16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good translation of a classic, February 21, 2006
This review is from: Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 2: God and Creation (Hardcover)
This is one of the classics of reformed theology. Bavinck provides rich overviews and profound views on the topics under discussion. If you are not always satisfied, be sure that Bavinck was neither by the end of his life. However, reading this volume will prevent you from offering cheap solutions to difficult questions. (Reformed) theologians can only gain from a critical (re)engagement with Bavinck.
This volume is well translated and well edited. Having made several comparisons with the Dutch original (Dutch being my mother tongue), I recommend this volume without hesitation to all those readers who are not proficient in Dutch. To be sure, I have noticed a few flaws, but they do not make the translation unreliable. Moreover, Dutch readers will appreciate this volume since Bavincks Latin quotations have been translated into English as well, each chapter is introduced with a summary and the bibliography contains full references instead of Bavinck's sometimes cryptic abbreviations.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The definitive exhaustive systematic theology for modern Reformers, October 10, 2010
This review is from: Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 2: God and Creation (Hardcover)
Bavinck is an author of which most won't have heard, certainly not like many have heard of Calvin or Luther or Edwards. But in Reformed thought, it would be impossible to not drop Bavinck's name when theology comes up. He's every bit as important in the reformed line of thinking as Calvin and Luther, and should be read along with Hodge and Berkhof.
His systematic theology is a masterwork, and is one of the more well-documented theologies you'll find. There are thousands of Scripture references, and even the most obscure approaches to (in this volume) creation are examined. There is not a paragraph on supra- and infra-lapsarianism; there's a page or two on each. Bavinck systematically (pun intended) takes on providence, God's nature, character, and attributes, predestination, election, retribution, and man himself.
This is a wonderful translation, as well. It reads well and you forget that you're reading a work originally written in Dutch. Perhaps most welcome to the entire volume (and it's large, clocking in at around 500 pages) is the occasional moments where Bavinck sets aside formal defense and simply speaks his heart. These paragraphs are passionate and resplendent with truth and a love for God. I always found myself ready to renew my own war against the sin living in my flesh, encouraged and challenged by Bavinck's love for God borne out of right theology. (
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