May 2016 Ordained Servant

From the Editor. Whether it is the discipline of elenctics, apologetics, or evangelism proper, winning sinners to Jesus Christ is the goal.

The painting on the cover pictures native Americans fishing at the great granite falls of Amoskeag on the Merrimac River which runs through Manchester, New Hampshire. In 1997 an Orthodox Presbyterian mission work named Amoskeag Presbyterian Church began worshiping less than a mile from these falls.

It is believed that the Indian word “Amoskeag” (Probably originally Namoskeag) means “one takes small fish,” “great fishing place.” In 1651 John Eliot, “Apostle to the Indians,” preached to the Pennacook Indians, part of the Algonquin nation, just north of us. The first Christian worship ever conducted within the present limits of the city of Manchester was conducted in the language of the native Algonquins—either by John Eliot himself or one of the native preachers.[1] Jesus said to his disciples, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19).

In this month’s Ordained Servant Online, Brian L. De Jong brings Van Til’s presuppositional apologetics to bear on the branch of apologetics known as elenctics in “Exposing the Darkness: A Call for Presuppositional Elenctics.” Part 2 will be published next month. Elenctics is the minister’s Spirit-empowered work in exposing the darkness within the fallen souls of people. John 16:8, “And when he [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict (ἐλέγξει elengxei) the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”

On a related topic James Baird brings Van Til’s presuppositional apologetics to bear on philosophy in “Christ-Shaped Philosophy: Toward a Union of Spirit, Wisdom, and Word.” Baird seeks to bring a more self-consciously Reformed Christology and theology of the Word to bear on Paul Moser’s “Christ-Shaped Philosophy Project.”

Finally, on the themes of apologetics and biblical theology Danny Olinger reviews William Dennison’s In Defense of the Eschaton: Essays in Reformed Apologetics in his article, “How Vosian Is Van Til?” He concludes that Dennison, Vos, and Van Til are all on the same Reformed page.

Andrew Selle reviews J. Cameron Fraser’s Developments in Biblical Counseling in his article, “Reflections on Biblical Counseling.” This is a wonderful account of the counseling revolution started by Jay Adams in the 1970s and its productive offshoots.

Our last review this month is Bryan Estelle’s look at Walter Kaiser Jr.’s I Will Lift My Eyes Unto The Hills: Learning From The Great Prayers Of The Old Testament.

To add some edifying humor, our sleepy friend Eutychus II has emerged from his slumbers to tease with “Lest We Remember.”

Don’t miss William Austin’s “Chanticleer.” Austin was a contemporary of the Bard, He was a barrister of Lincoln's Inn, and resided for many years in Southwark, where he acquired a great local reputation.

Blessings in the Lamb,
Gregory Edward Reynolds

FROM THE ARCHIVES “APOLOGETICS”

Subject Index

(If the below links do not take you to the correct page, try a different browser.)

• “A Letter from Cornelius Van Til to Francis Schaeffer.” (Cornelius Van Til) 6:4 (Oct. 1997): 77–80.
• “The Post_Modern Paradigm Shift and the Biblical, Reformed Presuppositionalism of Van Til.” (Larry E. Ball) 5:4 (Oct. 1996): 87–90.
• “The Reason for God.” (William D. Dennison) 17 (2008): 146–51.

Ordained Servant exists to help encourage, inform, and equip church officers for faithful, effective, and God-glorifying ministry in the visible church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Its primary audience is ministers, elders, and deacons of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, as well as interested officers from other Presbyterian and Reformed churches. Through high-quality editorials, articles, and book reviews we endeavor to stimulate clear thinking and the consistent practice of historic, confessional Presbyterianism.

[1] Thomas Chalmers, The Town Church of Manchester [Manchester, NH: The Jubilee Committee, 1903), 16.