Christianity
Reformed Dogmatics, Volume Three: Sin and Salvation in Christ, Herman Bavinck
I’m thankful to my partners in crime Al, Mark, and Don for being a part of the theological study group that soldiered through this third volume of the Dogmatics. (FYI, Herman Bavinck was a Dutch theologian who published a four volume systematic theology roughly 100 years ago, and these books were recently translated into English for the first time.) Bavinck isn’t for the faint of heart, but working through these volumes has been one of the most satisfying experiences of my theological life. See my earlier entry from 2009’s “Reading List” for some strengths (and a couple of weaknesses) of Bavinck’s approach, all of which apply here as well.
Volume Three begins with a lengthy discussion of sin and its origin. To me, this was the most challenging part of the book, although what Bavinck writes here has real bearing on the contemporary discussion surrounding ethics vis a vis genetics and evolution. (Bavinck’s contention is that sin from its inception onward must be ethically, not biologically, construed, or else the ethical/spiritual dimensions of salvation in Christ are likewise lost.) From there, Bavinck turns his attention to covenant, Christology, and the order of salvation. It’s all beautiful stuff.
If there’s a single thing about Bavinck’s theological method that stands out to me, it’s how well Bavinck is able to hold a conversation between traditional, Reformation theology and contemporary (including non-Christian) scholarship and popular thought. Because Bavinck is convicted that this is our Father’s world, he’s able to place all sub-biblical thought, whether theological liberalism or secular philosophy, onto a single continuum and continually give appreciation and critique from a Scriptural perspective. Many of the things about which Bavinck writes are directly applicable to our world today—if pantheism is a thing of the past, for example, go see Avatar—and even when it’s not, there’s much to learn from Bavinck’s model of interaction.
General disclaimer: I’ve been reluctant over the last couple of years to start a blog, because I’ve thought to myself that I’d have trouble figuring out things to say, or spend too much time trying to fill a blogospace. But, it seems that one thing I could do would be to keep track of books that I’ve read (plus music), jot down a paragraph about each, and post everything online.
I hope that this list is helpful to people both to give some ideas about what to read (and what not to read), and also to open a window into how I personally process through books and consider issues related to Christ and culture. (In addition, I won’t try to write anything particularly controversial, but I offer these words just as one man’s perspective and maybe some food for thought for others. These aren’t ex cathedra pronouncements that bind anyone into agreeing with me.)