The Church Between Temple and Mosque

by Johan Herman Bavinck, Daniel Strange

In this influential posthumous masterpiece, Dutch missiologist J. H. Bavinck guides readers in a candid, eloquent, and eye-opening exploration of religion, revelation, and the distinctness of the Christian faith in the context of global religions. Bavinck’s five ‘magnetic points’ (cosmic relationship, religious norm, the riddle of existence, our craving for salvation, and our awareness of a supreme power) are a transformative rubric for bringing Christ to the world, including those identifying as religious “nones.” Now for the first time in hardcover, with a luminary introduction by Daniel Strange, a new generation of Christians, pastors, and theologians can benefit from J. H. Bavinck’s must-read study of the contrast between Christianity and world religions.

Genres: Theology, Islam, Nonfiction, Christianity

209 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1981

About the author

Johan Herman Bavinck (see also J.H. Bavinck) was a Dutch pastor, missionary and theologian.

Bavinck was born in Rotterdam as the second son of Reverend Coenraad Bernardus Bavinck. He attended the Marnix Gymnasium there. Both his father and his grandfather Jan Bavinck were pastors. His uncle was Herman Bavinck, pastor and Professor of Dogmatics at the theological school in Kampen and at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam

Reviews

[Tyler Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a definitive guide for the church on engaging other religions with the gospel. Bavinck’s missional wisdom is famous for a reason. What is most striking about this work, however, is his theological precision and pastoral sensitivity. He embodies Augustine’s goal for his own ministry, “to know God, and to know the human soul.”

As a result, this is not merely a book for aspiring missionaries, but for any Christian who wants to effectively make disciples and disciple Jesus followers in any context they find themselves. Read it, study it, and let it shape you.

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

(J. H.) Bavinck's magnetic points are really a classic in Reformed missiology and should be known and read by everyone who is interested in Reformed evangelistic witness. This is the best book for the concepts; the concepts are also found in the The J. H. Bavinck Reader, but it is definitely more fun to read in this book.

The last third of the book is especially a real gem. He makes a lot of really good insights and is ready to say "yes" to all the other religions in a very non-syncretistic way. He's very adventurous in his assertions, and gives lots of food for thought. Take for example his 2 page discussion about how Christ interacts with how numbers work. Just fascinating. I think it was around page 149.

Anyways, this book is great and you should read it.

[Landon Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a profound book! I have been looking for a book on this exact subject for a long time. There are some scruples on certain points and question marks on others, but overall this is a great challenge to some of today’s missiology.

[Rylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Man is always busy with God; he flees from God or seeks Him, he struggles with God or finds Him. If we could fathom the life of man right to the bottom, we should see that the conversation with God, either in a positive or a negative sense, is the decisive theme. Man himself is generally not conscious of this, for he lives his existence on earth merely as a visit with worldly realities, with social and cosmic relations." p. 160

[Jonathan Suggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book written by Herman Bavinck’s nephew.
His 5 Magnetic Points could be extremely helpful for apologetic conversations with both the religious and irreligious.

[Michael Gross · Rating 5 out of 5]

I.H. Bavinck presents incredibly concise ideas that inform the religions of the world, and what differs in Christianity. At times, I felt that what he described in a single sentence could have an entire book devoted to it; yet he presents it in an understandable way. All of life is a response to God, be it submission or repression.

[Charles Hirschy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is fascinating about this book is that in some places it feels difficult to understand because it's written in different time. However when it comes to contrasting Christianity to other religions he hits home for how the Christian must respond to an unbelieving world. And all of a sudden it feels as though he is writing today!

[Peter Kiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of the book was three stars, the second half was five stars, so four stars total. I'm not too sure what the book sought to accomplish. While it was very interesting reading with some fantastic quotes, I'm not totally sure what to take away from it, particularly from the first half. It felt a little disconnected at times and without a clear, overarching mission (or maybe I just missed it), but still a very enjoyable read.

[Cheyenne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly hard read. Have your dictionary next to you 😂 Probably a book that would be better on the second go around. Other than that, it was definitely new information as someone who has been a Christian for almost my entire life. A lot of the information was hard to comprehend, by the end I got what he was trying to say but throughout the middle section of the book it’s hard to see where he’s going.

[Matt Witten · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times it felt over simplistic and reduced some things a bit too far - but the mindset Bavinck wrote in is great and needed in our highly caustic and argumentative time, and promotes a heart of relation in mission.