The Philosophy of Revelation - Paperback

by Herman Bavinck (Author)

In addition to exegetical, biblical, and systematic theology, there is room also for a philosophy of revelation which will trace the idea of revelation, both in its form and in its content, and correlate it with the rest of our knowledge and life, writes the author, one of the most distinguished Reformed theologians of the twentieth century. Theological thought has always felt the need of such a science. Thus Philosophy of Revelation, first published in 1909, is part of the same discipline and heritage as James Orr's 'The Christian View of God and the World' (1893) and Gordon Clark's 'A Christian View of Men and Things' (1952). Bavinck deals with the relationship between revelation and (in chapters 2-3) philosophy, (4) nature, (5) history, (6) religion, (7) Christianity, (8) religious experience, (9) culture, and (10) the future. He contends that the word cannot be explained without God, that the natural and social sciences presuppose metaphysics, and that none of the subjects under consideration here is intelligible or meaningful apart from special revelation.

Author Biography

Born on December 13, 1854, in Hoogeveen, Drenthe, Holland, Herman Bavinck was the son of the Reverend Jan Bavinck, a leading figure in the secession from the State Church of the Netherlands in 1834. After theological study in Kampen, and at the University of Leiden, he graduated in 1880, and served as the minister of the congregation at Franeker, Friesland, for a year. In 1882, he was appointed Professor of Theology at Kampen, and taught there from 1883 until his appointment, in 1902, to the Chair of Systematic Theology in the Free University of Amsterdam, where he succeeded the great Abraham Kuyper. Bavinck served until his death in 1921.