Herman Bavinck

The LORD continues to provide resources to the ministry.Thank you Pastor Ryan Denton for recommending these - and the 16 volume Owen set that will come this March, Lord willing. These books may be expensive, but ignorance costs more. I have always wanted a library but have never imagined it would be of this subject and substance. Puritanism. As Dr ML Jones puts it, the Puritans are the guarding soldiers of God's garrison on earth.

Reformed Dogmatics by Herman Bavinck

Herman Bavinck's four-volume Reformed Dogmatics is one of the most important theological works of the twentieth century. The recently completed English translation has received wide acclaim. Now John Bolt, one of the world's leading experts on Bavinck and editor of Bavinck's four-volume set, has abridged the work in one volume, offering students, pastors, and lay readers an accessible summary of Bavinck's masterwork. This volume presents the core of Bavinck's thought and offers explanatory materials, making available to a wider audience some of the finest Dutch Reformed theology ever written.

 Reposting here a review by Aaron Armstrong 

The final thing that’s helpful in reading the book is the reminder that, once again, the challenges we face in the church are not new. Heresy doesn’t change, it only gets a cooler haircut.

Thus, the temptations toward mere pietism, to outward morality without inward transformation, to the allegorizing and intellectualizing[1. That is, the refashioning of the faith in order to be palpable to modern thought, as opposed to recognizing the intellectual value of it] of the Christian faith, even accusations of circular reasoning have long been present. And just as these issues have long been present, so to have their responses.

Bavinck’s response to accusations of circular reasoning regarding the belief in Scripture as the Word of God is particularly helpful. The Spirit witnesses to the divine marks imprinted upon Scripture’s content. He also witnesses directly and indirectly through the Church’s ongoing existence and though the church’s united historical confession of Scripture. And finally through the internal witness within the heart of the believer. And yet, what Bavinck reminds us is that accusations against the testimony of the Holy Spirit are invalid because his testimony is not the ground, but the means of faith:

The ground of faith is, and can only be, Scripture, or rather, the authority of God, which comes upon the believer materially in the content as well as formally in the witness of Scripture. Hence the ground of faith is identical with its content and cannot, as Herrmann believes, be detached from it. Scripture as the word of God is simultaneously the material and the formal object of faith. But the testimony of the Holy Spirit is “the efficient cause,” “the principle by which,” of faith. We believe Scripture, not because of, but by means of the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Scripture and the testimony of the Holy Spirit relate to each other as objective truth and subjective assurance, as the first principles and their self-evidence, as the light and the human eye. Once it has been recognized in its divinity, Scripture is incontrovertibly certain to the faith of the believing community, so that it is both the principle and the norm of faith and life. (597-598)

As I continue to look at the massive material that is slowly piling up inside my small study (prompting the need to construct a special library case to accommodate the present volume), I suppose a disciplined approach is in order. A reading plan is mandatory. It will take at least 7 months for me to read just one volume (prolegomena) of Bavinck at 15 to 20 pages a day. Quite a comfortable pace while still being able to ingest what I'm reading. Not to mention four. I haven't even gotten to the middle of the books Puritan Theology and Systematic Reformed Theology, both of which are massive volumes. But at least, as I wait for the opportunity to be officially enrolled in school (preferably Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary) these books are the closest I have for a decent "education" at my own pace.

What makes it even more special is that Father provided all of this for us. 

As of this writing I am two months into my Greek and Hebrew study course. I can comfortably read Greek by now, and am a bit on the slow side with Hebrew. But consistency always bears good fruit, as the LORD rewards the diligent.