Posted on

“Religion, Mission, and Kingdom: A Comparison of Herman Bavinck and Johan Herman Bavinck” by Paul Visser

Ds. Paul Visser
Ds. Paul Visser

The Rev. Ds. Paul J. Visser, pastor of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (Amsterdam) and chairman of the Foundation for the Promoting of Reformed Missiology and Ecumenics, delivered the following lecture at the 2008 Bavinck Conference: “Religion, Mission, and Kingdom: A Comparison of Herman Bavinck and Johan Herman Bavinck” (MP3).

Visser’s lecture was published as “Religion, Mission, and Kingdom: A Comparison of Herman and Johan Herman Bavinck,” Calvin Theological Journal 45, no. 1 (2010): 117–32.

The respondent is the Rev. Dr. Allan Janssen. Starting at ~66:00, Janssen provides an intriguing foray into the recently published lectures of A. A. van Ruler on natural and revealed theology as an additional point of comparison between H. and J. H. Bavinck.

Related resources

  1. Paul J. Visser, Heart for the Gospel, Heart for the World: The Life and Thought of a Reformed Pioneer Missiologist, Johan Herman Bavinck, 1895-1964 (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2003).
  2. Johan Herman Bavinck, The J. H. Bavinck Reader, ed. John Bolt, James D. Bratt, and Paul J. Visser, trans. James A. De Jong (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2013); see also “Announcing the J. H. Bavinck Reader.”
  3. Paul J. Visser, “Reformed Principles as Remaining Roots,” in Shirley J. Roels, ed., Reformed Mission in an Age of World Christianity: Ideas for the 21st Century, 37–44 (Grand Rapids, MI: Calvin Press, 2011).
  4. Paul J. Visser, “Religion in Biblical and Reformed Perspective,” Calvin Theological Journal 44, no. 1 (2009): 9–36.
Posted on

Preview of The Bavinck Review 4 (2013)

TBR4_coverThe Bavinck Review 4 (2013) is now available to Bavinck Society members. Preview the contents and editorial.

This year’s essays include

  • an insightful study of the development in Bavinck’s view of non-Christian religions,
  • an exchange between two Society members regarding the relation of Herman and J. H. Bavinck to the contemporary insider missiological debate,
  • a review of digital Bavinck research tools,
  • and another voice in the discussion between Drs. VanDrunen and Klosterman regarding Herman Bavinck’s view of natural law and the two kingdoms.

The translation piece is a handful of letters that Herman Bavinck sent to one of his seminary students who was forced to leave his studies at Kampen due to a terminal illness.

Posted on

Announcing The J. H. Bavinck Reader

The J. H. Bavinck ReaderThe Bavinck Institute is pleased to announce the publication of John Bolt, James D. Bratt, and Paul J. Visser, eds., The J. H. Bavinck Reader, trans. James A. De Jong (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2013).

The Reader makes ”some of the Dutch missiologist’s seminal works in revelation and religion, religious consciousness, and the engagement of the Christian gospel with other religious traditions available in convenient form for an English audience” (Editors’ Preface, ix).

Preview the book via Google Books.

Book Launch

On 7 May 2013 the following speakers participated in a book launch for the Reader:

  • John Bolt, editor and professor of systematic theology at Calvin Seminary
  • James Bratt, editor and professor of history at Calvin College
  • James A. De Jong, translator; did his doctoral work on the history of missions at the Free University Amsterdam with Johannes Vande Berg who was J. H. Bavinck’s successor
  • Diane Obenchain, professor of religion at Calvin College

View the multimedia recording of this book launch (skip slides 1 and 2 and go directly to 3). The order of speakers on the recording is John Bolt, James Bratt, James De Jong, Diane Obenchain, and John Bolt.