Ronald Nash, RIP

Ronald H. Nash, a great evangelical philosopher and apologist, died early this morning in Florida. Nash was a longtime professor at Western Kentucky University, Reformed Theological Seminary, and, until a stroke last year, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was an heir of the theological tradition of Carl F.H. Henry, and was an lifelong admirer and student of Augustine of Hippo, his favorite philosopher.

Nash wrote so many books, it would take too long to recount them here. One reads them with special enjoyment, however, when one has been around Professor Nash for any length of time. His students knew what it meant, for instance, when he swayed his hips from side to side when quoting a theologian or philosopher. It meant he believed what he was reading aloud was at best ridiculous and at worst heretical. I remember asking him the first time I ever met him about the then latest statement of a liberalizing evangelical preacher then popular on the evangelical campus circuit. "He's a snake," Nash said. "He's a great communicator, and he's using that to undermine the gospel. That's serious business."

Some might wince at the perceived lack of charity here. But Nash sounded an awful lot like the apostle Paul taking on the wolves. That's because both believed the gospel was more than an ideological parlor game for scholars. Real lives and real souls were at stake.

When the biblical inerrancy controversy erupted in the Southern Baptist Convention, Nash understood and communicated what few were willing to say: the "moderates" in the SBC didn't just have a different view of the phenomenon of Scripture. They had a different understanding of truth and revelation. Nash understood that debates over "problem passages" weren't going to get us past the impasse. The issue was lost at the point of whether God had spoken; indeed, whether he could speak. I think of this insight often when I see younger evangelicals, including some Southern Baptists, falling for the absurdly postmodern emo-liberalism of the "emerging church" wind of doctrine now sweeping through evangelical dorm rooms and blog sites.

This man believed his scholarship was a matter of spiritual warfare. And, in an age of cowardly academics and tentative philosophers, Ronald Nash played the man. His fight is over. I pray that those of us left behind will remember in days to walk in his steps, to pray while studying, to sway our hips when appropriate, and to call a snake a snake when the gospel hangs in balance.

Comments

[Jeff Downs]

This was very sad. I first read about his stroke on the Biblical Training site (a year or so ago), that Nash so frequently promoted. The stroke, while I did not know it at that time, obviously did a lot damage.

While I did not agree with everything Nash taught, he was a great teacher.

[Rusty Lopez]

This is sad news.

Nash' book, Faith & Reason, was a tremendous help to the formation of my own apologetic reasoning. In 2003 I had the pleasure to not only hear him speak (at a Reasons to Believe conference), but to converse with him afterwards. He was gracious, cordial, and extremely helpful, offering me additional assistance through personal e-mail correspondence.

One could not walk away from a meeting with him and not see the joy and hope of our faith.

"I am a Christian who is interested in showing that the Christian faith has nothing to fear and everything to gain by opening itself up to philosophical examination." - Ron Nash

[Beth]

I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Nash speak quite a few years ago at a Christian college where I then taught. Very clear, very definite, very convicting, and very encouraging.

His death is sad for those he has left behind, but it is good to know he is now with the Lord he served so faithfully.

[Kansas Bob]

Regarding "The issue was lost at the point of whether God had spoken; indeed, whether he could speak."

The issue today seems to be does God still speak ... not in a universal biblical sense ... but in the quiet still small voice sense. This seems difficult for some 'thinkers' because faith is of the heart and not of the head.

[Bruce Meyer]

I'm deeply saddened to hear of Dr. Nash's passing. I believe that I met him at the 1987 Congress on the Bible II. He was personally charitable and generous. Two years later when I was trying to decide what to do about a major academic fork in the road, I called him up. He was quite accessible and ready, willing to talk and help me, pretty much out of the blue.

I asked him a question about a contemporary Catholic philosopher, whom he had not read. He was the first one to introduce me to the idea that we have a limited time on this earth, and that we couldn't read just, well, everything. I guess he is right. Blessings be with Dr. Nash.

[CJD]

Russell wrote: "His students knew what it meant, for instance, when he swayed his hips from side to side…"

I was on the receiving end of those hips during my first semester in seminary. I'll never forget it, and I'll never forget the man who pushed me to think more critically and deliberately than I ever had up to that point.

