Introducing Herman Bavinck

Tony Reinke Herman Bavinck

Tuesday at Twin Lakes Fellowship, Dr. Ron Gleason presented an introduction to the life and writings of Herman Bavinck. His address is divided into six sections: (1) Bavinck the Pastor, (2) Bavinck the Theologian, (3) Bavinck the Churchman, (4) Bavinck the Man with Warts, (5) Bavinck the Statesman, and (6) Bavinck the Author.

An excellent summary was published by Nicholas Batzig here and audio of the address can be downloaded here or listed to online here:

Also, Gleason distributed two papers at the conference, including a helpful biographical sketch, which you can download here:

“Dr. Herman Bavinck (1854-1921): A Short Sketch of a Reformed Theologian, Pastor, Churchman, & Statesman.” [57 page PDF]

“Herman Bavinck’s Understanding of John Calvin on the Lord’s Supper” [32 page PDF].

Finally, Dr. Gleason has completed a full-length biography of Bavinck for P&R. The bio should be available by the end of 2009 or the beginning of 2010.

Restoration Experts and Sharpshooters

Tony Reinke Essay, Wisdom literature

The famous American flag Francis Scott Key watched flap in the sky as he wrote the national anthem (“O say, does that Star-spangled Banner yet wave”) is housed in the Smithsonian Museum of American History in D.C. It’s the first square flag I’ve seen, measuring about 30 foot by 34 foot in size, shortened horizontally by over 10 feet due to people cutting it into squares of handkerchief-sized keepsakes. And if that wasn’t bad enough, someone knifed at the middle to cut out one star, a brazen act that has left a sloppy haphazard hole right in the middle of the flag.

What was not sliced apart by its fans looks to be in good shape for an old flag that lived through a war. Which is to say it’s now tattered to threads, and has deteriorated badly, resembling a favorite t-shirt I wore in college on a regular basis until it took on semi-transparent qualities. It was a shirt I enjoyed wearing as a bachelor and probably would still be wearing had that shirt not experienced a post-marriage disappearance.

Like my t-shirt, this flag is irreplaceable, and in recent years restoration experts have worked carefully in the hopes of stabilizing the flag’s condition and preserving it for centuries of future visitors. The last time I saw it, the flag was behind a special glass-encased room under dim lighting and positioned so the restoration experts could easily inspect each square inch of cloth. Although I’ve not seen anyone working on the flag, I imagine a careful worker with white gloves, a magnifying glass, and tweezers.

Step outside the museum, walk down the street a few blocks away, look up, and you will see sharpshooters walking around on the roof of the White House. These men are standing atop the most iconic building in the United States and home to a few of the most powerful men and women in the world. From the roof, these shooters have a nice 360-degree panoramic view of the surroundings and can watch for anything out of place. Their perch positions them for a clean shot.

So what do restoration experts and sharpshooters have in common? Well, nothing really, except they are both in the business of protecting. The one protects through detailed examination and restoration. The other protects with strength by standing on top of what is protected. For me, both of these protective agents come together in Proverbs 4:6,

Do not forsake her [wisdom], and she will keep you;
love her, and she will guard you.

Wisdom “keeps us,” a term that emphasizes wisdom’s subtle, careful, and delicate act of protecting us in the details, evoking an image of a restoration specialist replacing weak threads in the fabric, strengthening frail cloth, and initiating chemical processes that will protect the flag from invisible corrosive dangers. Wisdom is at work in subtle ways, making small but strategic actions to protect us.

But wisdom also “guards” us, which is to say She protects us by standing over what is being protected. This is the image of the White House sharpshooter. I think of things less subtle, of broad protection, and clean sightlines to approaching temptations.

Whether it’s by protecting our hearts from subtle corrosive temptations or by standing over our lives with a loaded rifle on the hip, wisdom is working to protecting us. A precious promise straight from scripture to those who love and cherish God’s wisdom—that wisdom is living and active.

Stuffing all our Easter eggs into one basket

Tony Reinke Easter, Resurrection

I used this modified cliché in a sermon delivered years ago on a college campus. My text for the message was 1 Corinthians 15, a chapter that shines with clarity on the significance of the resurrection of our Savior.

