Editing Gordon Clark

{{Short description|American philosopher and theologian}}
{{Other people}}
{{Infobox philosopher<!-- Philosopher category -->
|region           = [[Western Philosophy]]
|era              = [[20th-century philosophy]]
|name             = Gordon Haddon Clark
|image            =
|image_size       =
|birth_date       = August 31, 1902
|birth_place      = 
|death_date       = {{death-date and age|April 9, 1985|August 31, 1902}}
|death_place      =
|school_tradition = [[Calvinist]]<br>[[Presuppositionalism]]<br>[[Christian Philosophy]]
|main_interests   = [[Epistemology]]<br>[[Philosophy of Religion]]
|notable_ideas    = [[Scripturalism]]
}}

'''Gordon Haddon Clark''' (August 31, 1902 &ndash; April 9, 1985) was an American [[philosopher]] and [[Calvinist]] [[theology|theologian]]. He was a leading figure associated with [[presuppositional apologetics]] and was chairman of the Philosophy Department at [[Butler University]] for 28 years. He was an expert in [[Pre-Socratic philosophy|pre-Socratic]] and [[ancient philosophy]] and was noted for defending the idea of propositional revelation against [[empiricism]] and [[rationalism]], in arguing that all truth is [[Propositional knowledge|propositional]]. His [[epistemology|theory of knowledge]] 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]] with a [[bachelor's degree]] in French and earned his [[doctorate]] in Philosophy from the same institution in 1929. The following year he studied at the [[University of Paris|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, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]]. In 1936, he accepted a professorship in Philosophy at [[Wheaton College, Illinois]], where he remained until 1943 when he accepted the Chairmanship of the Philosophy Department at [[Butler University]] in Indianapolis. After his retirement from Butler in 1973, he taught at [[Covenant College]] in [[Lookout Mountain, Georgia]], and [[Sangre de Cristo Seminary]] in [[Westcliffe, Colorado]].

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]]. However, he would eventually leave with a small group of conservatives, led by [[John Gresham Machen]], to help form the Presbyterian Church of America (renamed the [[Orthodox Presbyterian Church]] in 1938) and would be ordained in the OPC in 1944. However, in 1948, following the Clark-[[Van Til]] Controversy, he joined the [[United Presbyterian Church of North America]]. 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]], Clark joined the [[Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod]] in 1957. Clark was instrumental in arranging a merger between the RPCGS and the [[Evangelical Presbyterian Church (established 1956)|Evangelical Presbyterian Church]] to form the [[Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod]] in 1965. When the RPCES became part of the [[Presbyterian Church in America]] 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]] in 1965.

He died in 1985 and was buried near [[Westcliffe, Colorado]].

==Philosophy==
{{Expand section|date= July 2008}}
Clark's philosophy and theology has been summarized as:<ref name= Intro>{{Citation | publisher = Trinity foundation | url = http://www.trinityfoundation.org/journal.php?id=192 | title = An Introduction to Gordon H. Clark | first = John W. | last = Robbins}}.</ref>
* [[Epistemology]]: propositional revelation in the Bible
* [[Soteriology]]: [[sola fide|faith alone]]
* [[Metaphysics]]: [[theism]]
* [[Ethics]]: the superiority of divine law over human law/Christian [[egotism|egoism]]<ref>{{Citation | last = Clark | first = Gordon Haddon | author-link = Gordon Clark | title = A Christian View of Men and Things | publisher = The Trinity Foundation | page = 133}}.</ref>
* [[Politics]]: constitutional republic

==Personal life==

Clark met his future wife Ruth Schmidt during his graduate studies at the [[University of Pennsylvania]]; 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]] 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.<ref name=douma>Douma, Douglas (2017). ''The Presbyterian Philosopher: The Authorized Biography of Gordon H. Clark''.  Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock. {{ISBN|9781532607240}}</ref>

Clark was well known as a keen [[chess]]player. In 1966, he won the championship of the King's Men Chess Club in [[Indianapolis]].<ref name=douma />

== 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]] and a one-volume history of philosophy. Many of his works have been reprinted by the Trinity Foundation.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Nash|first1=Ronald H.|author-link=Ronald H. Nash|title=Faith & Reason: Searching for a Rational Faith|date=1994|publisher=[[Zondervan]]|page=60|isbn=9780310294016|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wleE4rLmYHMC&pg=PA60|accessdate=13 February 2015}}</ref>

