodox did what they could to restrain the ‘revolt’ and ‘rebellion’ of Dr. Machen and his followers” (41). Van Til speaks of the committee formed to try Machen, which had a definite intention to convict him. Van Til writes, “The chairman of the committee was himself a signer of the Auburn Affirmation, and Dr. Machen had protested the fact that signers of this affirmation were among the members of the mission board” (43).
Van Til takes the reader from Machen’s conviction to the founding of the new Presbyterian church and its early days, and to the death of Machen. Letter 12, entitled “J. Gresham Machen 1881–1937” is among the most moving of the letters in the book. Van Til offers his personal reflections on Machen, and even as he grieves, he urges the church to move forward. He writes,
We thought him indispensable—but enough; God has taken him away. The Lord has given, the Lord has taken, blessed be the name of the Lord. To him be praise that we were able to have Machen with us until this time. God will carry on and accomplish his work still even now. Despondency would be a sin; a greater confidence of faith than ever before is our clear duty. (98)
And indeed, much of what remains in the rest of the letters accounts for the Lord’s faithfulness in preserving the OPC. There certainly had been and would continue to be struggles in this fledgling denomination, and with Machen departed, it fell to other men such as Van Til to lead. Interestingly enough, if the aberration in the old church was modernism, in the new one there was a conflict between the Reformed and the fundamentalists. Perhaps one of the unique features of this particular work of Van Til is that the reader sees his polemics against fundamentalism and specifically dispensationalism. Given that most of Van Til’s works have to do with unbelieving philosophy or liberal or neoorthodox theology, seeing his response to dispensationalism, a hermeneutic held by conservative Protestants, offers a unique view of Van Til. Though the fundamentalists and dispensationalists were Bible believing, their doctrine was still at odds with the standards of the new Presbyterian church. This resulted in a split.
The remaining letters largely deal with other issues in the struggle for orthodoxy in America and many of the challenges such as Barthianism and other forms of neoorthodoxy. The letters reveal the sad decline of Princeton Seminary but also of the Lord’s blessing to Westminster Theological Seminary.
Daniel Ragusa has done a great service in translating these letters and making them available to an English-speaking audience. There is much to take away from this volume. First, readers get an excellent history of issues in the Dutch Reformed and American Presbyterian churches in Ragusa’s introduction and a firsthand account of the battles within American Presbyterianism from Van Til’s letters. Second, the reader is reminded that unity in the church is important, but it cannot come at the expense of the truth of the Word of God. The only way to be truly unified is to be unified in the truth. Third, readers see the importance of a confession of faith to which ministers are bound and the danger of deviation from that biblically grounded confession, whether toward the left or toward conservative biblicism. Fourth, as a man brought up and nurtured in the Dutch Reformed tradition, Van Til cared deeply about the American Presbyterian church, and likewise Machen cared deeply about the Dutch Reformed church. Surely we ought to learn to be invested in the good of other churches and to pray and hope for their continued fidelity to the truth. This book is a valuable resource as a window into this era and its many struggles. Even better, it serves as a testimony of God’s faithfulness in the midst of crisis.
©James Ritchey. All Rights Reserved.
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James Ritchey
James Ritchey is originally from Birmingham, Alabama and studied at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, MS (2018). James serves as mission developer and pastor at River City Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP) in Little Rock, AR.
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