God and Knowledge: Herman Bavinck’s Theological Epistemology (T&T Clark Studies in Systematic Theology)

by Nathaniel Gray Sutanto

Publisher:

T&T Clark

, 2020

Overview

Nathaniel Gray Sutanto offers a fresh reading of Herman Bavinck’s theological epistemology, and argues that his Trinitarian and organic worldview utilizes an extensive range of sources. Sutanto unfolds Bavinck’s understanding of what he considered to be the two most important aspects of epistemology: the character of the sciences and the correspondence between subjects and objects. Writing at the heels of the European debates in the 19th and 20th century concerning theology’s place in the academy, and rooted in historic Christian teachings, Sutanto demonstrates how Bavinck’s argument remains fresh and provocative.

This volume explores archival material and peripheral works translated for the first time in English. The author re-reads several key concepts, ranging from Organicism to the Absolute, and relates Bavinck’s work to Thomas Aquinas, Eduard von Hartmann, and other thinkers. Sutanto applies this reading to current debates on the relationship between theology and philosophy, nature and grace, and the nature of knowing; and in doing so provides students and scholars with fresh methods of considering Orthodox and modern forms of thought, and their connection with each other.

Key Features

• Offers a fresh reading of Herman Bavinck’s theological epistemology
• Explores archival material and peripheral works translated for the first time in English
• Examines current debates on the relationship between theology and philosophy, nature and grace, and the nature of knowing

Contents

• Re-Reading Bavinck’s Theological Epistemology
• Bavinck’s Organicism—God, Anthropology and Revelation
• Organism and Wetenschap—The Structure of Bavinck’s Epistemology
• Between Aquinas and Kuyper
• Bavinck, Thomas Reid, the ‘Gap’ and the Question of Subjects and Objects
• The Absolute and the Organic—Bavinck and Eduard von Hartmann
• Revelation, the Unconscious, Reason and Feeling

Praise for the Print Edition

This monograph is the fruit of Sutanto’s doctoral work at the University of Edinburgh, where James Eglinton supervises some of the most rigorously constructive works on Bavinck.

—Themelios

God and Knowledge is an important contribution to the retrieval of Herman Bavinck’s theology. Nathaniel Gray Sutanto confronts the ‘two Bavinck’ hypothesis that depicts him as torn between modernity and orthodoxy, then draws upon his organic motif to show that Bavinck’s epistemology is both fully modern and fully orthodox—united in one person, without confusion, without separation.

—Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, USA

The principle of unity in diversity was a vital organizing principle in Herman Bavinck’s theology. Here Nathaniel Gray Sutanto skilfully explores its epistemological application to the subjective act of knowing and to the unity of the sciences as an organic whole. This is an important addition to the burgeoning secondary literature on Bavinck’s work.

—David Fergusson, University of Edinburgh, UK

Product Details

• Title: God and Knowledge: Herman Bavinck’s Theological Epistemology
• Author: Nathaniel Gray Sutanto
• Series: T&T Clark Studies in Systematic Theology
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Print Publication Date: 2020
• Logos Release Date: 02/20/2020
• Pages: 208
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• ISBNs: 9780567698988, 056769898X
• Resource ID: LLS:GODANDKNOWLEDGE
• Resource Type: Systematic Theology
• Metadata Last Updated: 2023-03-02T22:05:57Z

About Nathaniel Gray Sutanto

Nathaniel Gray Sutanto is Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary, Washington, USA. He is the author of God and Knowledge: Herman Bavinck’s Theological Epistemology (T&T Clark, 2020), and he is also co-editor for the recent publications of Herman Bavinck's Christian Worldview and Philosophy of Revelation.