God and Knowledge: Herman Bavinck’’s Theological Epistemology

Does theology belong within the academy or the church? How do Christian teachings - on God, revelation, and humanity - contribute to the activity of knowing? This volume offers a fresh reading of Bavinck’s theological epistemology and argues that his Trinitarian and organic worldview utilizes an eclectic 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-20th century concerning theology’s place in the academy, and rooted in historic Christian teachings, Bavinck’s argument remains fresh and provocative. He argued that because the universe was created by the God as described in Christian thought as the Trinity (One God in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and thus a God who is absolute unity-in-diversity) knowledge of the universe can be characterized as a singular organism. This volume, exploring archival material and heretofore untranslated works, then applies this reading to current debates on the relationship between theology and philosophy, nature and grace, and the nature of knowing.

Nathaniel Gray Sutanto is Teaching Elder at Covenant City Church, Jakarta, Indonesia, and Associate Research Fellow at the Neo-Calvinism Research Institute, the Netherlands. He is also co-editor for the recent publications of Bavinck’s Christian Worldview, and Philosophy of Revelation.