James Eglinton’s Modern and Orthodox Bavinck

In Bavinck: A Critical Biography (Baker Academic, 2020), James Eglinton gives us a nuanced Herman Bavinck, one who resists previous biographical tendencies of painting him as two very different Bavincks, instead presenting a single Bavinck who embraced both orthodoxy and modernism. Throughout his life he sought to hold both orthodoxy and modernism together in his approach to theology. He believed that a new age needed a new articulation of dogmatics and ethics, which is what led to the writing of his four-volume Reformed Dogmatics and his unfinished Reformed Ethics—works translated into English in recent years. Eglinton’s Bavinck is “a modern European, an orthodox Calvinist, and a man of science” (xxii), who sought to prove “the possibility of an orthodox life in a changing world” (xx).

A well-written narrative, Eglinton’s biography is marked by incisive historical analysis, extensive knowledge of Bavinck and his times, and a compelling tracing of his life and its significance. Eglinton seeks to treat his subject honestly, giving us insights into his thoughts and feelings through his letters, and his dispassionate tone lends credence to his discussion of this famous Dutch theologian. 

In this biography we find not only a theologian seeking a grand metanarrative for the modern age but also a young man pining for a girl named Amelia whom her father refused to let him marry. Here we meet a Bavinck who as a student viewed Abraham Kuyper as a kind of hero, putting up a poster of him in his college digs (80). This Bavinck floundered after finishing his dissertation, feeling listless and uncertain about what to do, having no wife and no work (102). Even as a young professor, Bavinck had a low view of his abilities (147). Readers of this volume get a sense of a truly human Bavinck in his pursuits and disappointments.

Eglinton opens up the historical background well, introducing us to Bavinck’s parents, his Seceder heritage, and the dynamics of Dutch Reformed culture at the time—not only in the Netherlands but also in the US. The Seceder suspicion of schools like Leiden and the role of periodicals for the Reformed faithful enrich our grasp of Bavinck’s decisions about where to go to school, where to pastor, and where to teach (and he didn’t always follow the expected path). Such tensions also colored his tenure at the Seceder’s Kampen Theological School. 

An interesting question is why we even talk about Bavinck today, and Eglinton notes that had he not been granted a lighter teaching load and not gotten married, he would have most likely remained a minor theologian we rarely discuss. Instead, the patterns of time at home and in the study gave him the space he needed to write and develop his larger theological program. The result was a Reformed systematic theologian of the twentieth century whose influence continues to grow in the twenty-first.

Interestingly, while Bavinck made his name mainly in theology and ethics, he also served in politics, which gave him more visibility in the eyes of the public. A lasting contribution that Bavinck made was to shape the Dutch education system, which funds educational institutions based on varied worldviews, including not only “neutral” but also Christian schools (230, 277–78). 

Bavinck’s family legacy is also of note. While he leaned toward seeing Christianity as pacifistic, developing his ideas in the context of World War I, the situation changed for his daughter and her three boys in World War II. His son-in-law and two of his grandsons lost their lives serving in the Dutch resistance against Nazi oppression.

A fascinating addition at the end of the book is Eglinton’s inclusion of Bavinck’s piece “My Journey to America” (I encourage you not to skip this appendix). It’s revealing to see how Bavinck viewed the US in 1892, which in some ways parallels American culture even today. He observed that the rocking chair is “a symbol of the restless and nervous American nature” (307). Indeed, the Americans are “all ‘go-ahead,’ everything is ‘in a hurry,’ everything is restless, everything is drive and pursuit” (308). He noted, “Work, eat, sleep—this is the substance of American life. There is no time left over for convivial friendship and conversation” (311). How true of Americans today, even if we’ve traded the rocking chair for phones, planes, and productivity apps. He admired many things about America, such as its emphasis on education and freedom and its openness to women’s participation in public affairs. Yet he also criticized its religion as superficial, its preaching dealing mostly with morals, amusing listeners, and marked by individualism. His observations—including an awe-filled visit to Niagara Falls—form an intriguing view of the US from over a century ago, which gives instructive perspective into the America of our own day.

In the end, Bavinck held that theology is “necessarily scientific and pious” (220). He branched out to promoting not just Calvinism narrowly but Christianity more broadly, largely because he saw the threat that Nietzschean philosophy posed to the modern world. Even so, Eglinton argues that contrary to popular belief, Bavinck did not ditch his Reformed beliefs in his last decade of life, even as he focused on other pressing public matters. His was a more subtle course shift in response to the threats by nihilism. And so he emphasized that “Who do you say the Christ is?” is the ”essence” of Christianity (270). Like Kuyper, he explored and focused on the gospel for “every area of life” (272). His was a significant life, and Eglinton’s Bavinck: A Critical Biography is a substantial, illuminating interpretation of Herman Bavinck and his times for today. Highly recommended.