Van Til Tool

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Friday, December 28, 2012

SOCIOLOGY THAT IS INTERESTING AND EXCITING AND IMPORTANT AND PERSONAL

A Review of

Vern S. Poythress Redeeming Sociology (Crossway Books, 2011)
                              $25.00     352 pp     ISBN-10: 1433521296   ISBN-13: 978-1433521294

Reviewer: Forrest W. Schultz

     A story proceeds from the author through his book to the reader. Few people know that this is analogous to the theological doctrine which states that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son to us. Poythress, in the book under review here, notes this parallel and informs us of the extensive discussion of it in a very important book, which few seem to know about today, Dorothy L. Sayers's The Mind of the Maker, whose principles are essential for understanding the meaning of Trinitarianism and of the artistic process and of sociology.

     Co-inherence is another important concept which is little known today. There have been many people who have heard from Francis Schaeffer of "the equal ultimacy of the unity and the diversity" but they do not "get it" because you cannot "get it" without understanding co-inherence. This sociology book by Poythress provides ample discussions which are helpful in perceiving what co-inherence means.

     The book is also helpful (as are his two Inerrancy books published in 2012) in driving home the all-important point of the personal context of reality and of knowledge.

     Having noted these great and exciting and ultra-important and interesting principles, I now need to balance things out here by introducing another matter you may not have heard of, namely that sociologists have been ridiculed for being "Apostles of The Obvious", so that it is not surprising that lots of what Poythress says here is indeed obvious and bland stuff. My suggestion is to quickly skim over this rather banal material lest you get bored and quit reading and thereby miss out on the real gems in this book!

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