Essays on Religion, Science, and Society - Paperback

by Herman Bavinck (Author), John Bolt (Editor), Harry Boonstra (Translator)

Mature reflections from one of the greatest Reformed theologians

Herman Bavinck, the premier theologian of the Kuyper-inspired, neo-Calvinistic revival in the late-nineteenth-century Netherlands, is an important voice in the development of Protestant theology. This volume, now in paper, is the capstone of his distinguished career.

These seminal essays offer an outworking of Bavinck's systematic theology as presented in his Reformed Dogmatics and engage enduring issues from a biblical and theological perspective. The collection presents his mature reflections on issues relating to ethics, education, politics, psychology, natural science and evolution, aesthetics, and philosophy of religion.

Pastors, students, and scholars of Reformed theology will value this work.

Front Jacket

Praise for Bavinck's "Reformed Dogmatics
""Like Augustine, Calvin, and Edwards, Bavinck was a man of giant mind, vast learning, ageless wisdom, and great expository skill, and to have these volumes now in full English is a wonderful enrichment. Solid but lucid, demanding but satisfying, broad and deep and sharp and stabilizing, Bavinck's magisterial Reformed Dogmatics remains after a century the supreme achievement of its kind."--J. I. Packer, Regent College
"Finally Bavinck becomes available to the English-speaking world. The Dutch version has shaped generations of theologians and helped them to preach, think, and act on a fresh, Reformed basis. The strength of Bavinck's dogmatics is that it's neither conservative nor progressive, but its biblical character makes it constantly up-to-date. Baker Academic and the Dutch Reformed Translation Society deserve praise for this project, from which without doubt church and theology will profit for years to come."--Herman Selderhuis, Theologische Universiteit Appeldoorn
"Pastors and theologians will welcome the historic first complete translation of Herman Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics. . . . This masterful theological work is now available to passionate students of theology."--R. Albert Mohler Jr., "Preaching
""Arguably the most important systematic theology ever produced in the Reformed tradition. I have found it to be the most valuable. English-speaking theology throughout the twentieth century until now has been singularly impoverished by not having at its disposal a translation of Bavinck's Dogmatiek in its entirety. This will be an incomparable boon for generations of students, pastors, teachers, and others, serving to deepen understanding and enrich reflection in both historical and systematic theology."--Richard B. Gaffin Jr., Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia
"To read [these volumes] is to take a large step back from the theological currents that swirl around and through the theological academy. . . . While the content . . . is identical with the original, the layout in the translation renders the material far more accessible. . . . Most helpful of all are the splendid chapter synopses that have been crafted with obvious care by the editor and inserted before each chapter. . . . The translation is eloquent, lucid, and faithful to the original."--George Vandervelde, "Calvin Theological Journal"

Back Jacket

I have long admired Bavinck as a major systematic theologian, but in these essays I discovered a Bavinck I never knew. He moves easily--and brilliantly--through adolescent psychology, conceptions of the unconscious, Islam, social contract theory, evolutionary thought, philology, and aesthetics, to name only a few of a broad set of topics. Here an amazing nineteenth-century Calvinist mind addresses with much wisdom a twenty-first-century intellectual agenda!
--Richard J. Mouw, Fuller Theological Seminary

Author Biography

Herman Bavinck (1854-1921) succeeded Abraham Kuyper as professor of systematic theology at the Free University of Amsterdam in 1902. John Bolt (PhD, University of St. Michael's College) is professor of systematic theology at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This volume was translated under the auspices of the Dutch Reformed Translation Society by Harry Boonstra and Gerrit Sheeres.