Even the most superficial reading of this chapter will convince us of one important fact—the resurrection is the historical hinge on which every eternal truth of the Christian faith either stands or falls.

Did Jesus rise from the dead? To this question there are no half-answers. Either Christ was physically raised from the dead or he was not physically raised from the dead. Another way to say it is that we as Christians carry all our eggs in one basket.

If Christ has not been raised, we are in serious trouble. Paul could not be clearer of this in 1 Corinthians 15:14-19.

– If Christ has not been raised, the preaching of the gospel is vain, powerless, and even blasphemous.

– If Christ has not been raised, the Apostolic writings of the New Testament are meaningless.

– If Christ has not been raised, our faith is worthless.

– If Christ has not been raised, we remain dead and hopelessly entangled in our sinfulness.

– If Christ has not been raised, death wins, and we become mulch.

As Charles Spurgeon said:

“If Christ be not risen, then is may preaching vain, and your faith is also vain, and you are yet in your sins, … all our visions of heaven are blasted and withered; the brightness of our hope is quenched for ever; that rock on which our trust is built, turns out to be nothing better than mere sand if the divinity of Christ be not proved. All the joy and consolation we ever had in this world, in our belief that his blood was sufficient to atone for sin, has been but a dream of fancy and a ‘figment of idle brains;’ all the communion we have ever had with him has been but an illusion and a trance, and all the hopes we have of beholding his face in glory, and of being satisfied when we awake in his likeness, are but the foulest delusions that ever cheated the hopes of man.” (sermon 258)

But what if Christ has been raised?

– If Christ has been raised, the preaching of the gospel is glorious, powerful, and provides us with an accurate, reliable, and trustworthy revelation of God.

– If Christ has been raised, the Apostolic writings of the New Testament are accurate, precious, and filled with eternal truth.

– If Christ has been raised, our personal faith is of priceless valuable.

– If Christ has been raised, we are free from sin and filled with eternal hope.

– If Christ has been raised, death has been defeated, and we await eternal life in the presence of our resurrected Savior!

This is why I love celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. We are forced to reckon with the weightiest question in the universe in a simple, matter of fact, yes/no conclusion. The resurrection is no matter of personal opinion or a matter of religious preference. Our faith is not some platitude severed from history offered to those who want a subjective psychological wholeness. The very foundation and validity of the faith is a matter of historical accuracy. Either the miracle of Christ’s resurrection didn’t happen and we are all fools, or the resurrection of Christ was accomplished and we possess freedom from sin and victory over death.

There rushes into our hearts at some time in our lives the realization that all our eternal hopes and comforts hinge on the reality of the resurrection of our Savior. We discover that all our eggs are in one basket.

Pastor: “Allelujah! Christ is risen!”

Congregation: “He is risen indeed! Allelujah!”

Reading Digest #5 (April 2, 2009)

Tony Reinke .Reading Digest

A digest of my current reading diet.

SCRIPTURE …

Proverbs 4. Studying this chapter on my own, with my son, and together for family worship. Stressing the importance of watching over our hearts to ensure our affections are not drawn towards worldliness.

CURRENTLY READING …

Say It Ain’t So Joe!: The True Story of Shoeless Joe Jackson by Donald Gropman (30%, 2.80 stars). Because baseball is in the air and Joe Jackson is a celebrated hitter from my favorite era (1900-1920). Gropman reveals the many features of Jackson’s skills, his incredible power at the plate, and his ability to toss a baseball over 400 feet in the air (no fielder in the baseball could match his throwing distance)! Yet the author allows the flaws to come forward, too, and appears he will not make SJJ out to be a helpless victim of the 1919 Black Sox scandal. Although he did not intentionally lose World Series games (which is statistically obvious), Jackson was aware of the scandal and did nothing to stop it. Thus far this book is balanced and enjoyable. Read selections from the book here.

The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis (25%, 4.00 stars). In this excellent collection of essays I have been carefully studying “The Weight of Glory” and “Transposition.” Although I am not terribly familiar with Lewis, I have found him especially gifted in articulating the places where spiritual reality meets natural reality. Lewis opens my dim eyes to see the work of God in ways I previously missed… His thoughts on metaphor-as-reality are striking as well, although these thoughts are developed in other books.

