Gordon Haddon Clark (August 31, 1902 – April 9, 1985) was an American

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

. He was a leading figure associated with

presuppositional apologetics Presuppositional apologetics, shortened to presuppositionalism, is an Epistemology, epistemological school of Christian apologetics that examines the presuppositions on which worldviews are based, and invites comparison and contrast between the res ...

and was chairman of the Philosophy Department at

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study within six colleges in the arts, business, communic ...

for 28 years. He was an expert in

pre-Socratic Pre-Socratic philosophy, also known as early Greek philosophy, is ancient Greek philosophy before Socrates. Pre-Socratic philosophers were mostly interested in cosmology, the beginning and the substance of the universe, but the inquiries of the ...

and

ancient philosophy This page lists some links to ancient philosophy, namely philosophical thought extending as far as early post-classical history (). Overview Genuine philosophical thought, depending upon original individual insights, arose in many cultures ro ...

and was noted for defending the idea of propositional revelation against

empiricism In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological view which holds that true knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience and empirical evidence. It is one of several competing views within epistemology, along ...

and

rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the Epistemology, epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "the position that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge", often in contrast to ot ...

, in arguing that all truth is

propositional A proposition is a statement that can be either true or false. It is a central concept in the philosophy of language, semantics, logic, and related fields. Propositions are the object s denoted by declarative sentences; for example, "The sky ...

. His

theory of knowledge Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowledg ...

is sometimes called ''scripturalism''.

Biography

Clark was raised in a Christian home and studied Calvinist thought from a young age. In 1924, he graduated from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in French and earned his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in Philosophy from the same institution in 1929. The following year he studied at the Sorbonne. He began teaching at the University of Pennsylvania after receiving his bachelor's degree and also taught at the Reformed Episcopal Seminary in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. In 1936, he accepted a professorship in Philosophy at

Wheaton College, Illinois Wheaton College is a private Evangelical Christian liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois, United States. It was founded by evangelical abolitionists in 1860. Wheaton College was a stop on the Underground Railroad and graduated one of I ...

, where he remained until 1943 when he accepted the Chairmanship of the Philosophy Department at

in Indianapolis. After his retirement from Butler in 1973, he taught at

Covenant College Covenant College is a private, liberal arts, Christian college in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, United States, located near Chattanooga, Tennessee. As the college of the Presbyterian Church in America, Covenant teaches subjects from a Reformed ...

Lookout Mountain, Georgia Lookout Mountain is a city entirely within Walker County, Georgia, United States. Bordering its sister town of Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, Lookout Mountain is part of the Chattanooga metropolitan statistical area. The population was 1,641 a ...

, and

Sangre de Cristo Seminary Sangre de Cristo Seminary and School for Biblical Studies was incorporated in 1976 as a non-profit organization. It is not affiliated with any denomination, but is Reformed in nature. It strongly emphasizes Biblical exegesis and the Biblical ...

Westcliffe, Colorado Westcliffe is a statutory town that is the county seat of Custer County, Colorado, United States. At the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 435. History File:D&RGW Train Depot In Westcliffe, Colorado.jpg, The restored D&RGW depot in Augu ...

. Clark's denominational affiliations would change many times. He was born into and eventually became a ruling elder in the

Presbyterian Church in the United States of America The Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) was a Presbyterian denomination existing from 1789 to 1958. In that year, the PCUSA merged with the United Presbyterian Church of North America. The new church was named the United ...

. However, he would eventually leave with a small group of conservatives, led by

John Gresham Machen John Gresham Machen (; 1881–1937) was an American Presbyterian New Testament scholar and educator in the early 20th century. He was the Professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary between 1906 and 1929, and led a revolt against modernist ...

, to help form the Presbyterian Church of America (renamed the

Orthodox Presbyterian Church The Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) is a confessional Presbyterian denomination located primarily in the United States, with additional congregations in Canada, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. It was founded by conservative members of the Presbyte ...

in 1938) and would be ordained in the OPC in 1944. However, in 1948, following the Clark-

Van Til A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or p ...

