By What Standard? An Analysis of the Philosophy of Cornelius Van Til Quotes

“The issue is the same today. What is our standard; by what standard shall we approach the problems of philosophy and the problems of everyday life? If we begin with anything other than the ontological Trinity, with the sovereignty of God as intellectually applied and systematically delineated in every aspect and avenue of human thought, we end with the destruction of Christian theology and the deterioration of Christian life.”
― Rousas John Rushdoony, By What Standard?

“For Spinoza, God, man and the universe are but individuations and aspects of the general idea of substance. But, as Van Til pointed out, to say that all is God is no different than saying nothing is God. 'Univocal reasoning must always lead to negation. Univocal reasoning is based upon negation. The very presupposition of univocal reasoning is that there is no absolute God. If there were an absolute God it is ipso facto out of the question to apply the categories of thought to Him in the same way they are applied to man.”
― Rousas John Rushdoony, By What Standard? An Analysis of the Philosophy of Cornelius Van Til

“For Spinoza, God, man and the universe are but individuations and aspects of the general idea of substance. But, as Van Til pointed out, to say that all is God is no different than saying nothing is God. 'Univocal reasoning must always lead to negation. Univocal reasoning is based upon negation. The very presupposition of
univocal reasoning is that there is no absolute God. If there were an absolute God it is ipso facto out of the question to apply the categories of thought to Him in the same way they are applied to man.”
― Rousas John Rushdoony, By What Standard? An Analysis of the Philosophy of Cornelius Van Til

“By making the vision of God and the contemplative life the highest aim of life, by emphasizing the spiritual as godly and withdrawal from the world as holy, the middle ages in a sense surrendered the world to the devil. The world and matter were either to be tightly governed by spirit or to be renounced, or both. Sacerdotal celibacy was emblematic of the fact that the kingdom of God and the common life were incompatible. The kingdom had to be superimposed upon the world; it could govern the world, but it could not coincide with the world. The Reformation doctrines of justification by faith, the priesthood of all believers, and the Christian calling and vocation made possible the potential coincidence of the kingdom and the world as an historical objective, not, of course, to be fully realized in this life but to be approximated and the proper goal of historical activity. Thus the Reformation was a liberation and the promise of life, but a promise thus far unrealized.”
― Rousas John Rushdoony, By What Standard? An Analysis of the Philosophy of Cornelius Van Til

“Even as Jacob unwittingly embraced a bride who was not his choice, with unhappy consequences, so well-meaning Christian thinkers have unknowingly reasoned on premises they assumed to be Christian.”
― Rousas John Rushdoony, By What Standard? An Analysis of the Philosophy of Cornelius Van Til

“A great deal of our time will have to be taken up with the destruction of evil. We may not even seem to see much progress in ourselves or round about us, during our lifetime. We shall have to build with the trowel in one hand and the sword in the other. It may seem to us to be a hopeless task of sweeping the ocean dry. Yet we know that this is exactly what our ethical ideal would be if we were not Christians. We know that for non-Christians their ethical ideal can never be realized either for themselves or for society. They do not even know the true ethical ideal. And as to our own efforts we know that though much of our time may have to be taken up with pumping out the water of sin, we are nevertheless laying the foundation of our bridge on solid rock, and we are making progress toward our goal. Our victory is certain. The devil and all his servants will be put out of the habitable universe of God. There will be a new heaven and a new earth on which righteousness will dwell.”
― Rousas John Rushdoony, By What Standard? An Analysis of the Philosophy of Cornelius Van Til

“By what standard, by what standard have you dared to approach the problem of life? Any standard other than the Trinity, the triune God in Himself, is an offense against God, and the destruction of Christian faith and life.”
― Rousas John Rushdoony, By What Standard?

“And any theology that seeks as its basic principle of interpretation Christ rather than the triune God seeks to reduce God to His relationship to man rather than to establish God in Himself as the basic principle of interpretation.”
― Rousas John Rushdoony, By What Standard?