Retail: $59.99
RHB: $32.99 

Contents

Herman Bavinck: Pastor, Churchman, Statesman and Theologian by Ron Gleason

Retail: $30.00 RHB: $15.00

Highlighting the breadth of Herman Bavinck’s experience in theology and politics, Ronald N. Gleason offers the English-speaking world a vivid picture of the Dutch theologian’s life. Gleason, a leading authority on Bavinck’s life and ideas, brings to light Bavinck’s rich family heritage and contends that his family background played a crucial role in the development of the man who wrote the magisterial Reformed Dogmatics.

Saved By Grace: The Holy Spirit’s Work in Calling and Regeneration by Herman Bavinck

Retail: $30.00 RHB: $15.00

In the late nineteenth century, two distinct reform movements coming out of the Dutch State Reformed Church (the Afscheiding of 1834 and the Doleantie of 1886) merged to form The Reformed Churches of the Netherlands (De Geereformeerde Kerken in Nederland). While both groups had much in common, there remained fundamental points of disagreement, which erupted into controversies over such doctrines as immediate regeneration and presumptive regeneration.

In Saved by Grace, Herman Bavinck discusses God’s gracious work in bringing fallen sinners to new life and salvation. He gives a careful historical analysis that shows how Reformed theologians have wrestled to understand and express the Holy Spirit’s work in calling and regeneration since the seventeenth century. Bavinck also brings exegetical precision and theological clarity to the discussion, carefully avoiding the errors of undervaluing and overvaluing the use of means in work of salvation. This book, therefore, takes up questions with which every new generation of Reformed writers must grapple.

Guide to the Writings of Herman Bavinck, by Eric Bristley

Retail: $15.00 RHB: $7.50

This guide provides English readers with a resource for the study of the works of Herman Bavinck (1854–1921), a profound Christian thinker and one of the most important Reformed theologians at the turn of the twentieth century. In it you will find an annotated bibliography of his writings, a concise biography showing the historical context of his publications, and a bibliography of secondary literature. Anyone interested in learning more about the contribution of Bavinck will want to have this resource.

Essays on Religion, Science and Society by Herman Bavinck

Retail: $40.00 RHB: $20.00

Herman Bavinck, the premier theologian of the late-nineteenth-century Netherlands, is an important voice in the development of Protestant theology. Essays on Religion, Science, and Society 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 work presents his mature reflections on issues relating to ethics, education, politics, psychology, natural science and evolution, aesthetics, and philosophy of religion. This collection–Bavinck’s most significant remaining untranslated work–is now available in English for the first time. Pastors, students, and scholars of Reformed theology will value this work.

Reformed Dogmatics by Herman Bavinck

Retail: $200.00 RHB: $90.00

The Dutch Reformed Translation Society is proud to offer in English for the very first time all four volumes of Herman Bavinck’s complete Reformed Dogmatics. This masterwork will appeal not only to scholars, students, pastors, and laity interested in Reformed theology but also to research and theological libraries.

Ron Gleason’s new biography, Herman Bavinck: Pastor, Churchman, Statesman, Theologian (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publications, 512 pps., $29.99, paperback, available May 31, 2010) is a warm and inviting portrait of one Holland’s most influential Reformed theologians. Bavinck’s theology is rigorous yet deeply concerned with the quality of the life of faith and Gleason’s book captures that Bavinckian vitality with great acumen. Gleason’s prose is highly accessible and enjoyable reading, which should satisfy the academic and the casual reader. Anyone who has struggled with the tensions between the sophistication of modern life and a strict Christian upbringing will highly prize this biography.

Gleason starts out with the pious background of the Bavinck family. The story centers predominantly on Herman’s father Jan and his pastoral vocation. Gleason’s sympathetic narrative reads like many classic evangelical biographies such as Iain Murray on Pink and Edwards or William Arnot’s Life of the Rev. James Hamilton. Gleason occasionally glosses over some detail with high praise for the strong ideals and values of the Bavincks ministry and home life but the ample footnotes keep the reader on task. Yet Gleason does not go entirely overboard either, presenting the differences between the HK and CRC in a fair and accurate light. Gleason’s ability to remain objective throughout when presenting sensitive issues such as Bavinck’s transition to Kampen, the Bavinck / Kuyper debate on presumptive regeneration and the fallout of the Groningen Synod (1899) is impressive.

Bavinck is all about balancing tensions and so is Gleason. One of the chapters that I felt personally closest to was Bavinck’s first and only pastorate at Franeker (Chapter 4). Bavinck faced all the dilemmas awaiting a young pastor: the work load, congregation politics, and faithfulness to scripture in a dry, positivist climate. According to Gleason, Franeker had a string of pastors that did virtually nothing to benefit the spiritual wellbeing of the congregation yet Bavinck handled his situation with remarkable grace and humility, which I found surprising.. Gleason’s depiction of Bavinck as scholar and pastor is well rounded and multi-dimensional; presenting a man of high principles and a guy you could have coffee with.

