Reformed theology in the tradition of Herman Bavinck
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
This plenary session panel discussion (MP3; 70 MB) with Professors John Bolt, Gordon Graham, and J. Mark Beach is from the 2008 Bavinck Conference at Calvin Seminary.
Bavinck, Herman. Saved by Grace: The Holy Spirit’s Work in Calling and Regeneration. Edited by J. Mark Beach. Translated by Nelson D. Kloosterman. Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2008.
Beach, J. Mark. “Abraham Kuyper, Herman Bavinck, and ‘The Conclusions of Utrecht 1905’.” Mid-America Journal of Theology 19 (2008): 11–68.
———. “Can’t We All Just Get Along? Herman Bavinck as a Pastoral Polemicist.” Mid-America Journal of Theology 24 (2013): 73–79.
Bolt, John. “The Bavinck Recipe for Theological Cake.” Calvin Theological Journal 45, no. 1 (2010): 11–17.
Graham, Gordon. “Bavinck, Nietzsche, and Secularization.” In The Kuyper Center Review, Volume 2: Revelation and Common Grace, 14–26. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2011.
———. “Bavinck’s Philosophy of Revelation.” Calvin Theological Journal 45, no. 1 (April 2010): 44–50.
On 1 June 2015 Prof. Richard Mouw delivered the first Bavinck Lecture at TU Kampen: “Neo-Calvinism: A Theology for the Global Church in the 21st Century” (watch on Vimeo).
For these lectures scholars are invited who share Bavinck’s love for Reformed theology, are enthusiastic about his take on grace as a transforming force in both personal life, society and culture, and who in there academic work reflect his deep and catholic view on the Christian faith. They are asked to answer important questions in their lectures concerning the value of Reformed theology in a postmodern world for church and society.
Dr. James K. A. Smith will deliver the second Bavinck Lecture at TU Kampen later this year.
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 are thinking about reading the one-volume Reformed Dogmatics abridgement in 2016, be sure to check out the Herman Bavinck reading group organized by The Daily Genevan and Providence Presbyterian.
Membership is open to the public. You may participate in the discussions or simply enjoy the collegiality of reading with a cohort.
The Bavinck Institute at Calvin Seminary is pleased to release volume 5 of The Bavinck Review. The majors include:
Congratulations to Timothy Shaun Price on his recent dissertation: “Pedagogy as Theological Praxis: Martin Luther and Herman Bavinck as Sources for Engagement with Classical Education and the Liberal Arts Tradition” (PhD diss., University of Aberdeen, 2013).
This thesis seeks to put two theologians, Martin Luther and Herman Bavinck, and their theological traditions in conversation with emphasis upon how they approach the topic of education. Specific emphasis is placed upon their understanding and application of the classical education tradition.
The purpose of such a conversation is to point to what returning to Luther and Bavinck as sources can add to a discussion on pedagogy as well as to examine how their theological positions lead to a different emphasis in regards to pedagogy. The thesis is entitled “Pedagogy as Theological Praxis” because it makes the case that there are definite ethical implications in how one approaches pedagogy. In a broader spectrum, the thesis also examines how the epistemological presuppositions of these two traditions may effect the application of their theology.
The first half of the thesis deals primarily with Martin Luther. Luther’s understanding of the three estates of ecclesia, oeconomia, and politia are used as a lens by which to examine his writings. The three estates are used specifically to examine Luther’s 1524 letter, “To the Councilmen of all Cities in Germany that they Establish and Maintain Christian Schools.”
The thesis then shifts to an examination of Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck and his theological tradition of neo-Calvinism. Several prominent themes in neo-Calvinism are noted, and the distinctive contributions of Bavinck are also examined. As the thesis previously applied the framework of Luther’s theology to his work, the thesis also applies the Reformed neo-Calvinist framework to Bavinck’s article “Classical Education” and his book Pedagogical Principles. The thesis ends by putting Luther and Bavinck, as well as their traditions, into conversation in regards to the subject of Christian classical education. Emphasis is placed upon the North American context, which has seen a recent resurgence in the practice of classical education. Luther’s and Bavinck’s distinct contributions are placed alongside the contemporary practice of classical education for the purpose of fruitful dialogue and engagement.