Abstract
Recent Bavinck studies show that Herman Bavinck (1854–1921) is not only a dogmatician but also an ethicist. This article seeks to demonstrate that, by intertwining dogmatics and ethics in a doxological way, that is, glorifying and exalting God in wonder and praise, Bavinck describes these two disciplines as inter-independent yet intimately related; together they compose a single organism. Yet, Bavinck does not fully explicate the organic interconnection between dogmatics and ethics. Given this, I would like to take a step further to propose a Bavinckian analogical account of the two disciplines: ethics is embodied dogmatics, and dogmatics is ensouled ethics; together they constitute the organism of systematic theology. As such, dogmatics and ethics are understood to be two sub-disciplines of systematic theology, which aims to promote flourishing life in light of God’s self-revelation. Such a systematic theology serves to validate the due place of Christian theology in the academy.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 80–99 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | International Journal of Systematic Theology |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 8 Dec 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2022 |