Reformed Ethics Volume 1: Created, Fallen, and Converted Humanity

Book Description:

Herman Bavinck's four-volume Reformed Dogmatics is one of the most important theological works of the twentieth century. Leading Bavinck expert John Bolt edited that work, which has received wide acclaim.

Now Bolt has edited a recently discovered manuscript from Bavinck, in print for the first time, which serves as a companion to Reformed Dogmatics. Reformed Ethics follows the same method and explores the ethical and spiritual dimensions of key doctrines beyond those of Reformed Dogmatics. It mines the moral teachings of the early church and medieval and Puritan spirituality while addressing a variety of topics, offering scholars, pastors, and students Bavinck's mature reflections on ethical issues.

This book is the first of three planned volumes.

Table of Contents:
Introduction to Herman Bavinck's Reformed Ethics by Dirk van Keulen and John Bolt
Introduction
Book I: Humanity before Conversion
1. Essential Human Nature
2. Humanity under the Power of Sin
3. The Self against the Neighbor and God
4. The Fallen Image of God
5. Human Conscience
6. The Sinner and the Law
Book II: Converted Humanity
7. Life in the Spirit
8. Life in the Spirit in the Church's History
9. The Shape and Maturation of the Christian Life
10. Persevering in the Christian Life
11. Pathologies of the Christian Life
12. Restoration and Consummation of the Christian Life

Author:

Herman Bavinck (1854-1921) succeeded Abraham Kuyper as professor of systematic theology at the Free University of Amsterdam in 1902. Editor John Bolt (PhD, University of St. Michael's College) is professor of systematic theology at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he has taught for more than twenty-five years. He is the editor of Bavinck's four-volume Reformed Dogmatics.

Endorsements:

"For the last decade, a global readership has enjoyed the theological and historical richness of Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics. At the outset of that work, Bavinck set out that dogmatics is happiest in the company of its twin discipline, theological ethics. Dogmatics and ethics, respectively, show us why and how we should love God. For that reason, they belong together as 'related members of a single organism.' Since its release, Reformed Dogmatics has given a wide audience the chance to engage with a great Christian theologian on God and God's works of creation, salvation, and consummation. In Reformed Ethics, we are invited to think with Bavinck about the concreteness of human life in the light and strength of God's deeds for us. For that, we owe the editor and translators a great deal."
--James Eglinton, Meldrum Lecturer in Reformed Theology, New College, University of Edinburgh

"Recent decades have witnessed renewed interest in a genuinely theological ethics. Theology promises Christians a third way between an often simplistic and atomistic direct application of normative scriptural proof texts and a retreat into the theories of one or more philosophical-ethical schools. The publication of Herman Bavinck's ethics perfectly affirms that promise. Its deep anchors in both Scripture and the theological tradition and its surprising accents render it an important interlocutor and source of moral wisdom even today. For example, though Bavinck employs the concept of moral 'duties' and--like the Reformed fathers--concentrates on the Ten Commandments, his ethics is anything but one-sidedly deontological. His core concept is not 'acting' but 'living,' and the inclusion of spirituality in ethics engenders a much wider ethical scope than usual. Also remarkable is his continuous attention to the virtues and to the spiritual disciplines and the formational dimensions of the imitation of Christ. The editors and translators deserve our gratitude and appreciation for this important achievement. They have transformed a rich but almost inaccessible manuscript into a clear, readable, interestingly annotated, well-structured, and attractive book. I cannot wait for the next volume."
--Ad de Bruijne, professor of ethics and spirituality, Theological University Kampen, The Netherlands

"Ethics is no marginal relative of doctrine and theology, as the letters of Paul bear eloquent witness. The translation of Herman Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics has been of major significance, and now it is followed, appropriately, by his Reformed Ethics. It is wonderful that this work has been discovered, translated, and published. One of the great needs of our day is close attention to the 'theological' in theological ethics, and Bavinck does not disappoint in this respect, with his characteristic rigor and creativity. John Bolt and his colleagues have provided us with a fresh resource for theological and ethical reflection."
--Craig G. Bartholomew, director of the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics, Cambridge

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