Roger Henderson lluminating Law: The Construction of Herman Dooyeweerd's Philosophy

 Roger Henderson's Illuminating Law is now available as a pdf.

Illuminating Law: The Construction of Herman Dooyeweerd's Philosophy.

Herman Dooyeweerd (1894-1977) was a Dutch Christian philosopher who constructed a comprehensive and unique system of thought. This book deals with his first period of development between the years 1918 and 1928, examining the origin of his ideas and their connection with neo-Kantian and neo-Calvinist thought. The book explains both the growth and structure of Dooyeweerd’s conceptual building blocks and how they were used to create a comprehensive system of philosophy. During these formative years, he reflected on the meaning of law, trying to illuminate its significance for his own and for the other academic disciplines. Eventually, he penetrated to what he believed was its deeper religious origin, providing a new understanding of law and the basis of a new approach to philosophy.

Some new and forthcoming books

 

Some new and forthcoming Bavinck books

 

New and forthcoming books

Faith in Law, Law in FaithFaith in Law, Law in Faith: Reflecting and Building on the Work of John Witte, Jr.

 

Faith in Law, Law in Faith: Reflecting and Building on the Work of John Witte, Jr.

Editors: Rafael Domingo, Gary S. Hauk, and Timothy P. Jackson

Across four decades, John Witte, Jr. has advanced the study of law and religion by retrieving religious sources of law, renewing timeless teachings of religion for today, and reengaging with the difficult issues confronting society. Interdisciplinary, international, and interfaith in scope, Witte’s work has generated an enormous body of scholarship. This collection of essays by leading scholars examines his impact and maps new directions for future exploration.

Open access available here.

Harry Van Dyke: The Legacy of Abraham Kuyper

 This will be brilliant!

https://wordbridge.net/books/van-dyke/the-legacy-of-abraham-kuyper

New and forthcoming neo-Calvinist books

 

Some new and forthcoming books

 

Some new and forthcoming books

 

Discovering Dooyeweerd edited By Danie Strauss (Jordan Station: Paideia Press, 2023)

A new book - it promises to be the book of the year (if not decade):

Available here https://paideiapressorders.com/products/discovering-dooyeweerd-d-f-m-strauss

The cheapest UK price is here: https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/D-F-M-Strauss/Discovering-Dooyeweerd/29274473

