Update on the Biography of Gordon Clark, Part 6

My big interest this past week has been in investigating the origins of presuppositionalism and the Clark-Van Til controversy. To this end I’ve been studying B.B. Warfield and Abraham Kuyper. Honestly, I haven’t figured out much despite reading “Benjamin B. Warfield and Right Reason” by Owen Anderson. I’m now working through “Unapologetic Apologetics” by ed. William Dembski and Jay Wesley Richards. Maybe I’m off on a tangent with this research, but it could be of importance to the rest of the biography.
I received 3 rare books through interlibrary loans. A collection of letters from Clark’s rich uncle, a history of Clark’s high school, and a history of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. They have provided some minor details to the story.
I received a few more documents from Clark’s old church in Indianapolis and more sermons from the PCA archives. That puts me at having read about 80% of his sermons. Regarding his church, I have but a scant 5 documents and only know the basics of what happened there. A lawsuit over the property in the 60s is of importance, but I haven’t found the legal records yet.
I’ve been translating some letters of GHC from German to English. Deutsch macht spass. The total letter collection now stands at 620 items.
I read Harold Lindsell’s “Battle for the Bible.” Lindsell was a student of Clark’s.
I read “Neo-evangelicalism” by Robert Lightner.
I did some more editing on my chapters 1 and 2.
Received a copy of John Robbin’s Ph.D. dissertation and found a letter of his for the first time.
I’ve only got one week left for this season. I’ll be done with my engineering contract job this Friday and then on vacation for a bit. Trail days festival is coming up in Virginia and then heading back to Colorado for Seminary. Although I’ll have to take a break on the biography for at least a while, I know I have many resources to review once I’m back in Colorado.
Both here at my job in North Carolina and at my small seminary in Colorado I’m essentially working alone as an independent researcher. I’ve been blessed on this project to make a number of contacts and have had some help from others. However, I fear there are major parts of Clark’s theology and life that I have either missed or have gotten incorrect. Thorough reviews will be necessary. I’ve had some reviewers already, and I certainly appreciate their help, but I really need some one to do a more thorough reading of what I’ve written so far (180 pages). I’ve got a number of people that will do so eventually, its just a matter of time. Waiting on archives, reviewers, books to the come in the mail, along with my own limited abilities to comprehend have proven to make this project very time consuming and slower going than I’d prefer. Yet, major strides forward keep happening every week. Part of the problem with writing on Clark’s Theology is that he wrote so much. Trying to keep it all in mind is impossible. I’m finding that there are a few areas of Clark’s thought that I really just don’t understand. I’ve had some help from others on explaining these, but perhaps need some time to digest. Good thing vacation is approaching after 5 days more of work.
-Doug