The Big Picture Issue 2 is out

 

The Big Picture Issue 2 is now out - pdfs are available here

Highlights include:

5 reasons to read Bavinck

Kuyper's Conversion via Victorian Literature

Kuyperania 2020

 

My article on Kuyperania 2020 has now been published. https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.86.1.2504

In it I review the following:

Ashford, B.R. & Bartholomew, C.G. 2020. The Doctrine of Creation: A Constructive Kuyperian Approach. Downers’ Grove, Ill: IVP Academic.

Bishop, S. 2020. Abraham Kuyper: Cultural Transformer. Foundations, 79 (Autumn): Online: http://www. affinity.org.uk/foundations-issues/issue-79-article-4-abraham-kuyper-cultural-transformer.

Caudill, D.S. 2020.The Dutch Effect: Kuyper and Neo-Calvinism in Professor Cochran’s Scholarship. Pepperdine Law Review, 47(2):419-434. Available at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/plr/ vol47/iss2/13.

Ford, B. 2020. Neoliberalism and Four Spheres of Authority in American Education: Business, Class, Stratification, and Intimations of Marketization. Policy Futures in Education, 18(2):200-239. https:// doi.org/10.1177/1478210320903911.

Freire, L.G. 2020. Abraham Kuyper and Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer as Anti-Rationalist Liberals. Journal of Church and State, csaa029, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcs/csaa029.

Freire, L.G. 2020. Christian ethics and entrepreneurship in an interventionist economy. In Christian ethics and political economy: Markers for a developing South Africa (Reformed Theology in Africa Series Volume 3) CapeTown: AOSIS, p.137–149. https://doi. org/10.4102/aosis.2020.BK220.05.

Gay, J. 2020. On Education by Abraham Kuyper. Church Times, 28 August. Online https://www. churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2020/28-august/books-arts/book-reviews/on-education-by-abraham- kuyper. Date of access: 29 August 2020.

Harinck, G. 2020a. Abraham Kuyper’s Vision of a Plural Society as a Christian Answer to Secularization and Intolerance. (In V. Karpov, M. Svensson (eds.), Secularization, Desecularization and Toleration: Cross-Disciplinary Challenges to a Modern Myth. Palgrave MacMillan, 115-133.) https://doi. org/10.1007/978-3-030-54046-3_6.

Harinck, G. 2020b. On Doing What Is Just, Right and Fair: Essay on a Dutch Example. In die Skriflig, 54(1), a2646. https://doi.org/10.4102/ids. v54i1.2646.

Kristanto, D. 2020 Is the Creation Under Destruction? Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck on New creation. Veritas: Jurnal Teologi dan Pelayanan, 19(2):189–200.

Kuyper, A. 2020a. Ever in Thy Sight. 31 Devotions on the Psalms. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Kuyper, A. 2020b. Common Grace: God’s Gift for a Fallen World Volume 3. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Mouw, R. 2020. Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. In Michael Allen and Scott R. Swain (ed.) 2020. The Oxford Handbook of Reformed Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p.328-341. https:// doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198723912.013.2.

Oslington, P. 2020. The Kuyperian Dream of Reconstructing Economics on Christian Foundations. Faith & Economics, 75(Spring):7-36.

Schuurman, D.C. 2020. On Kuyper and Technology, or How a Voice From the Past Can Speak to our Digital Age. Christian Scholar’s Review, 49(2):161-174.

Stiemsma, S. 2020. The Presence of the Past: A Review of Abraham Kuyper’s On Education. Pro Rege, XLIX (1):43-47.

Sumpter, J. 2020. A Short Introduction to Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. Moscow, ID: Francis Drake Press.

Vander Stelt, J.C. 2020 Faith Life and Theology: A Reorientation. Jordan Station, ON: Paidiea Press.

Wagenman, M.R. 2020. The Power of the Church: The Sacramental Ecclesiology of Abraham Kuyper. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications.

Yoo, Jeong Mo 2020. How Is God Known?: General Revelation in the Theology of Abraham Kuyper. Reform & Revival. (Journal of Korean Institute for Reformed Studies), 26: 181-226. https://doi.org/10.36365/ kukirs.2020..26.181. 

The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter - updated and abridged by Tim Cooper

The Reformed Pastor

Richard Baxter; updated and abridged by Tim Cooper

Crossway Books

Hardback; 176 pp; £18.50

ISBN 978-1-4335-7318-7

Richard Baxter (1615-1691) was known as 'Scribbling Dick' because of his prodigious writings. He was born Rowton, Shropshire. When a teenager he was influenced by the works of William Perkins, Richard Sibbes and Edmund Bunny. In 1638 he became the master at the free grammar school in Dudley, where he was ordained by the bishop of Worcester, John Thornborough. The main part of his ministry took place in Kidderminster at St Mary and All Saint's Church (1647-1661).  During the Civil War he left Kidderminster as a chaplain to the parliamentary army, but later returned to Kidderminster. In 1662 he married and retired to Middlesex after being part of the Great Ejection bought about by the Act of Uniformity. 

He was a prolific writer and wrote over 140 books. It was during his first spell at Kidderminster that he wrote The Reformed Pastor in 1656. That is the book is still in print today is and merits a new abridged edition is a testimony to its impact and longevity. James I. Packer named it among one of the five books that have most influenced him. Packer described Baxter as “the most outstanding pastor, evangelist and writer on practical and devotional themes Puritanism has produced”. 

This is not the first time this book has been abridged - the standard edition was edited and abridged by William Brown in 1829 and republished by The Banner of Truth Trust in 1974. The BoT edition still used archaic language. What Tim Cooper has done is to make this book much more readable and accessible. It is also much shorter, but still keeps the key message of the book.

