Reasons of the Heart: Recovering Christian Persuasion

Reasons of the Heart: Recovering Christian Persuasion. By William Edgar. Grand Rapids: Baker/Hourglass, 1996, 126 pp., n.p. paper.

Edgar stands in the Reformed tradition of presuppositional apologetics. The doyen of Westminster apologists, C. Van Til (under whom Edgar studied), insisted that human thinking was not autonomous but rather dependent on (presupposed) the selfrevealing Triune God. Edgar's avowed purpose is to enlarge the presuppositionalist net to include not only the epistemic foundations of thought but also the various dimensions of personal and spiritual selfhood. He senses that the contemporary situation poses new challenges for apologetics. Taking his cue from Pascal, Edgar argues that successful apologetics must now involve not only rational demonstration but also the total person's "reasons of the heart." As the center of personal and spiritual life, the heart both integrates human cognition, affection, and will and serves as the seat of God-consciousness. The ultimate goal of presuppositional apologetics is the Christian conversion of the total person.

Central to Edgar's presuppositionalist approach are four principles or starting points: the point of contact with the unbeliever's existential condition; the disclosure to the unbeliever that their presuppositions cannot resolve their predicament; homecoming, the presentation of the cure of the gospel in Jesus Christ; the matter of plausibility, correlating the gospel solution with the psychological, social and cultural situation of the unbeliever so as to secure assurance and build faith. Some examples are provided to demonstrate how these principles work in various apologetic endeavors: as in the "religion is an illusion" charge, which is shown to be reversible in disclosure; as in religious pluralism, wherein human religiosity is evidence of the helplessness that only homecoming can heal; as in the mystery of evil, which is resolvable only in the atonement of Christ; as in religious doubt, best dealt with as faith seeking understanding. The responses portrayed in these instances border on the cliche, but they do exemplify the varieties of the heart's reasons in any turning.

Edgar has accurately prescribed the task of apologetics in our postmodern, postrationalistic age. The result may be startling to not a few contemporary defenders of the faith. While it could be said that he stretches the meaning of classical apologetics, it is better to view this work as the necessary retrieval of the Biblical concept (the proposal is Biblically defended in two chapters). Edgar-style apologetics turns out to be a spiritual activity of the highest order. Centered in the worship of God, it demands that traditional apologetics be transformed into Christian witness and lifestyle evangelism-the living out and articulate defense of the faith aimed at persuasion and conversion. There is little to be criticized in a book that calls the Church into passionate engagement with the unchurched for the sake of the gospel.

Reasons of the Heart is a tract for the times addressed to the broader evangelical community. Edgar's writing is lucid, and philosophical and theological concepts have been adequately translated for the broader audience. Reasons of the Heart belongs in church Bible-study groups and undergraduate courses in apologetics, evangelism, and Christian witness. It should also be considered as supplementary reading at the graduate level.

Amos Yong

Boston University, Boston, MA

Copyright Evangelical Theological Society Dec 1998
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