Greg Bahnsen

Greg Bahnsen (1948-1995) was the scholar in residence at The Southern California Center for Christian Studies where he taught Apologetics from a distinctly Reformed perspective. Bahnsen followed the lead of his mentor Cornelius Van Til and reasoned that, apart from the Christian faith, the unbeliever cannot account for his knowledge. Bahnsen earned a B.A. in Philosophy from Westmont College, his M.Div and ThM from Westminster Theological Seminary (1973), and a PhD in epistemology (the theory of knowledge) from the University of Southern California (1978).

Bahnsen was a pillar of the Christian Reconstruction movement associated with Rousas John Rushdoony. As such, Bahnsen was a leading proponent of theonomy, postmillennialism, and presuppositional apologetics. He lectured to a broad range of evangelical Christian groups at many colleges and conferences, in the United States and abroad. His 1985 debate with atheist scholar, the late Gordon Stein, was dubbed The Great Debate, and remains a classic as well as a benchmark in Christian apologetics.

His early death came as a result of complications following his third heart surgery in December of 1995.

Selected writings

  • Always Ready: Directions for Defending the Faith (ISBN 0-915815-28-1)
  • Van Til's Apologetic: Readings and Analysis (ISBN 0-87552-098-7)
  • Theonomy in Christian Ethics (ISBN 0-9678317-3-3)
  • By This Standard: The Authority Of God's Law Today (ISBN 0-930464-06-0; Available online for free.)
  • No Other Standard: Theonomy and Its Critics (ISBN 0-930464-56-7; Available online for free)
  • House Divided: The Breakup of Dispensational Theology with Kenneth Gentry. (ISBN 0-930464-27-3; Available online for free)
  • Homosexuality: A Biblical View (ISBN 0-8010-0744-5)
  • Five Views on Law and Gospel (Chapter contribution) (ISBN 0-310-21271-5)
  • Foundations of Christian Scholarship (2 Chapter Contributions) (ISBN 1-879998-25-4)
  • God and Politics: Four Views on the Reformation of Civil Government (Chapter contribution) (ISBN 0-87552-448-6)
  • Theonomy: An Informed Response (2 Chapter contributions) (ISBN 0-930464-59-1)
  • Victory in Jesus: The Bright Hope of Postmillennialism (ISBN 0-9678317-1-7)

External links