It's a great loss in light of today's cultural milieu.

[Alejandro Moreno-Morrison]

This is a great loss for the church militant, and for those of us who loved him. I had the great joy and privilege of studying under him at RTS, Orlando, and of being his T. A. there, precisely when he was so badly treated by RTS, Orlando, and when the BiblicalTraining.org project was being launched. It was so much fun to work with him!

The academic, moral and spiritual integrity of Dr Nash is rare these days. He was not duly appreciated at RTS, Orlando, and was actually a victim of partitian sectarism; yet he was a faithful servant giving his best to his students and anyone approaching him for advice.

I am as saddened as if I had lost a close and dear relative, but I rejoice knowing that he now beholds our Lord. I regret that I was not able to express him how much he influenced my life, and how much his pastoral care and friendship meant to me, especially during some of the rough times toward the end of my stay at RTS, Orlando (which were also his last days there).

If any of his relatives reads these lines, my heart goes to you and feels with you your loss, yet rejoices with you in the blessed assurance that he now enjoys what we still long for.

May the Lord raise more men like him in this generation that so desperately needs it.

Alejandro Moreno-Morrison
(Candidate to the Ministry in the PCA)
Mexico City, Mexico.
[email protected]
www.dryander.com/amm

[Uri Brito]

Dies the greatest voice of Christian conservatism in our nation! His voice lives on in books, audio, etc.

[Daniel Walker]

Merely a layperson here who knew of him through his books -- not only orthodox Christians but freedom-loving people have lost a friend. In an era when not only the theologically liberal but far too many theologically conservative Christians adore the state and welcome the opportunity to use governmental force to shape society, Ronald Nash was a vigorous advocate for limited government, individual human rights, genunine free enterprise, and the human right of private property ownership. His was a rare voice, and it will be missed.

[Ron Lowe]

Say It Ain’t So!

I am holding in my nacho-stained fingers some very sad news. My teacher and mentor, Dr. Ron Nash, has died.

Among his many gifts to me was introducing me to the delights of Amigos fine Mexican cuisine (which has finally made its way north to my home in the Tennessee Valley). (I mean, WHAT do you have to DO to get some good NACHOS around here!!!)

I first stumbled across Dr. Nash’s book The Closing of the American Heart while I was an undergraduate at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. His insights into the personally and culturally destructive results of unbiblical worldviews were cultivated from his firsthand experience teaching students at Western Kentucky University. The Lord graciously used his passion for truth and for teaching to enlighten and invigorate my own calling to a ministry of teaching. For that I am very thankful.

While I was his student and TA at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, he taught me to love God with my mind, as well as my affections. He taught me to, along with Augustine, cry out to God in confession of my sin and praise to the Lord Jesus Christ for His gracious and abundant redemption. Dr. Nash wisely recommended an annual reading of Confessions for every Christian. (One semester, the doltish publisher had edited out the conversion scene in our edition of this classic. What an idiot!!!)

The Lord powerfully worked in the life of my family during my final year of seminary: restoring my relationship with my stepmother and drawing her and my father to Christian baptism. The Lord significantly used Dr. Nash’s prayers and encouragement as He bestowed these powerful blessings to my family.

Among his writings, Freedom, Justice and the State is a particularly clear and perceptive deconstruction of statism and the human misery it leaves in its wake. His courage in defending human dignity and biblical freedom while they were (and still are) widely under assault on campuses – both secular and religious – was inspiring. Poverty and Wealth introduced me to the biblical foundations for free markets and the human creativity and humane values for which they provide space. Many gospel principles that Christ had planted in me as a child through my father’s produce business were brought to fruition and kingdom applicability through Dr. Nash’s instruction on economics. For this, I am most grateful.

Nash was a tough pill to swallow for the overly sensitive or the proponents of a more enervating spirituality. His persistent courage to induce rigorously thoughtful analysis and application among his students was of enormous benefit in the discipleship of our minds. He deeply loved his family, his church, and his Lord. We, his students, are their debtors for sharing him with us.

