Christian Worldview

When I first about this book I was intrigued because of the subject and the rise of Bavinck's popularity due Reformed Dogmatics. Another reason what because of the subject of the book which was on a worldview from the Bible, which I believe Christians lack in these days.

The book failed to meet my expectations from a couple of reasons,. First, I had a hard time following it. I am sure if it was Bavinck's writing style or how the book was translated. Second, it was hard to follow on Kindle due the fact that the digital copy had a lot of formatting errors. Footnotes appeared in the middle of beginning of the page and some of the paragraphs were cut off.

I hope to get a hard copy of this book where I can follow it and have better understanding.

Bavinck is just great to read. It is great to see that more and more people have begun to notice him. This book is great, you'll notice how well balanced Bavinck is in his views, showing a healthy mediating position.

Scholars spoke and wrote differently a century ago and this work gives evidence to that. I had difficulty following the unfamiliar style of prose. Many of the philosophers and scholars mentioned are unfamiliar to me. For a layperson interested in how a Reformed Christian worldview was crafted a century ago, this was an unsatisfying read. Bavinck's work here is not so much an exploration of a Christian worldview as it is a philosophical argument that all things find their origin in God.

A few nuggets I understood: “No matter how we look at it, the concept of truth and science – if we think consistently and without prejudice – brings us to Christian theism.” (Loc 419/1469) Everything exists because of reason, hence God. Such is the foundation of all knowing and the basis for our ability to observe and reason. Denying God is denying the foundation for all science. (Loc 443/1469)

This work may be appreciated by scholars interested in the philosophy of those from the Reformed tradition. As a Christian who had grown up in the Reformed tradition in America (RCA), I had hoped this book would enlighten me as to a Reformed slant to a Christian worldview. I am not convinced this work has any clear value for laypeople.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

This is the much anticipated first time English translation of Dutch Reformed theologian Herman Bavinck’s Christian Worldview. For those who are unfamiliar with Bavinck he was the chief systematic theologian of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century and whose contribution to theology has enjoyed greater appreciation today. This book addresses the constant changing late modern world and also the disharmony that unbiblical worldviews were causing, namely a disharmony between our thinking and feeling, will and acting, religion and culture and science and life. I found it amazing that the first and second edition of this work was written over a hundred years ago, in 1904 and 1913 respectively. Yet some of the philosophical issues and competing worldview that Bavinck addressed in this work are still with us today.
After the editor’s introduction and Bavinck’s preface to the second edition and the book’s introduction the meat of the book is its three chapters which explores the problem of autonomous thinking. By autonomous thinking we mean thinking and worldview that does not begin with God’s revelation in Scripture but one that operates independently and contrary to Scripture and the Christian worldview. In rejecting God the problems that confront the thoughts of man is the relationship between thinking and being which is discussed in chapter one, the relationship between being and becoming which is discussed in chapter two and the problem of becoming and acting that’s discussed in chapter three.
Those who are familiar with Cornelius Van Til’s apologetics and theology would appreciate reading this book because there’s a lot of ideas and materials that Bavinck gives that Van Til later expanded and build upon. Likewise with Schaeffer’s apologetics. As an example of “proto-Van Tillian” concept here’s a quote from Bavinck: “If we reject Christianity because it does not suit us, it instantly proves at the very same time that Christianity is indispensable for us.” There’s other quotes like this that would make a Presuppositionalist jubilant. Of course to say Bavinck was “proto-Van Tillian” might be disrespectful to some because Bavinck came first and Van Til used a lot of ideas from Bavinck. Also Bavinck idea isn’t fully that of Van Til; still it is a treat to see Bavinck as the source for Van Til but also to read Bavinck’s discussion about world and life view in his own right.
There’s a refutation of the mechanical and materialist worldview in chapter two of the book that I really enjoyed. I especially enjoyed Bavinck’s point that divine energy in creation isn’t blind but led by God’s wisdom but in a mechanical worldview there’s no place of “development” since there’s nothing that need or must “become.” Thus the idea of progress and direction makes no sense in such a worldview within itself.
I also enjoyed the discussion about morality and ethics in chapter three. He makes an interesting observation after discussing how morals are always binding that people do often give excuses to not obey morals but then those excuses are rarely permitted by the same individual for others to not abide by them. Chapter three also have an excellent discussion about the problem of Kant’s dualism, and this discussion is important seeing how much of Western philosophy today has been impacted by Kant’s thinking. I also thought Bavinck was quite insightful into what was the future will be like ahead of his time when he said “Individualism turns into socialism, autonomy into heteronomy, nominalism into monism, autoism into pantheism, anarchy into despotism, the sovereignty of the people into the power of the state, freedom into the tyranny of the majority, not because of ethical necessity but rather because of practical motives and economical factors.” That’s quite what happen and this insight was written before the outbreak of world war one!
Just to show you the impact of Bavinck to theology today we can see the international flavor of those who translated and edited this book. Nathaniel Gray Sutanto is an Indonesian Chinese scholar on Bavinck while James Eglinton is a lecturer on Reformed theology in England and Cory C. Brock is an American specializing in modern dogmatic theology. Together these guys span three continents! They were not only helpful in providing an English translation of this book but also an editor’s introduction to the book discussing Bavinck’s understanding and conception of world and life view along with editorial footnotes explaining and providing biographical information of whom Bavinck was quoting or referring to and also other helpful explanation.
NOTE: This book was provided to me free by Crossway and Net Galley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

Now by the nature of things, a worldview is always "unified. As long as we have not understood, however, all the realms and spheres of creation as parts of a whole, our worldview is not rounded out and complete. Of course, the question here is not whether we have already brought our worldview to that point or ever shall do so, but the concept implies harmonious unity. As such, there can be no essentially different worldview in religion and in philosophy, for the common people and for the learned, for the academy and for life. If religion contains a worldview in seed form, and philosophy in search for the final ground of all things, always seeks after God, then it follows naturally that they, in all their distinctions, have to conform inwardly to the essence of the matter and cannot compete with each other. Only the Christian worldview can fulfill this demand, because it makes known to us one God, the living and true God and cuts the root of all polytheism. There is not a different God for the child and the elderly person, for the simple and the learned, for the heart and the head.

The text covers why the Christian Worldview answers the questions that men seek. Not only the questions but the why. We dabble in different worldviews to fit our desires, however, our desires lead to sin and havoc. It is a text that takes those different world views and brings to light the Christian Worldview that will bring everlasting peace. Highly recommend.

A Special Thank you to Crossway Books and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

Bavinck is one of the Christian giants from the past who is soaked in the word of God and bleeds the Bible as it were. The reader will find this book thick but rewarding, dense but not try. This book will refresh you.