Cornelius van Til se filosofie van geskiedenis as antwoord op die postmoderne sinloosheid

Abstract

The postmodern theologians lost sight of the Christian confession of God’s providence. This results into an unfertile relativism which simply leads to excessive senselessness. Postmodern history writing has become a myriad of questions, with no answers. The loss of history’s sense within the postmodern view of history produces a historical uprooting. This historical uprooting and the loss of meaning lead up to a lack of direction in life and aimlessness, in which historical scientific facts cause even more confusion. However, the opportunity presents itself for Christians to provide decisiveness by answering the historical events and facts from the firm foundation of the Word of God. Van Til’s philosophy of history provides a clear framework in which historical events can be understood. Van Til’s philosophy of history confesses God to be the Creator and Sustainer of all things. Each human being and object are created in a covenant relationship with God. Therefore, any person, object and fact cannot find meaning outside their relationship with God. The Christian faith is based on the belief that history is situated in the plan of God, working within a process of diversification from the beginning (protology) of creation to the end (eschatology). This diversification includes the fulfilment of God’s plan with His children and furthermore the fulfilment of God’s plan with the wickedness and sin in this world on the day of the final judgment.