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Thursday, March 8, 2012

The Philosophical Foundations of Bavinck and Dooyeweerd

Herman Dooyeweerd (1894–1977) was a Dutch philosopher in the neo-Calvinist tradition. He acquired international fame as one of the founders of a new school of Christian philosophy. Ed Echeverria reviewed two books, one a biography of the theologian Herman Bavinck by Ron Gleason and one a sympathetic-critical study of Dooyeweerd’s Christian philosophy of law, politics and society by Jonathan Chaplin. Chaplin’s book contains the clearest introduction to the thought of Dooyeweerd and Echeverria’s essay improves on that by offering the shortest introduction to Dooyeweerd and by comparing his thought to that of Bavinck.

Here is a link to Echeverria’s review essay in Journal of Markets & Morality v. 14, n. 2 (Fall 2011), pp. 463–483.

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2 comments:

  1. BausMarch 12, 2012 10:25 AM

    Your readers may be interested in an earlier exchange involving Echeverria. Over a decade ago, he expressed criticisms of Dooyeweerd in “Fides et Ratio”, Philosophia Reformata v. 65, n. 1 (2000), pp. 72-104; Roy Clouser published his reply as “Reason and Belief in God”, Philosophia Reformata v. 68, n. 1 (2003), pp. 36-68.

    Gregory Baus
    Beijing, China

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  2. Eduardo EcheverriaMarch 13, 2012 8:30 PM

    I'm grateful to Gregory Baus for informing your readers of an article I wrote on John Paul II's 1998 encyclical letter, Fides et Ratio, in which I did express criticisms of Dooyeweerd's position on faith and reason. Yes, Roy Clouser did respond some time later to my article, but I, in turn, responded to him in a subsequent article, "Once Again, John Paul II's Fides et Ratio," Philosophia Reformata v. 69 (2004), pp. 38–52. I deal more extensively with the neo-Calvinist tradition of philosophy and theology (Bavinck, Berkouwer and Dooyeweerd) in my book, Dialogue of Love: Confessions of an Evangelical Catholic Ecumenist (Wipf & Stock, 2010).

    Eduardo Echeverria
    Detroit, MI

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