Cooper is no stranger to Baxter. He is author of Fear and Polemic in Seventeenth Century England: Richard Baxter and Antinomianism (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2001), John Owen, Richard Baxter and the Formation of Nonconformity (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2016), and co-editor of Richard Baxter: Reliquiæ Baxterianæ: Or, Mr Richard Baxter's Narrative of the Most Memorable Passages of his Life and Times (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020). Thus, he is well equipped to abridge and edit this book. 

Cooper has added a useful summary at the beginning of each chapter. A series of pertinent and challenging questions also conclude each chapter. This adds to the value of Baxter’s book. 

What Baxter puts forward in this book is a call for church ministers to take pastoral work seriously. This for Baxter entails, not only teaching and preaching from the pulpit but also daily visitation. Visitation includes private instruction with the use of a catechism - it is one-to-one personal discipleship. He stresses the need for pastors to know themselves and to know their flock.

What Baxter is very good at is exploring the motives behind the nature of pastoral work. He is both an encourager and an exhorter. He deals extremely well with possible objections to the nature of this type of ministry and pulls no punches. 

Baxter held to a view known as neo-nomianism, and there are traces of this that can be seen in his (over)emphasis on the need for faith and repentance and human autonomy; sometimes his exhortation comes close to legalism. This does not detract from the importance of this book - it should be required reading for all pastors. 

Thanks to Crossway for a review copy of this book.

Family Tree of Calvinistic philosophy

 Over at the Layman's Lounge is my family tree of Calvinistic philosophy - concentrating primarily on neo-Calvinists.

It has gone through several drafts - with helpful comments from Gregory Baus, Derek Schuurman and Jet Weigand-Timmer. 

This is the latest iteration (click on the image to enlarge it):

Mark Roques in the Baptist Times

 The Baptist Times has a piece by Mark Roques on his excellent new resource for creative faith sharing. You can read it here.

Groen Van Prinsterer on Laymen's Lounge

My introduction to Groen Van Prinsterer is now on Laymen's Lounge

 

Mark Roques on The Layman's Lounge Podcast

Listen to it here.

 

New books from Wordbridge Publishing

 Wordbridge Publishing has announced two new books:

Hoedemaker, P.J. 2021. The Politics of Antithesis

A translation of three short works by P. J. Hoedemaker that evaluate Abraham Kuyper’s prime ministry, along with Rudben Alvarado's commentary and contextualizing apparatus. Further information is available here  

Popma, K.J. 2021. Gospel and History

Translated and edited by Harry Van Dyke.

Further information is available here  

Abraham Kuyper's view of the natural sciences

 

My paper on Abraham Kuyper's view of the natural sciences has now been published in Koers. 

The pdf is available here.

Abraham Kuyper’s view of the natural sciences. KOERS — Bulletin for Christian Scholarship, 86(1). Available at: https://doi. org/10.19108/KOERS.86.1.2497

Four new and forthcoming neo-Calvinist books

 These four books will be coming soon:

Jonathan Chaplin 2021. Faith in Democracy. London: SCM

Jessica and Robert Joustra (eds) 2021. Calvinism for a Secular Age. Downers Grove: IVP

Hector Acero Ferrer et al. (eds) 2021. Seeking Stillness or the Sound of Wings. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock

Mathew Kaemingk (ed.) Reformed Public Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

Dooyeweerd's modal aspects

 Dooyeweerd identified 14 and later 15 modal aspects within creation.

Different terms have been used by Reformationals scholars over the years to describe these aspects - and some have modified the number and the order of them. I have attempted to show some of these changes in the diagram below.

(The order is from earlier to later aspects)

Nobody stands nowhere

Nobody stand nowhere - an excellent short YouTube on worldviews from the Theos Thinktank:

 

KLC's The Big Picture

 

The Kirby Laing Centre has produced the first issue of The Big Picture - and it is truly fantastic. It includes articles on Kuyper - what other reason is needed to read it?

KLC ONLINE CONCERT

KLC ONLINE CONCERT:

Full Circle: From Lament to Praise and Back Again

Zoom Event: Saturday 15 May, 7-9PM U.K. time 

Full details here:

https://kirbylaingcentre.co.uk/events/concert-full-circle/

Review of Work & Worship by Kaemingk and Willson from Baker Academic

My review of the excellent  Work and Worship: Reconnecting Our Labor and Liturgy by Matthew Kaemingk and Cory B. Willson has been published in the Spring 2021 edition of Foundations.

You can read it here:

On being a Christian stonemason

image source

James  C. Schaap on being a Christian [stone]mason:

... writing is no different from, say, laying cement. If a Christian mason wanted to witness to the Lord's saving grace in all that he did, and if he determined therefore that he would only fashion crosses in cement, eventually the poor guy wouldn't have many customers. If he wanted to be the best mason he could be he'd have to know every last thing there to know about laying concrete and erecting block walls. He'd have to ensure that his driveways would be flat and smooth, that they'd hold their set for decades. He'd have to know the very best mix. In short, he'd be far better off studying masonry than preaching. That's also true for bassoon players, garbage collectors, stand up comedians, and Zamboni drivers.

            Schaap, James C. 1998. Our Family Album. Grand Rapids, MI: CRC Publications

You Should Know ... Dooyeweerd: The YouTube Version

 Gregory Baus has produced a YouTube based on the article he and I wrote on Herman Dooyeweerd:

 

ICS Online courses

 

You Should Know: Dooyeweerd

 

An introduction to Dooyeweerd by Gregory Baus and me is now live on Laymen's Lounge.

https://thelaymenslounge.com/you-should-know-dooyeweerd/

Mark Roques - Mary's worldview (Luke 1)

Mark Roques explores Mary's Biblical worldview (Luke 1)