He was the first born of two sons of Robert and Virginia Bahnsen in
Auburn, Washington, and grew up in
Pico Rivera, California. In youth he was beset by a number of medical difficulties, the most serious of which was a lifelong
platelet problem that made it difficult for him to stop bleeding, a condition similar to
hæmophilia. He also had heart trouble which came to light only during his first college admissions medical exam. Raised in the
Orthodox Presbyterian Church, he actively participated in religious activities. He first began reading the apologetics of
Cornelius Van Til when in high school. While attending
Westmont College he began writing for the
Chalcedon Foundation of
Rousas J. Rushdoony and soon came to admire the latter's strong Calvinistic convictions. In 1970 Bahnsen graduated
magna cum laude from Westmont College, receiving his
B.A. in philosophy as well as the John Bunyan Smith Award for his overall
grade point average. From there he went on to
Westminster Theological Seminary in
Philadelphia, where he studied under Cornelius Van Til. The two became close friends. When he graduated in May 1973, he simultaneously received two degrees,
Master of Divinity and
Master of Theology, as well as the William Benton Greene Prize in apologetics and a Richard Weaver Fellowship from the
Intercollegiate Studies Institute. His next academic stop was the
University of Southern California (USC), where he studied
philosophy, specializing in the
theory of knowledge. In 1975, after receiving ordination in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, he became an associate professor of Apologetics and Ethics at
Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) in
Jackson, Mississippi. While there, he completed his studies at USC, receiving his
Ph.D. in 1978. Bahnsen's four years at RTS were fraught with contention, centered around his particular version of theonomic postmillennialism. ==Later life==