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The Kuyper Center Review

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Contents

Editorial Introduction...................................................................................................................viiiContributors.............................................................................................................................xRevelation and Grace in Herman Bavinck Jan Veenhof......................................................................................3Bavinck, Nietzsche, and Secularization Gordon Graham....................................................................................14Why Was Bavinck in Need of a Philosophy of Revelation? George Harinck...................................................................27An Alternative Approach to Apologetics Henk van den Belt................................................................................43The Promise of Herman Bavinck's Doctrine of Revelation: Theology beyond Dogmatism and Relativism Jeffrey S. Hocking.....................61Restoration and Renewal: The Nature of Grace in the Theology of Herman Bavinck Jon Stanley..............................................81To Be or to Become — That Is the Question: Locating the Actualistic in Bavinck's Ontology James Eglinton..........................105Bavinck's "Revelation and the Future": A Centennial Retrospective Brian G. Mattson......................................................126Love and Law: Some Thoughts on Judaism and Calvinism Leora Batnitzky....................................................................157Sharia and the (Em)Brace of Difference: From Theology to Law to Identity Politics Anver M. Emon.........................................173Assessing the Christological Foundation of Kuyper's Doctrine of Common Grace Cambria Janae Kaltwasser...................................200From Talking About to Speaking With: The Reformed Churches in The Netherlands and Islam Dirk van Keulen.................................221Common Grace: A Distinctive Resource for "A Common Word" Emily Dumler-Winckler..........................................................244Simul Humanitas et Peccator: The Talmud's Contribution to a Dutch Reformed Notion of the Imago Dei Cory Willson.........................262How Many Herman Bavincks? De Gemeene Genade and the "Two Bavincks" Hypothesis James Eglinton............................................279Common Grace and Pagan Virtue: Is Kuyperian Tolerance Possible? Andrew M. Harmon........................................................302Advancing a Neo-Calvinist Pneumatology of Religions: The Role of Recent Yongian Contributions Robert Covolo.............................315

Chapter One

Jan Veenhof

For me, it is a great honor and joy to be in the same place where Bavinck delivered his Stone Lectures in 1908. At this conference we will learn more about the life and work of Herman Bavinck, who wholeheartedly supported Abraham Kuyper's attempt to align historic Reformed theology with the mind and culture of his time. However, as regards his personality and style of writing, Bavinck differed considerably from the resolute and imperialistic Kuyper. Bavinck was known for his modesty and his readiness to acknowledge elements of truth in the thoughts of others. A broad and thorough knowledge of history was linked to a great openness for topical matters and new developments. His magnum opus, which bears witness to his enormous erudition, is the best Dogmatics to have been published in the Netherlands in the last 120 years. Ever since I began to study theology Bavinck has fascinated me, and therefore I take great pleasure in delivering a lecture on the topic of "Revelation and Grace in Herman Bavinck."

In Bavinck's view, the idea and reality of revelation have the highest priority. Religion in the true sense of the word is preconditioned by the existence, the revelation, and the knowability of God. All knowledge of God has its origin in the revelatory action of God. Though revelation entails communication, it has to be borne in mind that God does not primarily communicate a series of supernatural truths, but rather there is essentially revelation of himself, self-revelation. In and through his revelation God comes to humankind and leads humankind into relation with him. Thus, the aim of communication is community. This revelatory action is motivated by love, and this love finds its deepest origin in God's own Being. The triune Godhead is communion, love itself. To quote Jan Luycken, a Dutch poet from the seventeenth century, "God is an eternal giving." And the act of God giving himself continues in what happens in time: in the creation of the universe, in the history of nature and world, and in the history of salvation, which has been enabled by the incarnation. Bavinck therefore sees a connection between generation, creation, incarnation, and revelation.

In this context it is important to point to the fact that the revelation in time and history originates from creation. In the work of creation through Word and Spirit, says Bavinck, the outline of all subsequent revelations is drawn. Creation is not just a past event but a continuous process. God remains Creator up to the present day. Any reflection on the notion of providence in dogmatic theology has to take revelation into account. Whatever God has done and is still doing in nature and history, in the life of humankind and in the life of individuals, is revelation, specifically self-revelation. It is all handcrafted by the Maker and shows aspects of this Maker.

This revelation can be designated as general revelation because it comprises everything, including culture and science, law-giving and the function of individual conscience, and it is revealed to all human beings. It is remarkable that, according to Bavinck, even the non-Christian religions find their origin in this general revelation, which has to be distinguished from the special revelation.

By distinguishing between general and special revelation, Bavinck follows a longstanding theological tradition. However, he has serious reservations about some concrete versions of this tradition. Later post-Reformation theology was inclined to understand this revelation in a rational way. According to this type of theology, revelation includes veritates, truths, which can be comprehended by reason, and it often speaks about a natural revelation, which is to be completed by a supernatural one. The natural revelation is some sort of Unterbau, or substructure, whereas the supernatural one is the Überbau, or superstructure which must be added to the Unterbau. The classic Roman Catholic theological tradition also distinguishes between natural and supernatural revelation.

Although Bavinck is not always consistent with his own qualifications, it is clear he does not like the duality of natural-supernatural. He prefers the distinction general-special. One reason for this preference concerns his view on the relation between nature and grace, which we will bring up in the following. Another important reason is that, according to Bavinck, revelation, including general revelation, never has the character of things, facts, which have been given and now, in their givenness, are subject to our rational analysis. On the contrary, revelation is always a continuous act of God, through which God searches for humankind. The given...