A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C.S. Lewis by Clyde Kilby (20%, 4.50 stars). A collection of Lewis’s greatest quotes on all theological topics of consideration. “This book is so good,” John Piper said in 1970, “you won’t be able to finish it without putting it down.” As I’ve experienced myself. A precious little anthology of Lewis at his best.

The Christology of John Owen by Richard Daniels (15%, 4.00 stars). Daniels has written a masterful comprehensive Christology of Puritan theologian John Owen. To balance, I’ve been reading slowly from Owen on the difference between faith in Christ and our sight of Christ (1:374-389). A slow read, part of my morning devos.

The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer, Volume 3: A Christian View of Spirituality (15%, 3.80 stars). On his blog recently, Justin Taylor quoted from the book, No Little People, and my friend CB is reading True Spirituality. Schaeffer, I believe, was at his best behind the pulpit. Both books are comprised of sermons delivered at L’Abri and are included in volume 3 of Schaeffer’s works. My devo time has been richly reward by these sermons/books. A slow read, part of my morning devos.

A. Lincoln: A Biography by Ronald C. White, Jr. (30%, 3.00 stars). A spanking new, highly endorsed, biography of president Lincoln. A hearty 900-page volume that has received at least one negative review (Weekly Standard), but the more I read the less I agree with that criticism and the more I enjoy this definitive bio. Slow read, being a nightstand book.

Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style by Virginia Tufte (35%, 3.40 stars). Collection of over 1,000 sentences from the writings of the modern literary greats, organized topically, with syntactical exegesis to expound the stylistic construction of each sentence. I love the organization, the format, and the depth of explanation. Few books on style are as valuable. Artful Sentences is a rare book that excels at explaining abstract style within concrete examples straight from the pages of modern literature. You’ve seen this book on my list for a while and it’s not a book I’m trying to complete quickly.

RECENTLY COMPLETED …

The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo by Irving Stone (15%, 2.50 stars). The ornamented world of Renaissance Italy is recreated by Stone in this ‘historical novel,’ praised for its research and historical detail (the author studied all 495 known letters written by Michelangelo). The author zooms in from the period to focus on the artistic tensions and life of M., whose sculpting is genius and a small miracle. His aristocratic family was not keen on the idea of son pursuing art, his father apparently hated the idea of a son working with his hands, and was appalled that he would chip rocks with a chisel. Sculpting had passed its height in Italy and there were no gifted sculptor mentors. Yet M. followed his inner conviction that he was created to sculpt. A captivating story of divine artistic gifting. Will pick this up as a summer read.

Unpacking Forgiveness: Biblical Answers for Complex Questions and Deep Wounds by Chris Brauns (50%, 3.50 stars). Good book on how Christians forgive others. Written with immediate application in mind. Explains the fascinating (and I think biblical) concept of forgiving others for their sin only when they ask for forgiveness and not before. Good book but leaving it aside for now.

Our Reasonable Faith by Herman Bavinck (30%, 5.00 stars). My favorite condensed systematic theology noted for its theological splendor and for moments of breakout doxology. This is my go-to volume for rich, slow-paced theological learning. I’ll pick this up later in the fall.

ON THE DOCKET …

Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling by Andy Crouch. Dipped into this book on a recent flight, long enough to know this is a book I want to read cover-to-cover.

Revising Prose (5th Edition) by Richard A. Lanham. Recently heard great things about this (overpriced) book on editing. My training in the fine art of self-editing will never be completed.

Smart Choices: A Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions by John S. Hammond. It took me a while to decide between paperback and hardcover but I flipped a coin and went paperback. Decision making is an area I can improve and this book comes highly recommended.

Bernard of Clairvaux: Selected Works Bernard of Clairvaux (Paulist Press edition). After reading Dr. Daniel Akin’s PhD dissertation on the soteriology of Bernard last year, I more greatly appreciated the medieval theologian’s evangelical understanding of the atonement and his penetrating spirituality. Dipping into Bernard for myself has been a personal goal for a while. This little collection will provide a suitable initiation.

J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter. Comes recommended and looks very interesting.