Contents

Foreword

Introduction by Danie F: M. Strauss

1. The Idea of a Christian Philosophy by Roy Clouser

2. The Ground-Motive of Greek Culture by Herman Dooyeweerd

3. Dooyeweerd on The Medieval Ground-Motive of Nature and Grace by Herman Dooyeweerd

4. The Rise of the Ground-Motive of Nature and Freedom by Herman Dooyeweerd

5. The Internal Tension Present in the Ground-Motive of Nature and Freedom by Herman Dooyeweerd

6. The Significance of Dooyeweerd's Philosophy for

Understanding the Foundational Role of Worldview by Michael W. Goheen

7. Dooyeweerd and Radical Orthodoxy by Danie F. M. Straws

8. Dooyeweerd and Theology by Willem J. Ouweneel

9. Reformed Scholasticism and Reformational Thinking by Joseph Boot

10. The Church, Society, and the Kingdom by Willem J. Ouweneel

11 Realism and Nominalism - Part 1 by Danie F. M. Strauss

12. Realism and Nominalism - Part 2 by Danie F. M. Strauss

13. The Distinction between Structure and Direction by Danie F. M. Strauss

14. Dooyeweerd's Perspective on Early Greek Philosophy by Danie F. M. Strauss

15. The Scope of Sphere Sovereignty by Danie F. M. Strauss

16. Dooyeweerd's Philosophy of Time by Danie F. M. Strauss

17. Philosophical Reflection on Physical Entities by Danie F. M. Strauss

18. Dooyeweerd: Enriching Our Understanding of Number and Space by Danie F M. Strauss

19. Modal Universality by Danie F M. Strauss

20. Philosophical Roots of Psychology by Willem J. Ouweneel

21. Galileo and Einstein by Danie F. M. Strauss

22. Modes of Explanation Making Identity Understandable  by Danie F. M. Strauss

23. Understanding Enkapsis as Contrasted with the Chemical Bond by Martin A. Rice, Jr.

24. Antimony and Contradiction by Danie F. M. Strauss

25. Different Kinds of Criticism by Danie F. M. Strauss

26. The Significance of Dooyeweerd's Work for the Natural Sciences by Richard Gunton

27. What Happened to "Evolution"? by Danie F. M. Strauss

28. Of History and the Science of History by Harry Van Dyke

29. Constitutive and Regulative Historical Principles by Danie F: M. Strauss

30. The Significance of Dooyeweerd's Philosophy for Understanding the Complexity of Technology by Maarten J. Verkerk

31. The Significance of Dooyeweerd's Philosophy for Understanding Human Responsibility in Technology by Maarten J. Verkerk

32. Understanding One's Own Professional Practice:
The Triple I Model

by Maarten J. Verkerk

33. Basic Aesthetics, as Dooyeweerd Could Have Written It by Calvin Seerveld

34. Is Language Uniquely Human? by Danie F: M. Strauss

35. The Prevalent Technicism in Society by Egbert Schuurman

36. Popular Sovereignty by Danie F. M. Strauss

37. The Intriguing Nature of Firms and/or Markets and/or Workers
 by Frederick CuN. Fourie

38. Developments within Roman Law bY Dame k: M. Strauss

39. Dooyeweerd's Critical-Empirical Theory of Law by Alan Cameron

40. The Relationship between Dooyeweerd's Systematic
Philosophy and his Theory of the Basic Concepts of the Science of Law by Alan Cameron

41. Civil Private Law by Herman Dooyeweerd

42. Theory of an International Legal Order by Romel Regalado Bagares

43. Are Norms and Principles Ethical or Moral in Nature?  by Danie F. M. Strauss

44. What Is Inherent in Normativity? by Danie F. M. Strauss

45. Compound Basic Concepts by Danie F. M. Strauss

46. Traditional Societies by Danie F. M. Strauss

47. Differentiation and Integration by Danie F M. Strauss

48. Dooyeweerd on Romanticism by Herman Dooyeweerd

49. Classifying Social Forms of Life by Danie F: M. Strauss

50. Context Is Everything, or Is It? by Albert Weideman

51. The Meaning of Technology by Egbert Schuurman

52. Human Freedom and Political Order by James W. Skillen

53. The Good of Politics: Dooyeweerd's Contribution by James W. Skillen

54. Political Idolatry: Assessing the Ideologies of Our Day by David T. Koyzis

55. Dooyeweerd and Vollenhoven: What They Share, How They Differ, and How They Complement
One Another by Jeremy Ive

56. Everyday Life with Dooyeweerd by Andrew Basden

57. Understanding and Practicing Research with Dooyeweerd's Help by Andrew Basden

58. Adam and Biology by Willem I. Ouweneel

59. Dooyeweerd's Approach to Philosophical Anthropology 549 by Gerrit Glas

60. What Could Dooyeweerd Teach Us About the Study of the Brain? by Gerrit Glas

61. Health Care from a Dooyeweerdian Perspective:
A Normative Practices Approach by Gerrit Glas 

Bibliography

Subject Index

Some new neo-Calvinist books

 

Some recent and forthcoming neo-Calvinist books

 

Johanna Francis, Fields of Orange: A True Welsh Love Story (Aberystwyth: Ylofa, 2022)

 Herman Dooyeweerd's daughter, Johanna (Hanny), married a Welsh man and wrote a book about her life:

https://www.ylolfa.com/products/9781800991460/fields-of-orange-a-true-welsh-love-story

ISBN: 9781800991460

It is a fascinating read - she married Bob Francis, a Welsh farmer, and lived in near poverty as a farmer's wife in Wales.

It has one or two photographs of Dooyeweerd.

This one shows Dooyeweerd on his one visit to Wales in the Welsh hills looking down on the farm owned by Bob and Johanna.

Interview with Harry Van Dyke

It was in 2019 since I last interviewed you with the publication of Kuyper's On Education - what's been happening since then?

