Herman Bavinck - Reformed Dogmatics: Abridged in One Volume

2011 by Baker Publishing Group

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakeracademic.com

Ebook edition created 2015

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

ISBN 978-1-4412-4018-7

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

To Eugene P. Heideman and Jan Veenhof,

pioneers in the Bavinck renaissance

C ONTENTS

E DITOR S P REFACE

Herman Bavincks Reformed Dogmatics is a classic. Taking on the project of preparing a one-volume outline of a four-volume magisterial work like Bavincks is not something to be done lightly. Nearly three decades of close involvement with Bavincks theology has given me a great respect for the man and his achievement, and this volume is intended to honor that respect fully. I accepted the publishers request because Baker Academic had not only been a major and enthusiastic supporter of publishing Reformed Dogmatics in English but also demonstrated the utmost respect to the Bavinck legacy by producing a first-rate publication, an achievement for the ages. Confidence in my ability to do the job was enhanced by many who told me that the prcis I prepared for each chapter of the English translation of Reformed Dogmatics were very helpful. Professor Roger Nicole kindly suggested that taken together, they would make a nice one-volume summary of Bavincks theology.

So here it is. Although I have made generous use of the aforementioned prcis, this volume is something different. In my abridgment I worked hard to preserve Bavincks own voice, even his own words, keeping my transitions and paraphrases to a minimum. Careful readers should be able to recognize whole sentences and sections taken straight from Reformed Dogmatics , and it is my hope that even the most attentive readers will hear only Bavincks voice throughout. At the same time, it is well to think of this volume via the metaphor of a large symphony orchestra; the composer and conductor is Bavinck. My own role hereI truly hope unnoticeable!is to have served as Bavincks editorial assistant, helping to select where his score could be shortened and reconfigured for the sake of this one performance. The score is his and he will conduct the orchestra, not me. Where my own part is noticeable, it is a part that will be heard by a discriminating listener but always with the same tune. On occasion, in places where I have self-consciously What continues to amaze me, even after all these years, is how rarely such correction is needed. Footnotes not so marked are either consistent with Bavincks own notes or instances of my putting into footnotes material originally in the body of the text.

Here are the guidelines I have followed in preparing this volume. I have significantly reduced the amount of detail, especially on historical theology, for which Bavinck is rightly famous. I have been selective in what exposition and critique of particular thinkers are included and in the supporting literature that is cited in the notes, with regular reference only to classic worksAugustine, Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin, major ecclesiastical documents, and so forth. My goal here was to reduce the amount of detail without sacrificing the important concreteness of Bavincks discussion. In reducing fifty-eight chapters to twenty-five, I have obviously combined many chapters and tried to reduce as much redundancy as possible. The major structural change involved moving the chapter on providence (vol. 2, chap. 14, ##3016) from its placement as a separate chapter following the material on anthropology to the concluding section in chapter 10, Creator of Heaven and Earth. In this way, the two loci of theology proper and anthropology are kept whole and distinct and maintained in the classic order of Protestant Orthodoxy. break between vols. 3 and 4, was not as immediately transparent. The greatest reductions occurred in volume 1 (chaps. 16), the least in the eschatology section (chaps. 2325). The eschatology section in volume 4 was the shortest and most compact of Bavincks treatment of each loci and consequently much more difficult to reduce.

The language of this volume, down to specific phrasing and key citations, was directly taken from the full work. Occasionally I have taken whole sentences and even paragraphs directly from the larger work but rearranged them to fit a new, abridged, narrative structure. At the same time, some repetition of key ideas remains. Especially in matters of prolegomena, Bavincks case for a Reformed understanding of revelation, religion, and the task of theology in the church is cumulative, and I have tried to preserve that feature in the first part as well. To facilitate easy reference to Reformed Dogmatics especially for those dedicated souls who desire morethis volume retains the section numbers in square brackets [ ] that go back to the original Dutch second edition. Finally, in preparing this volume I have not written a new and distinct biographical and theological introduction; readers are encouraged to attend to the introductions in any one of the four full volumes.

The labor on this volume took place from July 2008 through September 2009. I want to express my gratitude here to the administration and Board of Trustees of Calvin Theological Seminary for the partial sabbatical granted to me during the school year 20089, which liberated me from all faculty responsibilities save teaching one course per quarter. My thanks also to my faculty colleagues who went through a lengthy year of fine-tuning a wholly revised and reshaped curriculum without any assistance or hindrance from me. My colleagues have also been uniformly supportive of my preoccupation with Bavinck, for which I am grateful. In the fall quarter of 2008, I was privileged to lead a group of a dozen or so CTS students in a seminar focusing on the first volume of Reformed Dogmatics . Half the members of this class continued to meet weekly over the course of the second and third quarters on an informal basis to discuss volume 2. Since I was in the midst of my abridgment work on precisely those two volumes during those months, I was not only encouraged by their high level of interest but also learned from their responses where they saw the key points of each chapter; both were significant contributions to my progress. CTS students David Salverda (vols. 1 and 2) and Gayle Doornbos (vols. 3 and 4) provided both savvy computer support (especially for entering Hebrew and Greek words) and prudential editorial advice. During the summer months of 2009 and into September, as I was bringing the work to a conclusion, I relied heavily on Gayles solid theological and editorial judgments and exemplary work ethic. I could not have completed my work when I did without her assistance, for which I am profoundly grateful.

As from the very beginning of my editorial work on Reformed Dogmatics , I remain gratefully indebted to my friends and colleagues on the Board of the Dutch Reformed Translation Society who consented to and supported the preparation of this volume. And finally to the Baker Academic editorial staff: Thank you for your professional, courteous, and warmly encouraging support. Thank you, Jim Kinney, for coming up with the idea for this volume and shepherding it to its publication; to Wells Turner: you are an editor extraordinaire in text and people skills; you improve my work, remain unfailingly patient with my foibles and flaws, and never intrude yourself into the process. It is a privilege to be part of the team that brought this project to its completion. Thank you all.