Alongside Abraham Kuyper, a leading theologian of the neo-Calvinist revival initiated a century ago in the Dutch Reformed Church and still represented in North America by the Christian Reformed Church. Trained at the University of Leiden and the Theological Seminary at Kampen, Bavinck served a church at Franeker (1881-82) before becoming professor of systematic theology first at Kampen (1882-1902) and then at the Free University of Amsterdam (1902-20). His major work was Gereformeerde Dogmatiek (Reformed Dogmatics) in four volumes, first published between 1895 and 1901, of which only the second volume has been translated into English as The Doctrine of God.
In piety and life style Bavinck always remained close to his separatist origins, but in his scholarly work he showed a remarkable openness and sensitivity to nineteenth century developments. Thus he wrote many important essays on education, ethics (family, women, war, etc.), and even the new discipline of psychology. His first concern, however, was to apply the full scholarly resources of his own age to a renewal of the dogmatic tradition represented by seventeenth century Reformed scholastic theology. Bavinck considered theology to be the systematic study of the knowledge of God as Christ revealed that regarding himself and creation in his Word, a revelation made to the church as encapsulated in its creedal confessions and received in faith by the individual theologian. Bavinck's philosophical orientation, as revealed in his prolegomena, was more realist, in contrast to Kuyper's inclination to German idealism, and included a genuine appreciation for the contemporary neo-Thomist revival among Catholics. He sometimes spoke of certain "ideas" found in God and evident as well in creation, in man's image-likeness to God, and even in predestination. Yet he always insisted upon the primacy of Scripture. Toward the end of his life he encouraged younger colleagues to take up, from a conservative perspective, the difficult problems raised by newer biblical studies. Throughout his life he also insisted on the primacy of God's gift of grace in the justification of man, rejecting faith in particular or any other human act as preceding or invoking God's grace. Bavinck deeply influenced many Dutch and American Reformed theologians, though most of their works, e.g., Louis Berkhof's Systematic Theology, show much less of his broad grasp of the history of theology and his notable philosophical capacity.
J. VAN ENGEN