Who is Dr. Gordon Clark?

Dr. Gordon Clark is not primarily an apologist for the Christian faith, but rather a professional philosopher critiquing what secular philosophers have said concerning ultimate reality.  Through rigorous logic, he continually sought to evaluate and expose the weaknesses of secular philosophy, and to espouse Christian theism as dominantly superior.  Although he touches on all areas of philosophy in his works, he is predominately taken up with understanding and evaluating thoughts about epistemology – how it is that men know, and how they know what they know.

            Clark was influenced heavily by the nature of the Reformation.  He believed that doctrine was best expounded by the Reformers and followed their lead in exegesis while applying it in the realm of the philosophical views in which he lived. 

            Clark’s father was raised in a Reformed Presbyterian home, attended Princeton Theological Seminary, and then studied in Scotland for a year before taking a pastorate that would last most of his life.  His son, Gordon, was born in 1902, was influenced by his father’s sermons and his library, was later ordained in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and in 1966 was rewarded with an honorary doctorate of divinity from Reformed Episcopal Seminary.  He had taken undergraduate studies in philosophy, did undergraduate work in Greek, received a doctorate from Heidelberg, and then went on to study further at Sorbonne in 1930 (just after marrying Ruth Schmidt).  In 1936 he accepted a post to teach philosophy at Wheaton, and from that point on wrote more than 40 volumes on philosophy and Christian theism.

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Apologetics Page

An Introduction to Christian Philosophy

Religion, Reason and Revelation

Three Types of Religious Philosophy

A Christian View of Men and Things

A Philosophy of Science and Belief in God

A Christian Philosophy of Education

Language and Theology

Essays on Ethics and Politics