Seit nunmehr über 40 Tagen lese ich Herman Bavincks „Reformed Dogmatics“. Lesegeschwindigikeit zwischen 10 und 15 Seiten die Stunde. Manche Seiten lese ich mehrmals, und nach spätestens 90 Minuten lege ich die Lektüre weg um zu verdauen. Bavinck fesselt mich.
John Bolt, Editor der englischen Übersetzung der “Reformed Dogmatics”, schreibt über Bavinck als Person:
Bavinck was a modest, even shy retiring man who strove to find the positive in an opponent’s point of view in order to incorporate it into his own.
Warum ist sein Werk so interessant zu lessen?
Bavinck had an deeply sensitive eye for the revelation of God in the created world and in the providential guidance of human history and cultures. He sees deeply how the human quest for forgiveness, for meaning, for reconciliation, and for truth are part of our being created in God’s image and therefore perennially present in all the religious quests of human beings.
In einer Vorlesung “What Herman Bavinck taught me“ äussert sich Bolt zu vier Lernfeldern:
- myself (who we are before God),
- theological method (how we approach God in his revelation),
- the content of good theology (it is always about God),
- and the church (how God uses us in the mission of the Gospel).