“Bavinck has been for me,” writes Gleason, “an inspiration and a challenge. His grasp of theology in all its dimensions, his thoroughness and fairness in dealing with those whom he did not agree … his architectural gift in perceiving doctrine in its correlation with the Christian view as a whole … are some of the excellencies that characterize his work throughout.” Gleason has certainly captured the character and career of this essential theologian in a rare non-stuffy, non-boring lucid biography. We highly recommend this book especially to young pastors and seminarians worried about the great divide between the academy and the church, evangelism and a gospel-centered family. Gleason’s book is available May 31, 2010 from P&R Publications. Pray for hardcover.

Herman Bavinck’s

Get all four volumes for the best price on the Internet!!

The Dutch Reformed Translation Society is proud to offer in English for the very first time all four volumes of Herman Bavinck’s complete Reformed Dogmatics. This masterwork will appeal not only to scholars, students, pastors, and laity interested in Reformed theology but also to research and theological libraries.

(Post by Tony Reinke)

“In my opinion, the writings of Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck (1854-1921) are some of the most valuable in the long tradition of reformed theology. Thanks to a large financial investment, hard working translators, and the Dutch Reformed Translation Society, Bavinck’s writings have never been more accessible to the English-speaking English-reading world.

For me personally, Bavinck has joined Jonathan Edwards in becoming my life-long theologians of choice—two men I’ve committed an especially large sum of time and money with the goal of garnering all the divine truths their writings offer (note the phrase: “life-long”).

As part of this goal, I’ve accumulate what I believe to be the largest on-line index of Bavinck’s books and articles in the English language. In the future I hope to use the website for a number of other purposes, but for those interested in Bavinck I invite you to have a look and tell me what you think:”

By Herman Bavinck

Retail: $30.00 RHB: $22.50

In the late nineteenth century, two distinct reform movements coming out of the Dutch State Reformed Church (the Afscheiding of 1834 and the Doleantie of 1886) merged to form The Reformed Churches of the Netherlands (De Geereformeerde Kerken in Nederland). While both groups had much in common, there remained fundamental points of disagreement, which erupted into controversies over such doctrines as immediate regeneration and presumptive regeneration.

In Saved by Grace, Herman Bavinck discusses God’s gracious work in bringing fallen sinners to new life and salvation. He gives a careful historical analysis that shows how Reformed theologians have wrestled to understand and express the Holy Spirit’s work in calling and regeneration since the seventeenth century. Bavinck also brings exegetical precision and theological clarity to the discussion, carefully avoiding the errors of undervaluing and overvaluing the use of means in work of salvation. This book, therefore, takes up questions with which every new generation of Reformed writers must grapple.

Saved By Grace: The Holy Spirit’s Work in Calling and Regeneration

In the late nineteenth century, two distinct reform movements coming out of the Dutch State Reformed Church (the Afscheiding of 1834 and the Doleantie of 1886) merged to form The Reformed Churches of the Netherlands (De Geereformeerde Kerken in Nederland). While both groups had much in common, there remained fundamental points of disagreement, which erupted into controversies over such doctrines as immediate regeneration and presumptive regeneration.

In Saved by Grace, Herman Bavinck discusses God’s gracious work in bringing fallen sinners to new life and salvation. He gives a careful historical analysis that shows how Reformed theologians have wrestled to understand and express the Holy Spirit’s work in calling and regeneration since the seventeenth century. Bavinck also brings exegetical precision and theological clarity to the discussion, carefully avoiding the errors of undervaluing and overvaluing the use of means in work of salvation. This book, therefore, takes up questions with which every new generation of Reformed writers must grapple.

Author Info:

Herman Bavinck (1854–1921) succeeded Abraham Kuyper as professor of systematic theology at the Free University in Amsterdam in 1902. His Reformed Dogmatics is a standard text for modern Reformed theology.

Translator Info:

Nelson Kloosterman has translated The Ten Commandments and Principles of Christian Ethics by Dutch theologian J. Douma as well as Preaching and the History of Salvation by C. Trimp. Dr. Kloosterman has written a number of Bible studies and serves as co-editor of the Mid-America Journal of Theology. He is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society and the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity.

Editor Info:

J. Mark Beach brings a wealth of practical experience to his Ministerial Studies classes. Dr. Beach in interested in Reformation and Post-Reformation Reformed Theology as well as practical theology. He believes that Reformed and Presbyterian churches greatly benefit from exploring and rediscovering the rich heritage of the Reformed tradition. Dr. Beach regularly preaches in local churches, has written study materials for youths and adults, and has translated a book on baptism. He is also the managing editor of and frequent contributor to the Mid-America Journal of Theology.

However if you do not have the 4 volume set of Herman Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics, then it is a must have in every library.

Reformed Dogmatics

(Reformed Dogmatics, 4 volumes) The Dutch Reformed Translation Society is proud to offer in English for the very first time all four volumes of Herman Bavinck’s complete Reformed Dogmatics. This masterwork will appeal not only to scholars, students, pastors, and laity interested in Reformed theology but also to research and theological libraries.