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James Eglinton

Autore di Bavinck: A Critical Biography

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Summary: A biography tracing the origins, significant life events and theological scholarship of Dutch neo-Calvinist theologian Herman Bavinck.

Interest has grown in recent years in the life and work of Herman Bavinck. In 2008, the four volumes of his Reformed Dogmatics, published in Dutch in 1905 was finally published in English translation. It became more widely apparent that Bavinck was one of the most significant theological minds of the 20th century. The arrival of James Eglinton’s Bavinck: A Critical Biography only enhances our understanding of this key theological figure.

Eglinton begins with Bavinck’s family of origin, so significant in the shape of his career and thought. His father, Jan, was part of the group of those who seceded from the Dutch Reformed Church in 1834, pastoring a seceding churches, facing the opprobrium of the first generation, and preceding Herman in teaching at the Theological School at Kampen.

Yet in the education of Herman, his parents avoided the parochial bubble, a temptation with a group seceding to affirm doctrinal orthodoxy. It began in sending Herman to the gymnasium at Zwolle. Then after a year at Kampen, Herman got permission to study at the much more “modern” Leiden. It reflected an early sense on the part of Herman of wanting to preach and teach a neo-Calvinism at once orthodox and engaging the modern and scientific currents in the wider society. He completed in 1880 his thesis under two of Leiden’s leading lights, Scholten and Kuenen, although still formally recognized as a student at Kampen. Many cast aspersions on Bavinck’s bona fides yet he passed his ordination exams and received a call to a large congregation in Franeker that grew during his year as pastor.

A year later, in 1882 he joined the faculty at Kampen, along with his rival Lucas Lindeboom. Lindeboom challenged his efforts to do reformed theology in a modern context, and his increasing efforts with Abraham Kuyper to realize a Reformed vision in Dutch society. During this period, Bavinck refuses several attempts to recruit him to Kuyper’s Free University. Eglinton explores the tension between Bavinck’s loyalty to the Christian Reformed Church and his scholarly ambitions. Eventually, as Lindeboom’s forces pushed him and a colleague out, he was able to complete his migration to the Free University, succeeding Abraham Kuyper in the chair of theology at the Free University of Amsterdam in 1902.

Even before this, with diminished teaching loads, Bavinck was able to realize his scholarly work of a theological work that reflected his vision, the Reformed Dogmatics, as well as scholarly articles, and an unfinished Reformed Ethics (currently being translated into English). Eglinton also digs into his view of scripture. One one hand he affirmed a high commitment to the divine inspiration and authority of scripture. At the same time, his understanding of this fully divine and fully human document also raised doubts for him that two of his students took further to the detriment of their careers.

The Amsterdam period reflected a broadening out of his influence as he brought theological principles to bear in the spheres of education, psychology, and politics. He served briefly as party leader during Kuyper’s absence and was elected to the first chamber of the Dutch government. In 1908, he is honored in America with a meeting with Teddy Roosevelt and the invitation to give the Stone Lectures. His insights on America both during this and his earlier visits make interesting reading. The text of his account of his first visit is included as an appendix.

One of the interesting aspects of Bavinck’s life was his marriage to Johanna. She was a strong partner who probably both encouraged and extended Bavinck’s efforts to recognize the rights and roles of women in society. Most of her children engaged in resistance against Hitler, a number at the cost of their lives. She wasn’t his first choice. He kept a flame for a number of years for Amelia den Dekker but was refused by her father and rebuffed by her. My sense is that Johanna was the better partner.

This is an outstanding biography. Having read a bit of Bavinck, I wondered about the readability of this work. My wonderings were unfounded. One encounters at once both an extensively researched and flowing narrative of Bavinck’s life. If you are interested in exploring the work of this theologian, Eglinton’s Bavinck is a great place to begin.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
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BobonBooks | 1 altra recensione | Jan 17, 2021 |
Knowing a critical commentary on Herman Bavinck is one of the events I most anticipated this year. Hearing such critical acclaim throughout the year created an even great sense of hopefulness. All of it lived up to expectations!

James Eglinton sets an example of understanding a modern, complex theologian in Bavinck: A Critical Biography. His premise surrounds taking another look at Herman Bavinck while setting aside the “Jekyll and Hyde” assumptions resulting from the apparent contradictions between the orthodox and modern sides of Bavinck. Eglinton’s biography argues Bavinck had the capacity to “as a creative thinker whose theological imagination allowed him to envision a distinctive articulation of the historic Christian faith within his own modern milieu.”

