James Eglinton, the Meldrum Lecturer of Reformed Theology at the University of Edinburgh, has given the church a much-needed translation of Herman Bavinck’s thoughts on preaching and of his only published sermon, “The World-Conquering Power of Faith.” Eglinton, whose dissertation, Trinity and Organism (T&T Clark, 2012), reinvigorated Bavinck studies, opens the door in this volume for new and old Bavinck readers alike to profit from Bavinck’s “organic motif”—an archetypal/ectypal unity-in-diversity scheme that Bavinck (1854–1921) wields profitably to facilitate a comprehensive worldview. Many in the Reformed world have benefitted from his “glorious theology” in Reformed Dogmatics (Baker Academic, 2003–08), but the connection between the pulpit and theology has not always been recognized. This book is an attempt to close this “curious gap” and initiate readers to Bavinck the theologian-preacher. The introduction fittingly establishes Bavinck within his historical context, enabling the reader to perceive Bavinck as one successfully striving to be at once orthodox and modern.
Following Eglinton’s introduction is Bavinck’s foreword to his address on Eloquence. I am thankful for the inclusion of historical artifacts such as this that allow Bavinck’s voice to speak even in the details, helping readers to find themselves immersed in the context and thus facilitating future scholarship. Furthermore, Eglinton enables readers to engage the original Dutch by frequently providing (in parentheses or endnotes) the original language for readers to reference. For those unacquainted with Bavinck, his lecture Eloquence will be an absolute treat. Here he romantically wrestles with the act of preaching, bouncing from Cicero to Dutch and German poets, “eloquently” engaging the audience on the importance of preaching with eloquence. By this Bavinck does not mean verbosity, but rather a fluid connection between one’s knowledge of God and an ability to describe these truths concretely and persuasively, which Bavinck roots in the Trinity. In preaching, then, one finds an opportunity to image God in a unique way through participating in the act of language. Thus Bavinck indicates that our preaching should not be full of “χενοι λογοι [empty words],” for “we must give an account for every idle word” (25). Bavinck laments in “The Sermon and the Service” that the time of the powerful pulpit is in the past, with congregants no longer desiring to listen to preaching. Nonetheless, he reminds us that “all believers are priests” and that “Jesus wishes to rule only through his Word and Spirit . . . and particularly so through the means of the preached word: not the word read or sung, but rather the spoken word. Faith is by hearing” (61). Bavinck reminds the church that it is this very practice, along with the signs and seals of the covenant, that keeps congregations strengthened and healthy. Though written in 1883, one finds here timely truth freed from the shackles of our own cultural milieu:
Through preaching, the congregation is protected in its purity, encouraged in its battle, healed in its sufferings, established in its confession. Through preaching, the flock remains with the church, and the church with the flock in increasing authority and respect and worship. It is by this preaching that the congregation remains strong and has done so throughout history. (62)
The next chapter is Bavinck’s only available sermon, which is also found in John Bolt’s Herman Bavinck on the Christian Life: Following Jesus in Faithful Service (Crossway, 2015). Bolt’s and Eglinton’s translations differ in places, but the variances are minor. Eglinton does, however, provide the Dutch in one place where the translation isn’t straightforward, and he places in the footnotes Bavinck’s Scripture references, which are absent from Bolt’s. Both translations offer the reader an opportunity to taste what the faithful of yesteryears called his “glorious preaching.”
The last chapter, “On Preaching in America,” is a particular treat. What did Bavinck think of American preaching? In 1892, when he visited the United States (with a trip also to Canada), his enduring view of our pulpits was that “preaching is not the unfolding and ministering of the word of God; rather it is a speech, and the text is simply a hook” (85).
The Netherlands was not much different, as we see in his laments over the “motto-preaching” that had invaded his country, a phrase that criticizes the declaration of mere opinions under the guise of the word of God. Bavinck, therefore, charged preachers on both continents not to fill the congregants “with the shifting opinions and novelties of the day” but rather to proclaim to them “the healthy, fresh, strengthening food of the word of God” (64). In the appendix, “On Language,” Bavinck grounds language in the “one Logos who created all things” (93). While not directly on preaching, this essay brings completeness to the book and intimately links with the previous chapters, giving a holistic picture of language.
For those who enter pulpits on a regular basis, this is an essential read, especially for those familiar with Bavinck. This book reveals further the great unity of the man’s mind. In his Reformed Dogmatics, he states, “Theology is the task of thinking God’s thoughts after him and tracing their unity” (RD 2003:10); and in Eloquence, he alludes to preaching as the act of declaring God’s thoughts in his name. Thus preaching and theology mirror each other in their prophetic task of making God known. Readers will find themselves refreshed by Bavinck’s pastoral and fecund thoughts on preaching. I would not be surprised if, like Martin Lloyd-Jones’s Preaching and Preachers (Zondervan, 2012), this book makes its way to a fortieth anniversary edition. I thoroughly recommend this book. Even down to the details, such as the typesetting and cover—which capture Bavinck as at once orthodox and modern—the book is a wonderful addition to any Reformed library.
Greg Parker Jr. is currently a ThM student at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary after recently earning his MDiv from GCTS.
