“So I cast my lot with him – not the one who claimed wisdom, Confucius; or the one who claimed enlightenment, Buddha; or the one who claimed to be a prophet, Muhammad, but with the one who claimed to be God in human flesh. The one who declared, ‘Before Abraham was born, I am’ – and proved it.”
—NORMAN L. GEISLER.
Today marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Norman Leo Geisler. Norm was a Christian philosopher and systematic theologian who rose to prominence in the USA during the latter half of the 20th century. He was a prolific author (with well over 100 books and articles to his name!), professor, former president of the Evangelical Theological Society, founder of the Evangelical Philosophical Society and International Society of Christian Apologetics, and co-founder of two seminaries: Southern Evangelical Seminary and Veritas International University – and the list goes on! Today, he is best remembered for his work as a Christian apologist, taking Philippians 1:16 as something of a personal creed: “I am put here for the defence of the gospel.”
From 2015 right through to the time of his death in 2019, I had the honour of learning from Norm at Veritas International University. To be a student of Norm was to be in good company; joining alongside other heroes of mine, such as William Lane Craig and the late Ravi Zacharias who both studied under Norm when he was Chairman of Philosophy of Religion at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. At the time of his passing, many commentators said that it was Norm who paved the way for the apologetic resurgence we see today. One of my most cherished memories was sitting with Ravi, my wife and my friend Dan, around a breakfast table chatting about Norm some years before he passed away. It humoured Ravi to know that, despite the age gap between us (42 years!), we both had the same teacher! Ravi said that no one else was so quick at putting their finger on the underlying philosophical issues in contemporary theological, political and cultural debates as Norm was. His grasp of the history of ideas, and his ability to marshal them with his sharp, sometimes biting, whit, was rare indeed. Ravi also reflected that what he so appreciated about Norm was his relentless defence of biblical authority. I could not agree more.
To date, perhaps no one has had as great an impact on my journey of learning more than Norm. Above all, I thank God for using Norm to anchor me firmly to the truth of the sufficiency and infallibility of the Bible. Along with many others, I am also thankful that Norm introduced me to Thomas Aquinas, whose metaphysical thought was the centrepiece of my MA thesis. Philosophy remains the handmaiden to theology, despite its detractors. In the words of Étienne Gilson, beloved of Norm, “philosophy always buries its undertakers.”1
I often find myself wondering what Norm would have to say about this or that particular issue going on within the Church or the world. I wonder what he would have to say with everything we have witnessed in 2020 so far? I miss his sharp intellect and his quick and often dry wit, but I thank God for his life and legacy which speaks beyond the grave through those fortunate enough to have studied under him, and those who have been blessed by his massive corpus of published works. The passing of Norm and other great sprinters of his generation leaves something of a burden for those to whom the baton has been passed. For me, it is a burden to “take captive every philosophy to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5), and I am as willing to take it up as God’s strength enables.
The testimony of the faithful who have departed is that we not only run with God but to God. Norm’s race is finished, ours is still in progress. May we run as a people gripped by the promises of our Lord; as people who are not without a hope.
“For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep…”
(1 Thess. 4:14)
