Reformed Dogmatics - Introduction

Herman Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics – Prolegomena (Baker Academic, 2003) isn’t exactly an easy book to read or summarize. So I'll just summarize the intro and let y'all read the book.

This is the first of a four volume set. The series is edited by John Bolt of Calvin Theological Seminary and translated by the late John Vriend.

The introduction is written by Bolt. Bavinck’s Dogmatics was first published a hundred years ago and represents the high point of four hundred years of Dutch Reformed theological thought. He was also serious about engaging other theological traditions such as Roman Catholicism and modern liberal Protestantism.

Kampen and Leiden

Bolt begins with a brief biography and a short history of the religious and political circumstances surrounding Bavinck’s life. Bavinck was born in 1854. He was indelibly shaped by the deep pietism of Reformed spiritual life, in particular that of the Christian Reformed Church which had seceded from the National Reformed Church in the Netherlands twenty years before his birth.

Although he began his theological training at Kampen Theological School, the seminary of the CRC, he transferred, to his parent’s dismay, to the Univesity of Leiden, the training from which was one of the biggest influences in his theological thinking. His reason was to “become acquainted with the modern theology firsthand” and to receive “a more scientific training than the Theological School is presently able to provide.” His time at Leiden seems to have shaken his faith somewhat. Bavinck wrote: “Will I remain standing in the faith? God grant it.” Bolt writes: “The Leiden experience gave rise to what Bavinck perceived as the tension in his life between his commitment to orthodox theology and spirituality and his desire to understand and appreciate what he could about the modern world, including its worldview and culture.” This tension in his thinking revealed itself in his attempt to reconcile modernity with Reformed pietism.

An example of this tension is found in his creation theology, where he engages the modern philosophy of Kant and Hegel, the scientific theory of Darwin, and the geological theories of his day.

Grace and Nature

It would probably be folly to try to encapsulate Bavinck’s theology in a short statement, but this might work: “His heart and mind sought a Trinitarian synthesis of Christianity and culture, a Christian worldview that incorporated what was best and true in both pietism and modernism, while above all honoring the theological and confessional richness of the Reformed tradition dating from Calvin.”

The framework Bavinck used to do this was Dutch neo-Calvinism, a theological movement propelled by its pioneer, Abraham Kuyper, politician, future Dutch prime minister, journalist, founder of the Free University of Amsterdam, and aggressive adversary of the modern spirit in church and society. Dutch neo-Calvinism set its sights not only on church matters but also on the whole realm of thought, “the arts, the professions, education, culture, society, and politics”. It was, like Bavinck, “appreciative of much in the modern world but not uncritically so.” Bavinck writes, “The thoughtful person places the doctrine of the Trinity in the very center of the full-orbed life of nature and mankind.” His whole theology is shaped by the Trinitarian concept that “grace restores nature.”

Prolegomena

Theological prolegomena deal with “introductory matters of definition and method”. Bavinck defines “dogmatics” as the “knowledge that God has revealed in his Word to his church concerning himself and all creatures as they stand in relation to him.” Bavinck never backed away from honestly engaging modern thought, notably, the Kantian claim that “God cannot be known and the subsequent effort to maintain the study of theology as a form of human religious experience.”

Traditional Reformed theology is organized around six loci (i.e. chief themes or places): the doctrine of God, humanity, Christ, salvation, the church, and last things. Bavinck follows these throughout this work.

Bolt’s words sum up things well: “Dogmatic theology is a science; it is a disciplined, rigorous, systematic study of the knowledge of God. Strictly speaking not every believer is or needs to be a theologian. The long history of theology parallels the life-history of the church but is not identical with it. In that connection, Bavinck’s lengthy discussion of the history of dogmatics has few parallels in any single volume published more recently…though it is a century old, Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics continues to be relevant to many issues still discussed in theology today….it is biblically and confessionally faithful, pastorally sensitive, challenging, and still relevant.”

I've got too much time on my hands.

Your Language Arts Grade: 100%

Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know "no" from "know." Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes).

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The Great Depression

By Pierre Berton (Penguin, 1990)

I’m actually not going to summarize this book – the structure doesn’t lend itself to summarization easily (and if isn’t easy I won’t do it). I’m about halfway through it. Berton’s prose is light and readable and he has the knack of telling a story well. If all Berton writes is correct then one can only shake one’s head in disbelief at the incompetence of Canada’s leaders in the 1930’s – William Lyon Mackenzie King, R.B. Bennet, et al. Had Canada had reasonably competent leaders the suffering may have been mitigated somewhat. This is not to say that there would have been no suffering at all. Nor that there would have not been much suffering. But to have had as much suffering as did occur is unconscionable.

One story Berton tells is pretty sad. A couple with one son decide, after losing everything, that their only recourse is to kill themselves. They use what’s left to buy a little gas for their car, park in a school garage, connect a hose from the exhaust to the inside of the car and wait for death. Unfortunately, due to their poverty, they weren’t able to buy enough gas to do the job for the whole family. The parents survived but their young son’s cold lifeless body lay in the back seat. Distraught, the mother tells her husband to stab her to death with a butcher’s knife. In order to avoid any unnecessary pain, he tries to knock her out first with an engine crank. The carbon monoxide did just enough, though, to weaken him so that he couldn’t generate enough force. So he decides to just stab her, but he’s not strong enough to penetrate her winter coat. He tries to slice her throat but the blade misses her carotid and she ends up still alive but bleeding profusely. They use razor blades to cut their wrist but the cuts aren’t deep enough. They finally give up and wait for a slow and agonizing death. They were found in time. Later they were charged with the murder of their son.

Well, there are heartwarming stories in the book as well. I’ve also heard stories from seniors in my church about their experiences during the depression, stories of poverty but also stories of faith, compassion and God’s providential care. Berton’s story is worth reading. And the stories of those who went through those times are worth hearing.

What's next

In lieu of my actually writing anything interesting I think I’ll (try to) summarize some of the books I’ve been reading recently. I’m a slow reader so these may come somewhat less than speedily. Nor is it at all certain that I’ll be able to capture the relevant or salient points the author is making. In fact, it’s more probable that I’ll miss his/her point completely and lead you, cherished reader of this blog, on a wild goose chase of non-existent and/or highly underdeveloped ideas/content that were not even the main point(s) of the book. (I should probably edit that last sentence but, eh, whatever…). So, let the excitement begin! (yawn)

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Read this

Some people think Man or Rabbit may be C.S. Lewis' best short essay. I think they could be right.

Favourite Hymn #12

For the Beauty of the Earth

For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.

Refrain:
Lord of all to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the beauty of each hour,
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon, and stars of light.

Refrain

For the joy of ear and eye,
For the heart and mind's delight,
For the mystic harmony
Linking sense to sound and sight.

Refrain

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth and friends above,
For all gentle thoughts and mild.

Refrain

For Thy Church that evermore
Lifteth holy hands above,
Offering up on every shore
Her pure sacrifice of love.

Refrain

For the martyrs' crown of light,
For Thy prophets' eagle eye,
For Thy bold confessors' might,
For the lips of infancy.

Refrain

For Thy virgins' robes of snow,
For Thy maiden mother mild,
For Thyself, with hearts aglow,
Jesu, Victim undefiled.

Refrain

For each perfect gift of Thine,
To our race so freely given,
Graces human and divine,
Flowers of earth and buds of Heaven,

Refrain

Youth trends

Time magazine has a story on what I hope is a good trend in the church