A new volume of essays commemorates the centenary of the death of Herman Bavinck (1854–1921). The volume is published by Brill in the Studies in Reformed Theology series, and is available from the publisher or at online booksellers.
The volume is edited by a leading Bavinck scholar, Bruce R. Pass. Bruce Pass is Adjunct Lecturer in Systematic Theology at Trinity College Queensland (Australian College of Theology) and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Queensland.
In addition to writing the introductory chapter and serving as editor of the volume, Pass contributed the essay “Bavinck and the Foremost Problem of Theology.” According to this essay, Bavinck identifies the act of faith as central in determining the future direction of theology. The chapter compares Bavinck’s understanding of the act of faith as a foundational doctrine with that of the influential Reformed theologian of a subsequent generation, Karl Barth, highlighting similarities and subtle differences.
The chapter “Bavinck’s Use of Scripture” is written by Koert van Bekkum. The essay goes beyond examining Bavinck’s doctrine of Scripture to explore his use of Scripture with respect to biblical proof texts, biblical-theological “stepping-stones,” and more extended exegetical remarks. Koert van Bekkum is Professor of Old Testament and Vice Dean for Research at the Evangelische Theologische Faculteit, Leuven, and also teaches at the Theological University Kampen / Utrecht.
The second chapter, “Bavinck’s Use of Reformed Sources,” is written by Henk van den Belt. The essay shows how Bavinck creatively and sometimes ambiguously and critically embraced various theological legacies of the Reformed tradition such as Reformed Orthodoxy. Henk van den Belt is Professor of Systematic Theology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and also lectures at the Theological University of Apeldoorn. He is also the director of the Vrije Universiteit’s Herman Bavinck Center for Reformed and Evangelical Theology.
Andrew Errington contributed an essay on “Bavinck and Ethics.” Errington investigates how Bavinck applied—or attempted to apply—his heilsgeschichtliche mode of biblical interpretation to ethics as conceived in the subject’s traditional Reformed categories. Errington is Rector of Newton Erskineville Anglican Church, Sydney, Australia and Adjunct Lecturer in the School of Theology of Charles Sturt University.
“Bavinck and Philology” was written by William A. Ross, Associate Professor of Old Testament in Charlotte, North Carolina. Nineteenth-century scholarship saw giant strides in the fields of language studies and philology, and the question arises how Bavinck’s theological anthropology shaped his appropriation of some of these scholarly advances. Ross shows how Bavinck’s use of new philological insights was sophisticated and eclectic, informed by his theological and interdisciplinary insights.
Michael Bräutigam wrote the essay “Bavinck and Psychology.” Bräutigam examines the extensive work of Bavinck in the then emerging discipline of psychology. Bavinck aimed to navigate a theistic course through competing schools of thought, occasionally in the process even anticipating future developments in the field of psychology. Michael Bräutigam is Lecturer in Theology and Director of the Center for Theology and Psychology at Melbourne School of Theology.
The final chapter, “Bavinck and Pedagogy,” was written by George Harinck. Bavinck’s contribution to Christian education has been much overlooked in recent scholarship, Harinck observes—yet this was his contribution that shaped much of his immediate legacy. Harinck explores Bavinck’s keen insights as well as his occasional blind spots in the field of pedagogy. Harinck is Professor of the History of Neo-Calvinism at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam and serves as director of the Neo-Calvinism Research Institute at the Theological University Kampen / Utrecht.
