In response to my post “Bavinck Contra Biblicism” (title corrected 3/12/10), J. R. Schuiling commented the following: “Nice, but not really contra Biblicism.” I asked J. R., as kindly as I could, if he would be interested in expounding upon that comment. It has been eight days since his comment, and since he has yet to explain his point, I am assuming that he does not intend to do so. Since his comment (brief as it was) is a critical response to my post, I want to defend the idea that Bavinck really was critiquing a biblicistic approach to the study of Holy Scripture. Thus, if you follow the link below you will see my response to J. R.’s comment. For the record, I am not personally offended by his critical comment (though rather surprised by his lack of substantiation), but I am interested in defending my views as best I can when they are critiqued. So, without further ado.
Tag Archives: biblical theology school
Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: Prolegomena, Chapter 5, “Lutheran Dogmatics”
50. Bavinck surveys Lutheran theology from the time of Luther to the Enlightenment. He touches on inter-Lutheran theological debates in the 16th century which found resolution in the Formula of Concord (1577), and he also touches on Lutheran orthodoxy’s battles with Pietism and modern rationalism.
51. Philosophy eventually came to dominate Lutheran theology in the 18th and 19th century. Bavinck briefly summarizes Kant’s, Schleiermacher’s, Hegel’s, and Schelling’s efforts to this end.
52. Responses to the philosophical shift came from a resurgent confessional Lutheranism, mediating theology, and the biblical theology school. However, many of these critics were ‘children of their modern time.’ Bavinck also survey’s Ritschl’s theology and its influence.
53. Bavinck surveys the left-wing and right-wing Ritschlians. He evaluates the gains and loses of Schleiermachian, Hegelian, and Ritschlian trajectories. While all of these theologians sought to preserve the absolute and sui generis nature of Christianity, by yielding so much epistemic and metaphysical ground to modern philosophical trends they reduced all claims of absoluteness to mere subjective value judgments which would be demolished by positivistic religious studies (e.g. the history-of-religions).
1. The Science of Dogmatic Theology (Part 1) and (Part 2)
2. The Method and Organization of Dogmatics (Part 1), (Part 2), and (Part 3)
A Pilgrim's Theology 