Faith and Reason and Worldviews in Conflict are of immense assistance in our ministries of apologetics and evangelism, especially his treatment of the problem of evil (with much help from his friend Dr. Alvin Plantinga). Sub-biblical worldviews offer no solace in the practical and pervasive circumstances of suffering, temptation and failure. Neither do sentimental spiritual vagaries. God’s sovereign and personal redemption through Christ offers singular hope for the sinful, broken and weary. God be praised.

Refusing to deal with affliction only in the abstract, Dr. Nash was deeply affected by personal experiences of pain in the lives of his students. When a Baby Dies was a thoughtful and compassionate attempt to tackle the tough questions that ensue from the most difficult of situations for hurting parents.

The deficiency of writing skills among the future leaders of church and society was of great concern to Ron Nash. He realized that a lack of rhetorical proficiency often represents a grave paucity of reasoning skills, contributing to many disturbing trends in our culture. And the self-serving “teachers unions” (insert a swivel of hips here) bear significant blame for diminishing educational achievement for the past several generations and, regrettably, for the foreseeable future.

Hope, however, springs eternal. Dr. Nash’s formerly nacho-stained fingers are now embraced by the nail-pierced hands of our Savior. And the seeds of the gospel, planted in a variety of difficult places where Dr. Nash walked by faith, have reaped (and in due season will continue to reap) an abundant harvest of spiritual blessings. The Lord Jesus is eminently faithful in keeping His covenant promises. I am thankful to Him for the opportunity to know His inductive, sowing servant, Ron Nash. Requiescat in pace.

Ron Lowe, RTS-Orlando Class of 1995

[Tesfaye Robele]

I'm deeply saddened to hear of Dr. Nash's passing. May God comforts his family and siblings.

Tesfaye Robele
Founder and Director
The Evangelical Society For Apologetics

[Jesse Holcomb]

My very limited interaction with Dr. Nash came after I had been working at Sojourners magazine under the leadership of Jim Wallis, much to the chagrin of the Reformed Baptist pastor whose teaching I had been raised on. That pastor reacted with concern about my choice to align myself with this group, and his argument was based in a chapter from Nash's "Why the Left is not Right." Nash's published critique of Wallis and Sojourners was, as it turns out, laced with factual inaccuracies that in some instances amounted to slander. Years ago, after the book was first published by Zondervan, Sojourners reacted by issuing a public statement about the book, and eventually, Zondervan apologized and discontinued its printing.

The Reformed Baptist church I had come from, however, remained enraptured by what it saw as a refreshing voice for conservative evangelicalism, and invited Nash to speak at the church. I attended and introduced myself to him. He was friendly, even when I told him that Jim Wallis was my boss, and he said to send Jim his regards.

At the time I was only 22 years old, just out of college, and looking for pastoral role models who could help me in my struggles with faith, politics and morality issues. Sadly, what I found in Nash was what amounted in my view to be fear-based and reactionary, even bordering on mental instability. I felt he did more harm than good to my generation of evangelicals.

[Larry Fischer]

Gosh, I'm surprised. I did not know Dr. Nash; I've only read some of his books. I sent a criticism of a current book, Heaven, to the author, Randy Alcorn.

In it I used Dr. Nash's Square of Opposition from The Word of God and the Mind of Man. I suggested to Alcorn if my premises were incorrect (probably were/are!) that we should solicit Dr. Nash's comments.

I did not know he had passed.

I enjoyed his stuff--after I read it about 4 times.

Larry Fischer, DVM

[Troy Camplin, Ph.D.]

For some reason I was thinking about him today and decided to look him up online. I had him the last semester he taught at WKU. He will be missed.

[cynthia curran]

Well, didn't Jim Wallis when he was much younger stated that the Vietnamise were hook on consumer goods and that's one of the reasons they came to America. As for using the old testment as a model for an economy, well both the Roman Catholic West and the Byzantine Empire rejected the old testment ban on interest since even in medieval times trade was already too complex to go back to recommendations from the old testment. Christians whether they like it not developed their civilzations during the middle ages and their were some market forces involved.

[Charlie J. Ray]

The irony is that Ronald Nash would never have agreed that Roman Catholics and the Greek Orthodox have the true Gospel. Touchstone is a misnomer.

[Charlie J. Ray]

Carl F. H. Henry was influenced by Gordon H. Clark's theology and apologetics.