On pages 29–34 of The Defense of the Faith, Cornelius Van Til continues to describe the basic Reformed doctrines that lay the foundation for his apologetic. It is evident even in this introductory material how he considers his project. He is neither seeking to be idiosyncratic nor original (in the sense of developing something foreign or external to confessional Reformed theology). Rather, he is developing a method of apologetics that is thoroughly consistent with the Reformed creeds and confessions.

Having addressed the doctrine of God, and particularly the doctrine of the Trinity, Van Til continues to the doctrine of man before moving to Christology and the rest of the traditional theological loci. In his introductory treatment of anthropology, Van Til focuses on the God-man relation, man's creatureliness, the aspects of the image of God, the doctrine of sin, and how each of these relate to Roman Catholic, Arminian, and Lutheran theology, and the discipline of apologetics.