Bavinck contains 11 chapters broken into five parts chronologically progressing through his life. Part 1, consisting of the first three chapters, provides background and begins Bavinck’s childhood and early schooling. Part 2 dives further into his life as a student and part 3 at his life as a pastor. Parts 4 and 5 examine at his time as a professor at both Kampen and Amsterdam respectively. Each chapter is broken into sections ranging anywhere from a half-page to 3-4 pages. Approaching each chunk of text allows Bavinck to be considerably more attainable.

The first chapter inundates the reader with so much information and background. This is all relevant and necessary for understanding Herman Bavinck’s environment, but it is difficult to process and retain the unfamiliar Dutch traditions. I found myself bookmarking what I presumed to be important details in order to refer back. For example, knowing the difference between the Reformirte Kirche and the Old Reformed Church will help in the next chapter.

Chapter two is much the same way as it turns to the subject’s parents. I increasingly saw the relevance in the little details; each little piece shaping and building the Bavinck family and Jan’s (Herman’s father) values and perspective. The third chapter approaches Herman as a youth and his early schooling. Eglinton challenges the romanticized understanding of Herman’s childhood as being a “diamond in the rough” and sees Herman as receiving a good education for the time and capable of receiving class prizes at the conclusion of the high school equivalent. Chapters 4 and 5 each look specifically at his time as a student at the Theological School of Kampen and the University of Leiden.

Herman Bavinck served as a pastor from 1881-82 and chapter 6 surveys this period. Eglinton devotes chapters 7-8 to his tenure as a professor in Kampen where he moved to in 1882 to be a professor. He would remain there until 1902, during which time he would also publish the well known four volumes of Reformed Dogmatics.

Chapter nine focuses on Bavinck's move to Amsterdam and his early years there including his response to Nietzsche as he moves. We get a close view of Bavinck's shift from writing to his engagement in broader political and cultural affairs of the time. These themes continue in Chapter 10 as we see Bavinck continue engaging in apologetics and evangelism in the public sphere along with his time during WWI. Chapter 11 brings a somber close to the life of Herman Bavinck.

The depth of the material necessitates rereading at times to grasp Bavinck’s background. Eglinton’s contribution cannot be understated — however challenging the meticulous background details may be. He approaches Bavinck with humility. While the overall outlook is favorable towards the Herman Bavinck, Eglinton treats him fairly, not assigning motive where we do not have clear and guiding information. He engages other biographies and critiques them along the way. We see Herman Bavinck humanly, as a Christian and churchman finding a path in a changing political and cultural environment.

The praise this volume has received is well deserved. I look forward to having a copy on my shelf and reading this volume again soon.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley for review purposes. My comments are independent and my own. Quotations could change in the finished book. Pages for quotations are not provided due to receiving an unfinished manuscript.
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scottdcarter | 1 altra recensione | Sep 9, 2020 |
The rallying cry of the French Revolution can be summed up as “No God, no master”. According to Kuyper:
“The French Revolution threw out the majesty of the Lord in order to construct an artificial authority based on individual free will. That project resembled a scaffold nailed together from odd planks and beams which cracks and falls when the first gale rises. The Christian religion teaches us that life on earth is part of an external existence. The French Revolution, by contrast, denied and opposed everything beyond the horizon of this earthly life. The Christian religion speaks of a lost paradise, a state of purity from which we fell, and for that reason calls us to humility and conversion. The French Revolution saw in the state of nature the criterion of what is normally human, incited us to pride, and substituted the liberalizing of man's spirit for the need of conversion. Springing from God's love, the Christian religion brings loving compassion into the world. Over against that compassion, the French Revolution placed the egoism of a passionate struggle for possessions. And finally, to touch on the real point that lies at the heart of the social problem, the Christian religion seeks personal human dignity in the social relationships of an organically integrated society. The French Revolution disturbed that organic tissue, broke those social bonds, and left nothing but the monotonous, self-seeking individual asserting his own self-sufficiency (The Problem of Poverty 43-44).

The relationship between neo-Calvinism and the French Revolution is an important one and one that until now has been seldom examined in depth. This book collects the papers from the second European conference on neo-Calvinsim held in Paris in 2012. The first was in Edinburgh 2010.

Groen van Prinsterer’s refrain ‘Against the Revolution, the gospel’ distills neo-Calvinist views regarding the French Revolution. In chapter 1 James Bratt looks at: What went wrong with the French Revolution? In essence, for kuyper, liberty was replaced by suppression, equality with class segmentation and fraternity with strife. Bratt draws effectively on Kuyper’s 1889 ‘Not the liberty tree but the cross’.

