Was würde Bavinck wohl von der heutigen christlichen Andachts- und Unterhaltungsliteratur sagen? Er hatte die refomierte schottische Literatur aus dem 17. Jahrhundert vor Augen:
It always moves between the two poles of sin and grace, of law and gospel. On the one hand it descends into the depths of the human heart, unreservedly taking away all apologies and excuses behind which people hide away from the holiness of God, and it places them before the face of God in their poverty and emptiness. On the other hand, it also addresses those of a broken spirit with the promises of the gospel, draws forth the riches of these promises, looks at them from all sides, and applies them to all of life’s circumstances.
Die Literatur seiner Tage erschien ihm im Vergleich dazu schal:
This appears most strikingly if we compare the sermons of the Erskines with the devotional literature of our days, especially in the Christian stories and novels that are published. There the spiritual knowledge of the soul is lacking. It seems as if we no longer know what sin and grace, what guilt and forgiveness, what repentance and regeneration mean. We know them theoretically, but we no longer know them in the awesome reality of life. That is the reason why the devotional literature of former days leaves an entirely different impression than that of recent times. For, though it stands far from us, and its form seems old-fashioned for us, it is and remains natural in the genuine sense, while the literature of our days becomes unnatural and forced when it addresses the problems of the soul.
Herman Bavinck on Scottish Covenant Theology and Reformed Piety. The Bavinck Review 3 (2012): 164–77.
