福音的认知挑战/作者-范泰尔[1] The Intellectual Challenge of the Gospel by Cornelius Van Til

范泰尔在这本小册子里简要介绍了属神思维体系与异教体系的核心区别，相比他在其他著作中的更详细论述，本书篇幅短小、要点皆备，是面向大众的普及读物。本书针对的错误包括一些从属基督教传统、但受到异教不同程度影响的学说，例如罗马神学、亚米涅神学，还有一些是现代世俗意识形态，这也是范泰尔习惯采用的写作方式。下面为本书的摘录，方括弧内为本文作者的注解：

【保罗面对异教信徒】他并没有要求在异教偶像旁边设立独一真神的祭坛，他要求的、同时也是他的主要求的，是罪人在生命的每个领域的全面逆转。他们对生命解读的整个架构必须推倒，许多原本结构的元素可以被使用，但只有在保罗教导的全新体系之下才有意义。【参见徒17:16-34, 林前2:6-16】

In short, he did not ask for the privilege of erecting an altar to the living God, Creator of heaven and earth, next to the altars to gods that have been born of human minds. He pleaded for, and in the name of his Lord required of men, a complete reversal of their point of view in every dimension of life. The entire house of their interpretation of life had to be broken down. Many of the building blocks that they had gathered could no doubt be used, but only if the totally new architectural plan that Paul proposed were followed.

人类存在的每个领域，都有神作为万有的创造者和审判者与人的交锋。神的见证不是“某个神”存在、不是神“可能”存在，如果是这样的话，那罪人不知道神就有借口。保罗宣告的是，所有人在心底里都知道他是神的被造物、并且向神犯罪。【参见罗1:18-32, 徒14:14-17, 17:24-31】

There is no area of impersonal relationships where the face of God the Creator and Judge does not confront man. It is not as though the evidence shows that a god exists or that God probably exists. If such were the case then there would be some excuse for man if he did not bow before his Maker. Paul makes bold to claim that all men know deep down in their hearts that they are creatures of God and have sinned against God their Creator and their Judge.

【针对罗马神学对亚里士多德哲学缺乏足够批判的运用】改革神学指出，亚里士多德的神不是基督教的神。亚里士多德的神没有创造世界，对世界一无所知、对自己一无所知，他不是一个人格化的存在、更不是基督教三而一的神。亚里士多德的神是“它”，是非人格化的。【关于异教体系提出的多种神的概念，很多人只是看到这些概念与独一真神的相似之处，而看不到表面相似背后的根本区别，神与被造物、与放大的被造物的区别，异教的“神”在宏伟、高大，都只是来自罪人从被造世界的逆推，只能是被造物或者是放大的被造物】

The Protestant replies pointedly that the God of Aristotle is not the God of Christianity. The God of Aristotle did not create the world, knows nothing of the world, knows nothing of himself. He is not a person, let alone the triune God of Christianity. Aristotle’s God is an It.

泛神论谈的神与人的同在最后将神人等同，机械神论谈的神对人的超越最后将神人分隔。【异教对神人关系的认识始终是极端化的，没有一个罪人说的全都是错的，但每个罪人都在对现实进行极端化的解读，离开神的启示和对神的信靠，罪人的思维必然是极端的，而且在极端之间游走，这是人间意识形态的历史】

The immanence of the pantheist spells identity between man and God, while the transcendence of the deist spells separation of man from God.

基督徒必须在所有领域对世界的智慧提出挑战；如果我们的挑战不是在所有领域，那它在任何领域都将是无效的。【异教的问题不是单个问题、而是体系问题，因此是全面的问题，他们的错误是渗透在所有方面的，我们和异教的交锋、互动也必须是体系的、而不能停留在单个问题】

The moral of all this for Protestants should surely be to challenge the wisdom of the world in every dimension. If it is not challenged in every dimension, it cannot be effectively challenged in any one dimension.

我们承认神为创造者，就应当运用神给予的思维和逻辑能力来理解神给予我们的启示，而不能凌驾于神之上来判断何为可能、何为不可能。【属神体系和异教体系的关键分歧在于对人的能力的认识，双方都承认人具备逻辑思维能力，但属神的人认为这种能力是被造物、是降服于神的、是服务神的，异教的人认为这种能力是独立的、在神之上的、可以判断神的】

He who recognizes God as his Creator should therefore use his God-given powers of intellectual or logical manipulation, not for the purpose of legislating about abstract possibility and impossibility, but for the purpose of ordering as best he can the revelational material in which he lives, moves and has his being.

现代人在彻底无理性的同时有是彻底的理性，出现这种情况是毫不意外的。【离开神，罪人只能依靠自己的理性，因此是彻底的理性主义；同时，离开神，人的理性又无法正常运转，因此他只能变成彻底的无理性】

There is nothing surprising in the fact that modern man is both utterly irrationalist and utterly rationalist at the same time.

无理性主义和理性主义的根源都是人自视为终极现实。【都是从人的有限有罪出发，从人对神的独立出发】如果这个根基不除，只是在用一点理性主义去修补无理性主义的荒谬、或者是用一点无理性主义去修补理性主义的愚蠢，是没有用处的。【这是人间意识形态的问题，他在两个极端之间游走，用这个极端去尝试修复另一极端，殊不知这两个都是错误的，你不可能用一个错误去修正另一错误，更重要的，他所在的体系就是错误的体系，如果不脱离这个错误的体系，在体系内部再努力的挣扎也是徒劳的】

The root of both irrationalism and rationalism is the idea of the ultimacy of man. If this root is not taken out, it will do little good to trim off some of the wildest offshoots of irrationalism with the help of rationalism, or to trim off some of the wildest offshoots of rationalism with the help of irrationalism.

神的自然启示在一开始就伴随着神的超自然启示，并且二者是相互融合、相互补充的，否定其中一个则另一个是无法被理解的。【这不是说二者是对等的，而是说二者是神创神治之下的整体，是无法隔离的，神的自然启示是通过神的超自然启示进行解读，神的超自然启示是在神的自然启示的框架下给予的】

Natural revelation was from the outset of history accompanied and supplemented by supernatural revelation. The two were involved in one another; they were supplemental to one another. They are unintelligible the one without the other.

[1] 本文对此书内容的引用为作者自译。