In Chapter 2 Harinck compares Bavinck’s view with Kuyper’s. The French Revolution is like the fall of Adam and Eve, Groen van Prinsterer introduced the idea to Kuyper who developed it further and contrasted the French Revolution world and life view with the neo-Calvinists. Bavinck didn’t utilise the French revolution as much as Kuyper, for Bavinck the Revolution was an historical event and he focused less as an expression of modernism, over the years it was the ideas behind it that became more important compared with the historical event.

Eglinton poses the question in Chapter 3: What do Paris and Amsterdam have to do with Babel and Pentecost? The Frnech Revolution disliked linguistic diversity, neo-Calvinism was positive towards it. Here Eglinton looks at Kuyper’s ‘Uniformity: the curse of modern life and his De Gemeene Gratie. The later is more measured than the former, but they provide different accounts of linguistics. Eglinton’s key critique of Kuyper is that despite Kuyper’s opposition to a false uniformity he seeks to maintain a one nation, one language model.

What was the French Revolution? Is the question that Elliott seeks to answer in Chapter 4. He does so by examining the views of a number of historians: Burke, Carlyle, Chateaubriand, Lamennais (whose interpretation was appreciated by Bavink), Hugo and the Dutch Reformed: Groen van Prinsterer, Kuyper and Bavinck.

Covolo sums up well the neo-Calvinst view of the French Revolution in Chapter 5: ‘The French Revolution has been for secularism what the reformation has been for the Christian faith’ (p. 82). Covolo carefully and convincingly argues that fashion during the French Revolution should be taken seriously as it illustrates ‘rituals with deep social, political and even spiritual meaning’.

In Chapter 6 Wilkinson critiques the ideals of the French Revolution as presented in Kieslowski’s Three Colours trilogy. She explores each film and links them with Kuyper’s critique of the revolution in The Problem of Poverty. Reading Three Colours through a kuyperian lens ‘helps clarify what Kieslowski is doing’ (p 102). This is down in a fascinating and novel way - it provides stimulating reading; I shall certainly be rewatching Kieslowski’s films again to see the nuances I previously missed.

Klei, in Chapter 7, looks at the legacy of Groen van Prinsterer, in the light of the French Revolution, in the political ideology of orthodox political parties in the Netherlands.

Burger looks at Kuyper’s anti-revolutionary doctrine of scripture (Ch 8) and Huttinga (Ch 9) at Bavinck’s view of theology as the queen of the sciences. Surprisingly, Huttinga maintains that such a view is not a misplaced view, but is an ‘affirmation of the glory of science and knowledge in general’ (p. 145), though Bavinck’s view of theology is not so much as ruler, ‘but more of the eschaton of the sciences.’

In Chapter 10 Kaemingk tests the hypothesis that the French Revolution saw the birth of modern secularity by examining the treatment of Islamic immigrants in contemporary France. As Kaemingk clearly shows the heirs of the Revolution did not transcend religion but developed a new one and behaved as followers of religion. This is illustrated in the French law passed banning the use of clothing in schools that indicates a student’s religious affiliation. This desire for uniformity stems from a religious perspective and illustrates the ‘secularist mission to Islam’.

Den Boer, in Chapter 11, looks at three markers: perspective, dialectic and integration with regards the French revolution. He suggests that the rise of neo-Calvinism as a reaction to the French Revolution is ‘historically speaking problematic’ (p. 193). He thinks it is better rooted in a wider ‘historical revolutions’.

What becomes clear from these diverse and wide ranging contributions is that there is little consensus about the role of the French Revolution in neo-Calvinist thought. Kuyper used it as a foil in stressing the antithesis, whereas Bavinck it played much less of a role.

Despite the common themes of neo-Calvinism and The French Revolution we have here a diverse collection of papers, which show that neo-Calvinist studies are flourishing. The book poses - and answers - many fascinating questions.

This volume will be of use not only to those with an interest in neo-Calvinism but also in the French Revolution and in the secularisation of Europe.
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stevebishop.uk | 1 altra recensione | Jul 23, 2020 |
An excellent book. Exposes the myriad of faults within the two Bavinck's hypothesis. Shows that Bavinck's use of the organic motif is embedded in the trinitarian view of God.
 
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stevebishop.uk | 1 altra recensione | Jul 23, 2020 |

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