Gordon H. Clark

Gordon H. Clark (1902-1985) was an American philosopher and Presbyterian theologian who developed a rigorous rationalist approach to Christian theology known as Scripturalism or Clarkian presuppositionalism. He earned his PhD in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania in 1929 and taught at various institutions including Wheaton College and Butler University. Clark argued that all knowledge must begin with divinely revealed axioms found in Scripture, rejecting empiricism and maintaining that sensation cannot provide knowledge. His system emphasized logical consistency, the primacy of propositional revelation, and the compatibility of divine sovereignty with human responsibility. Major works include A Christian Philosophy of Education (1946), Religion, Reason and Revelation (1961), and The Philosophy of Gordon H. Clark (1968). Clark's rationalist epistemology and systematic approach to Reformed theology significantly influenced conservative Presbyterian thought and the presuppositionalist movement in Christian apologetics.