In Defense of Theology is a well reasoned, thoroughly balanced evaluation of biblical theclogy by one of the major Christian thinkers of our century. Says Ronald H. Nash, "In the minds of many. Gordon Haddon Clark is perhaps the dean of those twentieth-century American philosophers who have sought to develop a Christian Weltanschauung consistent with the Christian Scriptures."

"Theology," notes Dr. Clark, "once acclaimed 'the Queen of the Sciences, today hardly rises to the rank of scullery maid." The devout ignore it. Unbelievers hold it in contempt. And so, with less excuse, do the neo-orthodox.

The devout often set up a false opposition between theology and the Bible. "Sola Scriptura," they remind us and Gordon Clark agrees. But then he goes on to show...
- Why preaching itself is impossible without theology
- Our duty to understand Scripture requires theology
- So does our duty to explain Scripture

The unbelievers present a thornier problem, but Dr. Clark grasps the nettle: "The methodology of the present essay is biblical. Neither natural theology derived from science, nor mystical theology derived from so-called religious experience, plays any part. The content of this theology comes entirely from the Bible alone."

And from the Bible Dr. Clark approaches the problem of atheism-a problem, he reminds us, that we are duty-bound to face. And here too, theology is necessary.

Dr. Clark's weightiest adversary is neo-orthodoxy. It dominates the mainline churches-even though, he avers, it is "fundamentally (i.e. religiously) irrational. Taking on heavyweights like Barth and Brunner, he does not hesitate to challenge their claim to be counted among the evangelicals.