Cornelius Van Til (1895-1987) was born in the Dutch town of Grootegast and moved to America with his family in 1905. He earned his ThM and PhD degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary and Princeton University after attending Calvin College and Calvin Seminary. Van Til was drawn to the ministry and served for a year before taking a leave of absence to teach apologetics at Princeton Seminary. He was convinced to join the faculty of the newly created Westminster Theological Seminary when the seminary reorganized. He remained there as an apologetics professor until 1972, when he retired.

Van Til published almost twenty books as well as over thirty syllabi. The Defense of the Faith, A Christian Theory of Knowledge, and An Introduction to Systematic Theology are among his best-known works.