Reformed theology in the tradition of Herman Bavinck
This video is from the 2 May 2017 Grand Opening of the Bavinck Special Collection at Hekman Library’s Heritage Hall at Calvin Seminary.
Prof. Bolt presents a short lecture on “Why a Bavinck Institute? Why at Calvin?”
Two recent CTS graduates from China discuss their translating Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics into Mandarin.
The Bavinck Institute at Calvin Seminary is pleased to release The Bavinck Review 7 (2016) (1.2 MB PDF). See the editorial for an update on the Reformed Ethics project, two additional pending publications, and the formal establishment of the Institute.
Knowledge according to Bavinck and Aquinas by Arvin Vos
Herman Bavinck’s Modernisme en Orthodoxie: A Translation by Bruce R. Pass
An Excerpt on Prayer from Bavinck’s Reformed Ethics by John Bolt
A reader of Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics: Abridged in One Volume recently asked me how to correlate the text of the abridgement with the unabridged translation. After mulling it over, I concluded that combining the subparagraph numbers and Bavinck’s original outline for the Gereformeerde dogmatiek (PDF; 89 KB) provided both a good answer to this practical question and a boon to understanding the Dogmatics as a whole. The outline itself is refreshingly simple: three main points, traditional loci, traditional order. I share it here with the simple hope that it might provide a useful tool for enjoying the abridged or unabridged Dogmatics as an organic whole, a body of divinity.1
A reader of Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics: Abridged in One Volume recently asked me how to correlate the text of the abridgement with the unabridged translation. After mulling it over, I concluded that combining the subparagraph numbers and Bavinck’s original outline for the Gereformeerde dogmatiek (PDF; 89 KB) provided both a good answer to this practical question and a boon to understanding the Dogmatics as a whole. The outline itself is refreshingly simple: three main points, traditional loci, traditional order. I share it here with the simple hope that it might provide a useful tool for enjoying the abridged or unabridged Dogmatics as an organic whole, a body of divinity.1
If you have had the privilege of crossing paths with Bavinck Society member Tim Kerr, it is likely that two things characterized your experience: first, you came away deeply encouraged in the faith; second, you were prayed for sincerely before you departed.
In hopes of further multiplying this privilege, the Bavinck Institute is pleased to call your attention to the 5th edition of Pastor Kerr’s Take Words with You: Scripture Promises & Prayers / A Manual for Intercession (2015). In this work Pastor Kerr uses a simple five-step method to help believers to pray regularly, both individually and corporately, according to God’s promises and prayers in Holy Scripture (1 John 5:14).
To borrow a line from Herman Bavinck (RD 4:225), this manual puts into practice the rock solid biblical teaching that believers in Jesus Christ
do not pray in doubt and despair; they do not pray as though they are no longer children of God and again face eternal damnation; [rather] they pray from within the faith as children to the Father who is in heaven, and say Amen to their prayer.
This faith-filled “Amen-ing”—the bold response of a heart whose prayers in Jesus’s name proceed from God, are prayed through God, and return unto God—is the aim of this faith-fueling guidebook.
For an intro to the manual, read Pastor Kerr’s answers to these questions:
The Bavinck Institute congratulates Society member Hanniel Strebel, whose fine Olivet University PhD dissertation on Herman Bavinck’s philosophy of education has been published:
Eine Theologie des Lernens: Systematisch-theologische Beiträge aus dem Werk von Herman Bavinck [A theology of learning: systematic-theological contributions from the work of Herman Bavinck] (Bonn: VKW, 2014).
Dr. Strebel provides the following abstract:
This study is the first German dissertation on Herman Bavinck (1854-1921). Thematically, it builds on the place where Bavinck research took its beginning in the 1920s and 30s: with his educational philosophy. Starting with his “Principles of Pedagogy” (1904), three key questions regarding learning are examined: What is the purpose of learning? Who can learn? How does one appropriate human knowledge?
See also Strebel’s recent articles on the same topic:
Germanophone Bavinckians will be interested as well in Strebel’s German Bavinck bibliography.
Dr Nelson D. Kloosterman, director of Worldview Resources International, beloved English translator of many Dutch Reformed theological works, and Bavinck Society member, delivered this lecture on the doctrine of the imago Dei in Herman Bavinck’s thought at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 2013 (mp3).
We’re busily preparing the 2014 issue of The Bavinck Review. If you have any Herman and/or Johan Herman Bavinck bibliography items to share (i.e., theses, periodicals, books, websites) in any language, please let us know.
Student: Hanniel Strebel, Olivet University
Title: Eine Theologie des Lernens. Systematisch-theologische Beiträge aus dem Werk von Herman Bavinck (“A Theology of Learning: Systematic-Theological Contributions from the Work of Herman Bavinck”)
Content: Following the structure of Bavinck’s Principles of Education I outline the why (teleology), the who (anthropology), and the how (epistemology) of learning followed by a critical assessment.
Supervisor: Thomas K. Johnson
On a recent episode of the Reformed Media Review Rev. Carlton Wynne reviews Bavinck Society member Dr. James Eglinton’s Trinity and Organism: Towards a New Reading of Herman Bavinck’s Organic Motif (London: T&T Clark, 2012).