The doctrine of God

by Herman Bavinck

The doctrine of God is the foundation of Christian theology and the prerequisite of all true faith. Yet, despite this, few books expound the biblical teaching on the being and character of God himself, or encourage that glorifying of his name for which man is made and redeemed. Observing this need, William Hendriksen also saw how admirably it had been met, for those able to read Dutch, in the second volume of Herman Bavinck's Gereformeerde Dogmatiek (Reformed Dogmatics). The result was this present translation, making available some of the most important of Bavinck's material for the English-speaking world and providing, in the words of Hendriksen, 'a spiritual treat' for the serious reader. More fully this volume has been described as a 'model of exhaustive and balanced exegesis. Careful historical presentation, painstaking effort to do justice to both sides of a question and always a welath of biblical material to support its views make The Doctrine of God an unusually accurate and authoritative volume. The chapters God's Incomprehensibility, God's Knowability, God's Names, God's Incommunicable Attributes, God's Communicable Attributes, The Holy Trinity, and God's Counsel.' The Christian Church has had many historians of theology but few men who were themselves master theologians. Bavinck belonged to that small grop and as will always be found in such cases, he possessed both high gifts of intellect and real consecration to Christ. His memorable words at death, 'My learning does not help me now...faith alone saves me', exemplified the spirit in which he had sought to live.

Genres: Theology, Christian

407 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Herman Bavinck (1854-1921) succeeded Abraham Kuyper as professor of systematic theology at the Free University of Amsterdam in 1902.

His nephew was Johan Herman Bavinck.

Reviews

[Jean Pierre]

No lie, this was a tough read from time to time. There were a lot of things I had to reread to really grasp but overall I thought it was a very good book. It opened my eyes to the traits of God that I never meditated on.

[Mark Nenadov]

It took over 5 years to read through this book. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t challenging or even frustrating at times. Some of it was way above my head grammatically or historically. That said, I didn’t worry too much about that, I just tried to soak up what I could and I found it to be a very profitable exercise. I found it really helpful and engaging. I would recommend some complementary reading, perhaps while working through this book, something shorter, more modern, more narrowly focused book (such as Matthew Barrett’s book on God’s attributes, for instance). Bavinck has incredible depth of knowledge and precision, and his writing can be very dense and technical, but at moments his writing shines with a considerable deal of beauty and elegance.

[Shane Hatfield]

Very good, but difficult read. Summary of the Doctrine of God is as good as it gets.

[mpsiple]

Had to read the first half for class and don't mind throwing down a 5 star based on that alone. The best thing I've read in a few years. Thorough but never tedious, very devotional. I look forward to finishing it.

[G Walker]

For the better part of a decade, this was my turn to manual for the doctrine of God, despite areas where I would significantly disagree with him in, in the end, this is a good and legitimately classic text of Western and/or Reformed dogmatics. Perhaps for sentimentalistic reasons, I preferr(ed) Kistemaker's translation over against the newer fuller translation now published by Baker. Two points in particular about this volume. First he grossly misunderstands(?) or at least mischaracterizes Eastern Orthodoxy. Had he properly understood and engaged them, I do believe that this would have made the Trinitarian aspects of his theology (here and elsewhere) much more robust. Second, I think he had a lot to teach his students by way of humility (even if he didn't head his own advice). When commenting on the "order solutus" he encouraged his readers to exercise more caution when "commenting on", 'entering into", or "dogmatically stating" things regarding the logical procession within the mind of God. Oh, how many silly controversies and schisms could have been avoided had students and pastors within the reformed tradition headed his wise counsel in this regard.

[Nick Sommers]

I love this book. I really appreciate Bavinck’s method of stating the basic doctrine, showing the doctrine from the categories found in scripture, briefly showing the historical development of the doctrine in and outside Christendom, and then presenting the “Christian theology” (his/Reformed) view with great clarity and insight. He follows this pattern through the entire book for each main point.

I found it to be an exhilarating and highly rewarding read. I’m reading through it now a second time. This has prompted me to make Bavinck’s 4 volume Reformed Dogmatics my next book purchase.

[Caleb Meyers]

This book is one of the most informative works assisting one’s understanding of all of the Reformed perspectives on various aspects of God’s person and work. Summarized in one sentence: God has revealed Himself in many ways in His scriptures, and while we can undeniably assert some things about Him, there is still much that godly men have disagreed on.
Bavinck begins where I believe (and John Frame agrees with me) the treatise must begin, with a discussion of God’s incomprehensibility (or more broadly, His transcendence) and His knowability (or His immanence). There are heresies on both extremes. Some are so committed to God’s unknowability that they wind up in deism (or worse, agnosticism). God can’t be understood, or He can be understood only after deep, often subjective, and convoluted processes. On the other end, there are those that see God as so familiar, they relegate to Him some of the properties of man—such as a lack of omniscience, or some restriction on his power, his eternality, and the like. In between these two extremes and their various outworkings, we have an intense discussion of epistemology in theology. How are we to know what we know regarding God and His person?
Some believed in what is called “innate ideas,” or ideas that are understood by the very nature of who we are as people. This philosophy borrows from those like Plato, who held that the soul grasped a certain amount of a higher world. Innate ideas have had much debate, but in general, Reformed theologians have rejected them. Rather, we see revelation in two aspects—creation, scripture, and conscience. Conscience is different from innate ideas, because while it tells us of God’s laws, it does not tell us directly of God or give us a connection to Him inherently. In short, all human knowledge that we are to verifiably know of God from His revelation is what we call acquired, rather than innate revelation.

[Dan]

This is the most thorough treatment of classical Christian theism I've read to date. Since theology proper is foundational to every other doctrine in Christianity, this is essential reading for any serious student of the Bible. Worshipful and mind blowing at the same time.

[Justin]

Really dense and really good.

[Nate Weis]

Fantastic.

[Aurora Grace]

Pretty standard Dutch Calvinism

[Elisha]

good

[Mark Seeley]

Very deep teaching on the nature and character of God from the Protestant Reformed Calvinistic tradition. Awkward translation from the Dutch. Otherwise, five stars.