Carnell – A “Combinationalist”?

One of the earliest treatments of Carnell’s apologetic method came from Gordon Lewis, whose analysis is insightful. As noted previously, Lewis contends that Carnell’s method is a synthesis of the methodologies of Cornelius Van Til, Gordon Clark, E. S. Brightman (an eminent philosopher from Boston University who focused on God’s dynamic relationship with the world), as well as a number of contemporary concerns shaped by Carnell’s doctoral studies of Niebuhr and Kierkegaard. Lewis explains:

From Cornelius Van Til at Westminster Theological Seminary [Carnell] took his starting point—the existence of the triune God of the Bible. However, this tenet is not an unquestioned presupposition for Carnell, but a hypothesis to be tested. His test is three-fold. At Wheaton College, in the classes of Gordon Clark, Carnell found the test of non-contradiction. The test of fitness with empirical fact was championed by Edgar S. Brightman, where Carnell earned his Ph.D. [Boston University]. The requirement of relevance to personal experience became prominent during Carnell’s Th.D. research at Harvard University in Søren Kierkegaard and Reinhold Niebuhr.[14]

Given these varied influences, Carnell is often considered a “combinationalist”—that is, one who combines various apologetic methodologies.[15] In Carnell’s apologetic, we can indeed find elements from the sources identified by Lewis, Sims, and Morley, but we should not think that Carnell merely borrowed from others and replicated their distinctive apologetic emphases. Rather, he synthesized these influences into a distinct apologetic method, much like Francis Schaeffer did. This becomes clear upon reading his An Introduction to Christian Apologetics, which, as Lewis describes, presents a “single picture,” or a consistent methodology.[16]

The Universal Human Experience of “Soul Sorrow”

Carnell begins with a compelling (though now somewhat dated) account of the universal human condition and experience, which he identifies as “soul sorrow.” This predicament arises from our awareness of human limitations—we are created as both body and soul (with the limitations of each), and we are certain to die. Awareness of this condition and the ills that accompany it precedes Carnell’s discussion of how to defend the Christian faith to those who are not believers.

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