The 20th Century Captivity of the Church

S2:E3—The 20th Century Captivity of the Church

We sit down for an interview and discussion with Matt Marino—pastor in the ARP, PhD candidate at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, professor at ⁠New Aberdeen College⁠, and proponent of Reformed Classicalism. You can find his content on his ⁠blog⁠, on his ⁠youtube⁠, at ⁠SermonAudio⁠, and via ⁠podcast⁠. Highly recommended.

In particular, we discuss and parse through the confusion of the 20th century surrounding Thomas Aquinas vs. Cornelius Van Til, Classical vs. Presuppositional Apologetics, Natural Theology & Natural Law vs. Theonomy, Worldview, Ethics, and more.

Various questions touched on:

• Did Greek thought poison Christian thought, or is that a liberal thesis?
• Is Cornelius Van Til historically Reformed or historically novel?
• Is theology imperiled by denying natural revelation?
• What critiques do Van Tillians leave themselves open to?
• What is Fideism? Why is it a major problem?
• Is there a fad surrounding Thomas Aquinas?
• Why was R. C. Sproul concerned about Presuppositionalism?
• Can Inigo Montoya teach us anything about John Frame, Greg Bahnsen, R. J. Rushdoony, and Gary North?
• If natural law was embraced not only by Aquinas, but by Franciscus Junius, Richard Hooker, and the Reformed and Puritan tradition, why is it often rejected today?
• What can we learn from Pietists, Boomers, Moderates, Progressives, & Baptists?
• What is Reformed Classicalism, and why is it the answer to our 20th Century Captivity?
• What is the expositional evasion of ethics? Why is it bad? What are its effects upon the sheep?
• Do we need to build new institutions in order to address our declension and confusion?
• In what ways do seminaries today fail to uphold historic Christian thought?

Recommended Resources for Reformed Classicalism:

• ⁠Classical Apologetics⁠ by Sproul, Gerstner, & Lindsley
• ⁠R. C. Sproul vs. Greg Bahnsen Apologetics Debate⁠
• ⁠The Reformation As Renewal⁠ by Matthew Barrett
• ⁠Introduction to Reformed Scholasticism⁠ by Willem Van Asselt
• ⁠Theoretical-Practical Theology⁠ by Petrus van Mastricht
• ⁠Institutes of Elenctic Theology⁠ by Francis Turretin
• ⁠All That Is in God⁠ by James Dolezal
• ⁠Aquinas Among the Protestants⁠ by Svensson & VanDrunen
• ⁠Augustine: A Very Short Introduction⁠ by Henry Chadwick