Herman Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics: Summer Reading

We’re taking some time off this summer but it’s impossible to put Bavinck down. A set of Bavinck is difficult to stuff in a backpack, or suitcase and taking it through airport security is a joke. Fortunately Westminster bookstore has reprinted a great little Bavinck title and it’s the ideal size for travel. In just under 100 pages The Certainty of Faith makes a deep impression on the value and importance of knowing and understanding theology for the pulpit and in visitation. Here is a short quote on the practical application of theology contrasted with those of other sciences especially the medical field:

The theoretical knowledge of a doctor is doubtlessly very important, but his worth and the worth of his science only comes into its own when he heals people. Similarly, theology must prescribe medicine for the ailments of the soul. It must be able to say how and in what way we can be freed from our guilt, reconciled to God, attain to patience and hope amidst life’s tribulations, and find reason to sing praises in the face of death. A  theology that does not concern itself with these things and only dedicates itself to critical and historical studies is not worthy of the name theology. And a theologian who is acquianted with all the latest issues of science but who stands speechless at a sickbed and knows no answer to the questions of the lost sinner’s heart isn’t worthy of his title and office.