Bavinck had prepared the manuscript for publication, yet several formal issues may have held him back from publishing the work (RE, 2019; xxxv, xli-ii). Along with the manuscript’s discovery by Dirk van Keulen, two additional manuscripts from Bavinck’s students have been uncovered, providing invaluable insights into his classroom presentation and support for translation. The wealth of materials and the patience of the editors have resulted in a fine, user-friendly critical edition of Bavinck’s Reformed Ethics.

Herman Bavinck’s Reformed Ethics Could Save Your Life

Reformed Ethics: Created, Fallen, and Converted Humanity (Vol. 1), John Bolt, ed. et al. Baker Academic, 2019. HC, 608 pp.

I was preparing a student paper on Bavinck for ETS when the economy collapsed in 2009.  Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics proved a tremendous source of encouragement during that time, amidst great uncertainty which touched the faith and vocation of myself and many friends. I’m now happy see the release of Reformed Ethics: Created, Fallen, and Converted Humanity, the first in a planned three volume set offering a comprehensive and systematic treatment of the Christian life.

Ron Gleason’s biography (Herman Bavinck, 2010 P&R) traces Bavinck’s career teaching theology and ethics between Kampen and Amsterdam, but no one knew that a manuscript on ethics was preserved in the Bavinck archive (cf. pp. 111-113). Bavinck had prepared the manuscript for publication, yet several formal issues may have held him back from publishing the work (RE, 2019; xxxv, xli-ii). Along with the manuscript’s discovery by Dirk van Keulen, two additional manuscripts from Bavinck’s students have been uncovered, providing invaluable insights into his classroom presentation and support for translation. The wealth of materials and the patience of the editors have resulted in a fine, user-friendly critical edition of Bavinck’s Reformed Ethics.

The information surrounding the manuscript’s translation and presentation may be technical, but it is not dry. Dr. Bolt has succeeded in presenting a critical edition of Reformed Ethics in a richly annotated, carefully supported format that aids the casual reader and researcher alike. While Craig S. Keener leads the league in footnotes overall, Dr. Bolt and his team are this season’s surprise contenders in annotations. The result follows the Dogmatics in organization, updated references and citations which ultimately aid contemporary readers with context and insight into Bavinck’s train of thought.

The footnotes and annotations provide the reader with three useful things:

1. Translation choices and word variants between Bavinck’s personal manuscript and those produced by his students during his lectures
2. Updated and expanded bibliographical information for cited works
3. Greek, Hebrew, and Latin quotations, terms and definitions updated or translated (Dutch and English)

The editors have provided a vast amount of relevant data on source material that Bavinck either cited from memory or jotted down shorthand from often hard-to-find references. One small problem we did find with the Greek references is that it’s initially unclear if they are in the original manuscript or editorial annotations (they’re Bavinck’s). This particular detail is not addressed in the introduction, but ample useful information is found in many annotations in later chapters. Bavinck’s reading of the Greek is nuanced (e.g. RE, 2019, 471-2 [fn. 52]) and highly insightful into Bavinck’s thought as a polemicist and theologue. The editors have a firm grasp of Bavinck’s voice and cadence, using an extensive array of biblical translations–from the KJV to the NIV–throughout the text where his (Dutch) translations closely correspond with English versions. The footnotes and annotations, not to mention the attention given to Biblical translations, are an invaluable framework supporting the work as a whole.

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