I have Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics which I greatly love. I am considering getting Vos' Reformed Dogmatics. What are the unique strengths of Bavinck over Vos, or Vos over Bavinck? Just interested in a comparison.
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Thanks Lane. Based on previous postings I thought you would say thisAnd should absolutely, no (more) questions asked, get Vos's RD.
Would you agree that some of the real problems many of us would have when reading those older theologians falls under that many of us never had real educational background to knowing classical thoughts, historical theology, just basically people seemed to be on a much higher learning curve when those books were being written?Bavinck has a great deal more historical information than Vos. Bavinck sets every single doctrine within not only the Scriptural context, but also in the history of dogma context. Vos, in this respect, is greatly abbreviated. Vos, however, was a better exegete than Bavinck. Vos also had the ability to say much in a small space. Even though Vos's RD is in 5 volumes, each one is rather small. Vos was better at the theological encyclopedia than Bavinck was, though Bavinck was no slouch. Vos was more of a generalist theologian, while Bavinck was a specialist. Vos's RD is for seminary students and for laymen, while Bavinck is pretty tough sledding for the average layman. And should absolutely, no (more) questions asked, get Vos's RD.
Would you agree that some of the real problems many of us would have when reading those older theologians falls under that many of us never had real educational background to knowing classical thoughts, historical theology, just basically people seemed to be on a much higher learning curve when those books were being written?
Option 2Translation???
Would you agree that some of the real problems many of us would have when reading those older theologians would fall under the fact that many of us do not have a solid educational background related to understanding classical theological thinking, historical theology; rather, these men were basically people on a much higher learning curve when their books were being written?
OR...
Would you agree that some of the real problems many of us would have when reading those older theologians would fall under the fact that many of us do not have a solid educational background related to understanding classical theological thinking, historical theology; rather, the readers at the time these books were written were basically people on a much higher learning curve when these books were being written?
Which translation most agrees with what you are trying to ask, David?
Well I have a 'try before you buy' policyThat's more questions, Stephen!
It seems that many of the older reference books, especially in Systematic Theology, were written partially to be a refuting of some ongoing/current theological discussion occurring at that time, or were addressing issues with say Church of Rome. Unless one was well vested in those arguments and just why all of the bantering back and forth was going on between positions, could be hard to follow.Recalling what Jacob said in his review on Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics here.
This is the final paragraph of the review ;
"The book isn’t always easy to read. If the reader does not have a background heavy in European Rationalism, many of Bavinck’s sparring partners will be over one’s head. Conversely, if one does have such a background in those disciplines, then there is little point to read Bavinck on them, since he is merely given a cursory reading of them. Nonetheless, this is one of those "great books" in theology."