Philosophy of Revelation | Reformed Theological Seminary

by Herman Bavinck (Author), Nathaniel Gray Sutanto (Editor), Cory Brock (Editor)

Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck (1854-1921) is widely celebrated as one of the top theologians in the Reformed tradition, and through the ongoing labor of translation teams, editors, and publishers, his vast writings are being offered anew to English-only readers.

This book brings the groundbreaking framework of Bavinck’s “organic motif” to the fore in one of Bavinck’s most influential works. In the best sense of the title, the modern, yet orthodox Bavinck offers readers here both a philosophy of revelation and a philosophy of revelation. Philosophy of Revelation was originally presented by Bavinck at the Stone Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1908, that by itself deserves being published. This classic text is updated and annotated and may function as a supreme entry into the mind of Bavinck. Bavinck saw theology as the task of “thinking God’s thoughts after him and tracing their unity.” This project can be seen as “thinking Bavinck’s thoughts after him and tracing their unity.”

Chapters include:

The Idea of a Philosophy of Revelation
Revelation and Philosophy
Revelation and Nature
Revelation and History
Revelation and Religion
Revelation and Christianity
Revelation and Religious Experience
Revelation and Culture
Revelation and the Future

While Bavinck s lectures, Philosophy of Revelation, are a hundred years old, they are as timely as ever. Bavinck speaks to questions that continue to challenge us and revisits the core of Christian conviction: that God has revealed himself that we have a Word from beyond the immanent frame we ve constructed. And in this new edition, Brock and Sutanto highlight Bavinck s influence on contemporary philosophers and his enduring relevance. Bavinck deserves a wider, ecumenical audience, and this volume is an excellent introduction.

James K. A. Smith
Professor of Philosophy, Calvin College, author of Desiring the Kingdom and How (Not) to Be Secular

The fundamental question human beings face has not changed over the millennia: Do we find our meaning in something transcendent, or do we construct our own meaning from that which is immanent? Over recent centuries, this question has become more complicated, as one philosophical critique after another has claimed that the traditional Christian ideas of God and revelation are implausible or even incoherent. That question and these critiques lie at the heart of Herman Bavinck s Philosophy of Revelation, in which the great Dutch theologian mounts a positive articulation and careful defense of the Christian idea of revelation in the face of its most pointed intellectual critics. With helpful introductory essays by James Eglinton and two rising stars in the world of Bavinck studies, this new edition of the Stone Lectures is a gift to the church. While the lectures were given over a century ago, they have a contemporary ring because the issues with which they wrestle remain with us. They offer the Christian today a model of intelligent, informed, and courteous engagement with opponents and a lasting contribution to orthodox theology.

Carl R. Trueman
Professor of Biblical and Religious Studies, Grove City College, Pennsylvania

The ongoing second coming of Herman Bavinck’s works, originally written a century ago, remains a cause for celebration. First there was Reformed Dogmatics, and now we have what is arguably Bavinck s second-most important work on the centrality of revelation for a Christian worldview. Bavinck deserves to be ranked among the great theological B’s of the twentieth century Barth, Brunner, and Bultmann but this work is of more than historical significance. Christian theologians today continue to negotiate the narrow orthodox path through the broad avenues of modernity, and Bavinck s firm grasp of the necessity of revelation for knowing not only God but also the world and ourselves makes him a reliable guide.

This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Kevin J. Vanhoozer
Research Professor of Systematic Theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

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