Controversy, he joined the

United Presbyterian Church of North America The United Presbyterian Church of North America (UPCNA) was an American Presbyterian denomination that existed for one hundred years. It was formed on May 26, 1858, by the union of the Northern branch of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church ...

. Following the UPCNA's 1956 merger with the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (the same denomination from which the OPC had separated from in 1936) to form the

United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America The United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA) was the largest branch of Presbyterianism in the United States from May 28, 1958, to 1983. It was formed by the union of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of Ameri ...

, Clark joined the

Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod The Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod was a Presbyterian denomination in the United States that came about due to a split amongst the Reformed Presbyterians, or Covenanters and existed between 1833 and 1965. History The division had co ...

in 1957. Clark was instrumental in arranging a merger between the RPCGS and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church to form the

Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod The Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod was a Reformed and Presbyterian denomination in the United States and Canada between 1965 and 1982. Formation The RPCES was formed in 1965 with the union of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, ...

in 1965. When the RPCES became part of the

Presbyterian Church in America The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is the second-largest Presbyterian church body, behind the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the largest conservative Calvinist denomination in the United States. The PCA is Calvinist, Reformed in theolog ...

in 1982, Clark refused to join the PCA and instead entered the unaffiliated Covenant Presbytery in 1984. Clark was also elected president of the

Evangelical Theological Society The Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) is a professional society of Biblical scholars, educators, pastors, and students "devoted to the inerrancy and inspiration of the Scriptures and the gospel of Jesus Christ" and "dedicated to the oral ex ...

in 1965. He died in 1985 and was buried near

Philosophy

Clark's philosophy and theology has been summarized as:. *

Epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...

: propositional revelation in the Bible *

Soteriology Soteriology (; ' "salvation" from wikt:σωτήρ, σωτήρ ' "savior, preserver" and wikt:λόγος, λόγος ' "study" or "word") is the study of Doctrine, religious doctrines of salvation. Salvation theory occupies a place of special sign ...

faith alone (or simply ), meaning justification by faith alone, is a soteriological doctrine in Christian theology commonly held to distinguish the Lutheranism, Lutheran and Reformed tradition, Reformed traditions of Protestantism, among others, from th ...

Metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

theism Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of at least one deity. In common parlance, or when contrasted with '' deism'', the term often describes the philosophical conception of God that is found in classical theism—or the co ...

Ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

: the superiority of divine law over human law/Christian

egoism Egoism is a philosophy concerned with the role of the self, or , as the motivation and goal of one's own action. Different theories of egoism encompass a range of disparate ideas and can generally be categorized into descriptive or normativ ...

Politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

: constitutional republic

Personal life

Clark met his future wife Ruth Schmidt during his graduate studies at the

; she had actually been baptized by Gordon's father as a baby. They married in 1929 and stayed together for 48 years until Ruth's death from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

in 1977. They had two daughters, Lois Antoinette (later Lois Zeller, b. 1936) and Nancy Elizabeth (later Betsy Clark George, b. 1941). At the time of his death, Clark was survived by his two daughters and their husbands, 12 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.Douma, Douglas (2017). ''The Presbyterian Philosopher: The Authorized Biography of Gordon H. Clark''. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock. Clark was well known as a keen

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player. In 1966, he won the championship of the King's Men Chess Club in

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

Publications

Clark was a prolific author who wrote more than forty books, including texts on ancient and contemporary philosophy, volumes on Christian doctrines, commentaries on the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

and a one-volume history of philosophy. Many of his works have been reprinted by the Trinity Foundation.

Philosophy

* ''An Introduction to Christian Philosophy'' (), in which Clark's thought is well summarized in three lectures given at Wheaton College, reissued in ''Christian Philosophy'' () * ''Three Types of Religious Philosophy'', reissued in ''Christian Philosophy'' () * ''Thales to Dewey'', a history of philosophy () * ''Ancient Philosophy'', Dr. Clark's section of a ''History of Philosophy,'' which he co-published with three other authors; also includes eleven major essays, including his doctoral dissertation on

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

() * ''William James and John Dewey'' () * ''Behaviorism and Christianity'' () * ''Philosophy of Science and Belief in God'' () * ''Historiography: Secular and Religious'' () * ''A Christian View of Men and Things'', which develops Clark's Christian

worldview A worldview (also world-view) or is said to be the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the whole of the individual's or society's knowledge, culture, and Perspective (cognitive), point of view. However, whe ...