My wife and I  have moved to a gated community where I no longer need to mow the lawn or shovel snow from the driveway.

You have recently edited M.C. Smit's Writings on God and History (Dordt Press, 2022) - could you tell us a little about Smit and your interest in him?

After earning my Bachelor's at Calvin College in 1964 I enrolled at the VU University Amsterdam in order to "read" Theory and Philosophy of History with Professor Meyer Smit (1911-1981). In 1965 I became his assistant, which I remained till his death in 1981. From Smit, I learned a view of history that I believe I could not have learned anywhere else: how God is present in history and how the historian must take that into account: with awesome wonder and deep reverence and a humble spirit.

Why the republication of this book now? 

Smit remains in demand. He is the only philosopher of history who explicitly works in the reformational tradition. The first edition of his Writings (1987; 316 pp.) had very limited circulation; only a score were marketable, the other 980 copies all had false folds in them and were destroyed after the printer went bankrupt. Thus this first edition was almost instantly sold out. I later incorporated its contents in M. C. Smit, Towards a Christian Conception of History (2002; 426 pp.), which has meanwhile also gone out of print. The Towards book contained the whole of Writings plus a translation of Smit's doctoral dissertation. The new edition of Writings this year republishes the first edition. Unlike Towards, it omits the dissertation except for two lengthy appendices (pp. 255-304) for which I gleaned Smit's positive (thetical) elucidation of his own, reformational views and conceptions of history (the rest of his dissertation dealt with Roman Catholic philosophers and historians and their approach to historical science, largely shaped by the nature-grace ground-motive).

What are the main themes of his approach to history?

That history is not self-sufficient but receives life and meaning from the Creator. Historians cannot explain events solely in terms of their antecedents but must take into account the underlying and primary active presence of God in history.

What does Smit offer that is relevant for today?

He is a better antidote than Dooyeweerd for historicism and historical relativism.


Who should read this book and why?

University students and university instructors; preachers and teachers. Smit's ideas open our minds to the divine mystery in history.

You have been busy with the Abraham Kuyper Translation Project - are there more plans to translate more of Kuyper?

Not that I am aware of. There are treasures in his E Voto (a 3-vol. commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism). Craig Batholomew also believes that Kuyper's Encyclopedia (an extensive introduction to the loci of theology) is anything but outdated and deserves to be translated, perhaps in abridged form. However, projects like this are costly and the generous patron of the more recent Kuyper translations has gone to be with the Lord. I am still available for any of this work, but by God's grace hope to turn 82 next month.

What advice would you give to budding reformational scholars?

(1) Read widely. 

(2) Get in touch with the Neo-Calvinist research centres in Kampen, Edinburgh, Fuller Seminary, and Redeemer University.

(3) If you have any talent at all in languages, master Dutch. 

(4) "In all your ways, acknowledge Him."

What challenges do you see facing the reformational movement at the moment?

To bring itself into rapport with the needs of our time, both academically and more broadly socially and culturally.

When you are not translating what do you like to do for fun?

Do word puzzles, grow a kitchen garden, and play Bach on the harmonium pump organ.

Some new and forthcoming books

 

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  

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.

Some new(ish) Reformational books

 

Mike Wagenman The Power of the Church: The Sacramental Ecclesiology of Abraham Kuyper

Mike Wagenman's new book on Kuyper's ecclesiology has been published. Full details here.

I was honoured to be asked to write a blurb for the book - this is what I wrote:

“What hope is there for the church? What has the church to do with power and what has power to do with the church? These are the important questions Wagenman raises in this important and engaging work. By drawing on and developing the inchoate insights of the Dutch polymath, Abraham Kuyper, Wagenman address these key issues of church and power—issues that are perhaps more relevant today than they were when Kuyper was writing in the nineteenth century. Kuyper had a multi-aspectual view of power and Wagenman takes Kuyper’s seminal views and produces a much needed critique of power in the church today. With this book, Wagenman establishes his position as one of the leading Kuyper scholars. If you are interested in Kuyper, ecclesiology, or power—then get the book!”

 

New and forthcoming books to look out for: