David Doherty interviews Elmer Thiessen

David Doherty interviews Elmer Thiessen (here) - possibly the only Mennonite to own a copy of Dooyeweerd's A New Critique of Theoretical Thought 

DD: WITHIN CHRISTIAN HISTORY THERE HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT SCHOOLS AND STYLES OF CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY. IS THERE A PARTICULAR SCHOOL AND/OR STYLE THAT YOU IDENTIFY WITH?

ET: Although I am Anabaptist/Mennonite by persuasion, I have been strongly influenced by Calvinist/Reformed philosophy. Indeed, I often say that I owe my philosophical salvation to Reformed philosophers who have built on the writings of John Calvin and Abraham Kuyper.  I was first introduced to this philosophical tradition by the writings of Francis Schaeffer in the late 1960s. I found Schaeffer’s overview of the history of ideas most instructive. He introduced me to the notion of presuppositions, underscoring the importance of penetrating to the underlying assumptions of a belief system in order really to understand a position or argument. I am probably the only Mennonite philosopher in North America who has Herman Dooyeweerd’s four-volume A New Critique of Theoretical Thought on his shelves. I identify very much with what has come to be known as “Reformed epistemology,” and here my thinking has been shaped by contemporary writers like George Mavrodes, Nicholas Wolterstorff, and William Alston. Alvin Plantinga’s 1984 essay “Advice to Christian Philosophers” has long been an inspiration in my own research and writing. I should perhaps add that my own writing is still very much shaped by the analytic tradition in philosophy even though I recognize the shortcomings of this approach to doing philosophy.