() * ''A Christian Philosophy of Education'' () * ''Logic'', a textbook on logic for students () * ''Essays on Ethics and Politics'' () * ''Lord God of Truth'' printed with ''Concerning the Teacher'' by

St. Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

() * ''Selections from Hellenistic Philosophy'' edited by Clark () * ''Readings in Ethics'' edited by Clark and T. V. Smith () * ''Clark Speaks from the Grave'' written just before Clark died and published posthumously, responding to some of his critics ()

Theology

* ''In Defense of Theology'' () * ''Religion, Reason, and Revelation'', Clark's major work on

apologetics Apologetics (from Greek ) is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and recommended their f ...

() * ''God's Hammer: The Bible and Its Critics'' () * ''What Do Presbyterians Believe?'', a commentary on the

Westminster Confession of Faith The Westminster Confession of Faith, or simply the Westminster Confession, is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it becam ...

() * ''Predestination'', the combined edition of ''Biblical Predestination'' and ''Predestination in the Old Testament''; a study of the idea of

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

in the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

* ''Karl Barth's Theological Method'', a book critical of Barth () * ''Language and Theology'' () * ''The Johannine Logos'', on

John the Evangelist John the Evangelist ( – ) is the name traditionally given to the author of the Gospel of John. Christians have traditionally identified him with John the Apostle, John of Patmos, and John the Presbyter, although there is no consensus on how ...

's use of the term ''

Logos ''Logos'' (, ; ) is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric, as well as religion (notably Logos (Christianity), Christianity); among its connotations is that of a rationality, rational form of discourse that relies on inducti ...

'' () * ''Faith and Saving Faith'' (); reissued as ''What is Saving Faith?'' () * ''Today's Evangelism: Counterfeit or Genuine?'' () * ''The Biblical Doctrine of Man'' () * ''The Incarnation'' () * ''The Holy Spirit'' () * ''The Atonement'' () * ''Sanctification'' () * ''The Trinity'' () * ''Logical Criticism of Textual Criticism''

Commentaries

* ''First Corinthians: A Contemporary Commentary'' () * ''Ephesians'' () * ''Philippians'' () * ''Colossians'' () * ''First and Second Thessalonians'' () * ''The Pastoral Epistles'' on the

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

letters to Timothy and

Titus Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September AD 81) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, becoming the first Roman emperor ever to succeed h ...

() * ''New Heavens, New Earth'' on the

and

letters of Peter () * ''First John'' () Additionally, Ronald Nash edited a

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

''The Philosophy of Gordon H. Clark'' (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1968), which presented a summary of Clark's thought (''viz''., the Wheaton lectures mentioned above), critiques by several authors, and rejoinders by Clark.

References

External links

The Gordon H. Clark Foundation
Working with Dr. Clark's family and friends to release previously unpublished material. Scanned original sources included often.
The Trinity Foundation
reprints Clark's works and publishes those of his followers. They have books for sale and articles and audio lectures available for free.
The Trinity Lectures
in

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...

format free for download (but not

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

), including Clark's ''Lectures in Apologetics,'' ''Lectures on Theology,'' and ''Lectures on the Holy Spirit.''
The Gordon Clark Papers
, archived by the Presbyterian Church in America. {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Gordon 1902 births 1985 deaths Calvinist and Reformed philosophers Supralapsarians American Presbyterians American Calvinist and Reformed theologians Christian apologists Writers from Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania alumni Wheaton College (Illinois) faculty 20th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians Reformed Episcopal Seminary faculty Butler University faculty Orthodox Presbyterian Church ministers American critics of atheism Presidents of the Evangelical Theological Society

Biography

Philosophy

Personal life

Publications

Philosophy

Theology

Commentaries

References

Further reading

External links