The Bavinck Institute at Calvin Seminary is pleased to publish the Bavinck Review 11 (2020).
This issue contains a study of Bavinck’s anthropology: Anthony Hoekema’s The Centrality of the Heart in Herman Bavinck’s Anthropology.
Interview with John Bolt regarding Bavinck on the Christian Life
Today, Books at a Glance published an interview with Professor John Bolt regarding his latest book, Bavinck on the Christian Life: Following Jesus in Faithful Service (Crossway, 2015; excerpt [PDF 2.8 MB]).
Bolt answers questions about:
- who Bavinck was
- his own interest in studying Bavinck’s theology
- the grace-restores-nature theme in Bavinck’s thought
- Bavinck’s significant other writings besides the Reformed Dogmatics
- Bavinck’s vision for practical piety and Christian discipleship in the modern world
- and where in Bavinck’s corpus are good entry points for new readers.
See also “What Bavinck Taught Me” by John Bolt
Announcing Bavinck on the Christian Life: Following Jesus in Faithful Service by John Bolt
The Bavinck Institute is pleased to announce Professor John Bolt’s latest publication on Herman Bavinck: Bavinck on the Christian Life: Following Jesus in Faithful Service (Wheaton: Crossway, 2015); in print and ebook via Amazon, Google Books, WTS books.
“The question I want to pose at the very beginning of a volume on Herman Bavinck’s understanding of the Christian life,” writes Bolt in the preface,
is whether this great Reformed theologian, broadly celebrated for his erudition and theological genius, practiced what he preached and taught. How does his theology relate to his ethics? In other words, was his great mind combined with a warm heart for the Lord and a commitment to a life of Christian service? Does his life stand up to the scrutiny of his own theology?
It is my honor and pleasure in the pages that follow to provide the evidence for a positive answer to these queries. The opening chapter is an exploration of Bavinck’s own desire, frequently expressed during the years he was a student at the University of Leiden, “to be a worthy follower of Jesus.”
Part 1 explores the basis of Bavinck’s theology of Christian discipleship, which can be summarized especially under the rubrics of creation/law and union with Christ. The three chapters of this foundational section are followed by two chapters describing the shape of Christian discipleship in terms of the imitation of Christ and sketching out the contours of Bavinck’s worldview.
The remaining four chapters apply this vision concretely in marriage and family, work and vocation, culture and education, and finally, civil society. The volume concludes with Bavinck’s only published sermon—on 1 John 5:4b—as a summary statement of triumphant Christian discipleship. My translation of this sermon into English was prepared specifically for this volume. Taken together, the chapters of this volume serve as an introduction to and brief primer of Herman Bavinck’s thought.
Read ch. 1: Introducing Bavinck: “A Worthy Follower of Jesus” (PDF; 2.9 MB)
Related Elsewhere
The Bavinck Review 4 (2013)
The Bavinck Review 4 (2013) is now publicly available. Download (or send to Kindle) your free copy today!
Dissertation notice: “Pedagogy as Theological Praxis”
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).
Abstract
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.
Upcoming Dissertation: A Theology of Learning
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
John Bolt’s Dissertation on Bavinck’s Two Essays on the Imitatio Christi
The Bavinck Institute is pleased to announce its second publication this spring: John Bolt, A Theological Analysis of Herman Bavinck’s Two Essays on the Imitatio Christi: Between Pietism and Modernism (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 2013).
Professor Bolt defended his original dissertation in 1982 at the University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto, under the title, ”The Imitation of Christ Theme in the Cultural-Ethical Ideal of Herman Bavinck.” For the published edition he has updated the scholarship and added a concluding chapter on application and relevance. Also, he has included the first available English translations of Bavinck’s two imitation articles of 1885/86 and 1918.
Bolt’s investigation of Bavinck’s essays on the imitation of Christ . . . immerses us in some of the most important aspects of the Christianity and culture debate. What is the relationship of God’s work of creation to his work of redemption? What is the relationship of nature and grace? What is the significance of common grace and natural law? What is the relationship of the Old Testament law, as summarized in the Decalogue, to New Testament ethics, especially as set forth in the Sermon on the Mount? Can the Sermon on the Mount really direct our social-cultural life and, if so, how? These will undoubtedly remain central questions to discussions about Christian cultural activity, and Bolt reflects on all of them as he expounds Bavinck’s essays. I predict that his conclusions will surprise many readers, challenge simplistic assumptions about Bavinck’s view of culture, and inspire many people to read Bavinck anew. (David VanDrunen, “Forward,” v–vi)
Announcing The J. H. Bavinck Reader
The 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.
Trinity and Organism reviewed on Reformed Media Review
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).
Junius Institute at Calvin Seminary
Given that Herman Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics stands firmly within the theological tradition of the great sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Protestant scholastic doctors of the church, Bavinck scholars will be delighted at today’s announcement of the launch of the Junius Institute for Digital Reformation Research at Calvin Seminary.
Scholars and students have a new research center devoted to developing digital tools, resources, and scholarship focused on the religious reformations of the early modern era, particularly arising out of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. . . .
The institute is conceived as a forum to promote research into the Reformation and post-Reformation periods, covering the 16th to the 18th centuries, through the use of digital tools, skills, and resources. The Junius Institute will house the Post-Reformation Digital Library (PRDL), an electronic database covering thousands of authors and primary source documents on the development of theology and philosophy in these centuries. With the click of a few buttons, researchers can now download digital files with source material from hundreds of years ago. (Excerpted from the JI press release)