Herman Hoeksema (1886–1965)

I have somewhat of a mixed review here. Oddly enough, Hoeksema's writing here is fine. I would certainly disagree at some points, and I think he misunderstood at points as well, but he was exploring the issues of this controversy basically fairly. He published the original complaint against Gordon Clark and responded to it. Nothing wrong with that.

But this collection is far less fair. First of all, it is not at all what it suggests to be. The title is rather misleading, and there is no subtitle to clarify. This is a collection of editorials about the Clark-Van Til Controversy, but a history of it or back and forth on it. The publisher in his introduction and afterward is very clear -- he believes that Van Til and his students have committed a grievous crime against the church in raising these questions about Clark. But all that is in view here is one man's response to the Complaint that kicked off the controversy. Furthermore, he does not even publish the Complaint itself, as Hoeksema did. We are not even given the courtesy of having the other side fairly represented. This was not Hoeksema's fault. It is clear in the introduction and afterward that the publish has a personal ace to grind.

While reading this, I took it upon myself to find some representation of the other side, and found a discussion of the controversy at Reformed Forum (http://reformedforum.org/podcasts/ctc163/). The men here are clearly on Van Til's side, but I found their approach charitable and fair. Hoeksema's approach is much the same way, though I think he goes too far in places and misunderstands the original point at times. In summary, this book would have been a lot more helpful if the publisher had attempted to act more in that same Christian spirit and at very least publish the Complaint along with this response.… (mehr)