Contents

Introduction: Prolegomena
Part 1: Roots
1. The Old Reformed Church in Bentheim
"From the farmhouse to the town"
2. Jan Bavinck and Geziena Magdalena Holland
"At that time, we were still pariahs."
3. Herman's Childhood and Schooling: 1854-72
"The modern youth has come under the influence of the modern society."
Part 2: Student
4. Kampen: 1873-80
"The education there did not satisfy me."
5. Leiden: 1874-80
"O God, protect me in Leiden!"
Part 3: Pastor
6. Franeker: 1881-82
"It is quite a big and, for an inexperienced candidate, fairly difficult congregation."
Part 4: Professor in Kampen
7. Gathering Materials: 1883-89
"My books are my true company."
8. Writing a Modern Reformation: 1889-1902
"It is the theology needed by our age."
Part 5: Professor in Amsterdam
9. Christianity in the Age of Nietzsche: 1902-9
"In reality there are only two worldviews."
10. Showing His Colors: 1910-20
"Mr. Chairman! Our modern culture and Christianity are inseparable."
11. Bavinck's Final Years: 1920-21
"Do not put it in the newspaper; that does not befit me!"
Postscript
Appendix 1: "My Journey to America"
Appendix 2: "An Autobiographical Sketch of Dr. H. Bavinck"
Appendix 3: "Propositions: The Concept and Necessity of
Evangelization"
Key Figures, Churches, Educational Institutions, and Newspapers
Index

"Impeccably researched and thoroughly readable"

"When it comes to theologians that contemporary church leaders should be reading, I don't know of a more important one than Herman Bavinck. No one can grasp the theology of an Augustine or Aquinas, a Calvin or Luther, without knowing their life and context. James Eglinton has provided this in his new critical biography of the greatest Reformed theologian of the twentieth century. A very important yet highly readable volume."
--Timothy Keller, pastor emeritus, Redeemer Presbyterian Church of New York City

"Impeccably researched and thoroughly readable, James Eglinton's biography of Herman Bavinck deserves a wide readership. As Eglinton invites us into Bavinck's faithful and creative engagement with pluralism, psychology, Nietzsche, education for women, evangelism, missions, racism in America, and politics, we see that we still have much to learn from this member of the great cloud of witnesses."
--Kristen Deede Johnson, Western Theological Seminary

"Eglinton demonstrates that Bavinck was a brilliant, creative theologian. For those who are discovering that brilliance in Bavinck's writings newly translated into English, we now have the gift of a wonderfully readable and informative narrative of Bavinck's spiritual and theological journey. This important book confirms what many of us have been convinced of for some time now: Bavinck's time has come as a world-class theologian for our own day."
--Richard Mouw, president emeritus, Fuller Theological Seminary

"Eglinton is the modern biographer Herman Bavinck deserves. Eglinton is a theologian who is inspired by Bavinck's search for an orthodox engagement with the modern world, knows this world and Bavinck's works well, reads them in Dutch, has researched Bavinck's papers meticulously as a historian, and composes and writes smoothly, as Bavinck himself did. What a treat that Bavinck has this kindred spirit as biographer."
--George Harinck, historian, The Neo-Calvinism Research Institute, TU Kampen

"Eglinton's biography of Bavinck is outstanding. Scholarly but accessible, it offers an account of Bavinck's life and work in its historical context. The picture that emerges here is neither that of a reactionary conservative nor that of a man divided against himself, as others have claimed, but that of a churchman navigating the waters of modernity with the tools of a deep and devout theological tradition. A wonderful companion volume to the Dogmatics."
--Carl R. Trueman, Grove City College