Reformed Theology

The subject under study is crucial for the contemporary time has lost any sense of certainty especially the religious and theological kind. Our age is rightly qualified as an age of uncertainty. No one is really sure about something. Any claim to certainty is nothing but an illusion. In presenting the material gleaned from Herman Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics, I would like to present the subject under five sub headings: the difficulty of the question about the certainty of knowledge, the existence of theological certainty and its relationship to other kinds of certainty, the objective and the subjective aspects of theological certainty, an assessment of the three proposed sources for theological certainty focusing primarily on the critical evaluation of religious consciousness and the need for revelation to attain absolute religious certainty, The Difficulty of the Question About the Certainty of Knowledge The question concerning the certainty of knowledge, including theologi...

In his Introduction – The End of Modern World: A New Openness for Faith, Diogenes Allen introduces his book under five headings. However, due to the shortness of the material in parts four and five, I just want to reconstruct Allen’s divisions into just three: the breakdown of modernism in four areas, the dilemma of Christian theology between pre-modern and modern, and the writer’s target audience and method. Introduction Before explaining in detail the four areas where we are now witnessing the collapse of modernism, Allen presents first the current situation that Christian intellectuals have to face. He acknowledges the difficulty of maintaining confidence in Christianity in the midst of absence of authority principle due to widespread influence of pluralism and relativism. However, though he describes the current status of Christianity as one of defensiveness, Allen is confident about the success of his intellectual project, the development of a Christian theology of wor...

Historically considered, answering the question about the identity of the Reformed community is not an easy task. This is difficult from a historical point of view because of many personalities whom the origin of Reformed faith can be traced. However having said this, if we want to understand the Reformed faith from a confessional perspective, it is best to examine the monumental confessions and catechisms of the church.  Reformed faith in the present day context connotes various meanings defending on the speaker and on the standard one used to back up his claim. Some would have a very limited conception of Reformed faith only in the areas of soteriology. Others would include doctrines pertaining to the church such as mode of baptism, infant baptism, and communion service. Personally, I see Reformed faith as broad and I could not avoid to be suspicious hearing someone claiming to have grasped the diversity within this tradition. Moreover, this interpretation regarding the bro...

Studying Reformed theology is not an easy task. This is because the field covers a vast area of diverse ideas, countries of origin, and key thinkers. In fact, it is more realistic to say, that to launch in such a journey requires a lifelong process. This requires humility. God forbid that in studying this course, we will not fall into an attitude of “arrogance” thinking that we already exhausted the wealth of this tradition. May we not lose the sense of wonder and amazement!  Realizing that the field is broad, still we attempt to come up with our stance to bring clarity somehow in a very confusing world of theology. To aid us in this attempt, we need the service of both the historical and the theological-apologetical approaches. The historical is taken from a brief overview of the history of Reformed theology penned by Herman Bavinck, whereas the theological-apologetical approach is based on the insights of John Frame and Cornelius Van Til.  A Brief History of Reform...

Kistemaker's booklet has four major sections. The discussion on history has two sections: the biography of John Calvin himself and the development of Calvinism beginning from 16th century until the 20th century. The summary of Calvin's life story was divided into two periods: development both as a person and as a thinker and years of ministry. Kistemaker noted Calvin's superior intellectual ability in educational engagement. Calvin was also familiar to the world of aristocracy during his younger years. In his university training, he learned the skills in writing and debating. He possessed a legal mind. He was adept in humanistic writings. All these influences prepared him in the formation of a consistent Christian philosophy that molds the mind of succeeding generations.  Calvin's period of service was not always characterized by warm acceptance. There were times that he was hated. His experience in Geneva testified about this. The reformation brought about by...

The Location of Religion in Man  The discussion concerning the location of religion in man evolves around three aspects of man: the intellect, the will, and the emotion. Those who locate religion in the intellect perceive religion as primarily a quest for knowledge. In ancient church history, we find the proponents of this idea among the Gnostics. Bavinck claims that in modern philosophy, we see the emergence of Gnosticism and it has its influential defenders in the persons of Spinoza and Hegel (254-255). Others would locate religion in the will and think of religion as chiefly a matter of morality. Bavinck classifies Pelagianism, Deism and Immanuel Kant as popular examples of this school (258-260). Still the third group would locate religion in human emotion and consider religion as a matter of feeling. Mysticism and Pietism are two powerful forces that exemplify this persuasion. In terms of individual thinkers, we have Schleiermacher and Rousseau as influential figures, w...

This study is a selective summary and reflection of the ideas of Herman Bavinck concerning the religious foundations of theology. The material is found in Reformed Dogmatics: Prolegomena Volume 1. The topic covers three areas:  the essence of religion, the location of religion in man, and  the origin of religion The Essence of Religion  In ascertaining the essence of religion by way of tracing the etymology of the word, Bavinck claims that among the many possible derivations, the word used by Lactantius is the one that made an impact to the English world (236-237). This word is religare . This word denotes religion as “the bond that unites human beings to God” (ibid.). However, Bavinck asserts that even this word fails to consider the two foundational aspects of religion, which are the objective and the subjective sides. The objective side of religion is the revelation from God where in the Old Testament assumes various expressions such as commandments, pre...