=== Philosophy ===
* ''An Introduction to Christian Philosophy'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-38-9}}), in which Clark's thought is well summarized in three lectures given at Wheaton College, reissued in ''Christian Philosophy'' ({{ISBN|1-891777-02-5}})
* ''Three Types of Religious Philosophy'', reissued in ''Christian Philosophy'' ({{ISBN|1-891777-02-5}})
* ''Thales to Dewey'', a history of philosophy ({{ISBN|1-891777-09-2}})
* ''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]] ({{ISBN|0-940931-49-4}})
* ''William James and John Dewey'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-43-5}})
* ''Behaviorism and Christianity'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-04-4}})
* ''Philosophy of Science and Belief in God'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-85-0}})
* ''Historiography: Secular and Religious'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-39-7}})
* ''A Christian View of Men and Things'', which develops Clark's Christian [[worldview]] ({{ISBN|1-891777-00-9}})
* ''A Christian Philosophy of Education'' ({{ISBN|1-891777-06-8}})
* ''Logic'', a textbook on logic for students ({{ISBN|0-940931-71-0}})
* ''Essays on Ethics and Politics'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-32-X}})
* ''Lord God of Truth'' printed with ''Concerning the Teacher'' by [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]] ({{ISBN|0-940931-40-0}})
* ''Selections from Hellenistic Philosophy'' edited by Clark ({{ISBN|0-89197-396-6}})
* ''Readings in Ethics'' edited by Clark and T. V. Smith ({{ISBN|0-390-19545-6}})
* ''Clark Speaks from the Grave'' written just before Clark died and published posthumously, responding to some of his critics ({{ISBN|0-940931-12-5}})

=== Theology ===
* ''In Defense of Theology'' ({{ISBN|0-88062-123-0}})
* ''Religion, Reason, and Revelation'', Clark's major work on [[apologetics]] ({{ISBN|0-940931-86-9}})
* ''God's Hammer: The Bible and Its Critics'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-88-5}})
* ''What Do Presbyterians Believe?'', a commentary on the [[Westminster Confession of Faith]] ({{ISBN|0-940931-60-5}})
* ''Predestination'', the combined edition of ''Biblical Predestination'' and ''Predestination in the Old Testament''; a study of the idea of [[predestination|election]] in the [[Bible]]
* ''Karl Barth's Theological Method'', a book critical of [[Karl Barth|Barth]] ({{ISBN|0-940931-51-6}})
* ''Language and Theology'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-90-7}})
* ''The Johannine Logos'', on [[John the Evangelist]]'s use of the term ''[[Logos]]'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-22-2}})
* ''Faith and Saving Faith'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-95-8}}); reissued as ''What is Saving Faith?'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-65-6}})
* ''Today's Evangelism: Counterfeit or Genuine?'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-28-1}})
* ''The Biblical Doctrine of Man'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-91-5}})
* ''The Incarnation'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-23-0}})
* ''The Holy Spirit'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-37-0}})
* ''The Atonement'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-87-7}})
* ''Sanctification'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-33-8}})
* ''The Trinity'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-92-3}})
* ''Logical Criticism of Textual Criticism''

=== Commentaries ===
* ''First Corinthians: A Contemporary Commentary'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-29-X}})
* ''Ephesians'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-11-7}})
* ''Philippians'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-47-8}})
* ''Colossians'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-25-7}})
* ''First and Second Thessalonians'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-14-1}})
* ''The Pastoral Epistles'' on the [[First Epistle to Timothy|first]] and [[Second Epistle to Timothy|second]] letters to Timothy and [[Epistle to Titus|Titus]] ({{ISBN|1-891777-04-1}})
* ''New Heavens, New Earth'' on the [[First Epistle of Peter|first]] and [[Second Epistle of Peter|second]] letters of Peter ({{ISBN|0-940931-36-2}})
* ''First John'' ({{ISBN|0-940931-94-X}})

Additionally, [[Ronald H. Nash|Ronald Nash]] edited a [[Festschrift]] ''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==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Douma, Douglas (2017). ''The Presbyterian Philosopher: The Authorized Biography of Gordon H. Clark''.  Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock. {{ISBN|9781532607240}}
* Hoeksema, Herman (1995). ''The Clark–Van Til Controversy''. Hobbs, N.M.: Trinity Foundation. {{ISBN|0-940931-44-3}}

== External links ==
{{wikiquote}}
*[https://gordonhclark.com/ The Gordon H. Clark Foundation] Working with Dr. Clark's family and friends to release previously unpublished material. Scanned original sources included often.
*[http://www.trinityfoundation.org/ 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.
* [http://www.trinitylectures.org/MP3_downloads.php The Trinity Lectures] in [[MP3]] format free for download (but not [[streaming media|streaming]]), including Clark's ''Lectures in Apologetics,'' ''Lectures on Theology,'' and ''Lectures on the Holy Spirit.''
*[http://www.pcahistory.org/findingaids/clark/index.html The Gordon Clark Papers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921102455/http://www.pcahistory.org/findingaids/clark/index.html |date=2015-09-21 }}, archived by the Presbyterian Church in America.
{{Wheaton College}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Gordon}}
[[Category:1902 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:Calvinist and Reformed philosophers]]
[[Category:Supralapsarians]]
[[Category:American Presbyterians]]
[[Category:American Calvinist and Reformed theologians]]
[[Category:Christian apologists]]
[[Category:Writers from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni]]
[[Category:Wheaton College (Illinois) faculty]]
[[Category:20th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians]]
[[Category:Reformed Episcopal Seminary faculty]]
[[Category:Butler University faculty]]
[[Category:Orthodox Presbyterian Church ministers]]
[[Category:American critics of atheism]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Evangelical Theological Society]]