Author’s Corner: Reformed Ethics

Each week on Credo we welcome you to join us in the Author’s Corner where we will meet a set of authors whose recent books deserve your attention and might even help you grow in your knowledge of theology, history, philosophy, and the scriptures. We hope the Author’s Corner can keep you up-to-date on the most important books published today and where you can find them.

On today’s Author’s Corner we present you with a selection of works from Baker Academic.

---

Reformed Ethics, Volume 1: Created, Fallen, and Converted Humanity (2019) by Herman Bavinck, edited by John Bolt

Herman Bavinck’s four-volume Reformed Dogmatics is one of the most important theological works of the twentieth century. Leading Bavinck expert John Bolt edited that work, which has received wide acclaim. Now Bolt has edited a recently discovered manuscript from Bavinck, in print for the first time, which serves as a companion to Reformed Dogmatics. Reformed Ethics follows the same method and explores the ethical and spiritual dimensions of key doctrines beyond those of Reformed Dogmatics. It mines the moral teachings of the early church and medieval and Puritan spirituality while addressing a variety of topics, offering scholars, pastors, and students Bavinck’s mature reflections on ethical issues. This book is the first of three planned volumes.

Contents

Introduction to Herman Bavinck’s Reformed Ethics by Dirk van Keulen and John Bolt

Introduction

§1 Historical Overview of Christian Ethics
§2 Terminology
§3 Division and Organization of Ethic
§4 Foundation and Method of Ethics

Book I: Humanity before Conversion

1. Essential Human Nature

§5 Human Beings, Created in God’s Image
§6 The Content of Human Nature
§7 Human Relationships

2. Humanity under the Power of Sin

§8 The Devastation of the Image of God in Humanity
§9 The Organizing Principle and Classification of Sins

3. The Self against the Neighbor and God

§10 Sins of Egoism in the Narrow Sense
§11 Sins against the Neighbor
§12 Sins against God

4. The Fallen Image of God

§13 The Image of God in Fallen Human Beings

5. Human Conscience

§14 The Conscience

6. The Sinner and the Law

§15 The Law
§16 Natural Morality

Book II: Converted Humanity

7. Life in the Spirit

§17 The Nature of the Spiritual Life
§18 The Origin of the Spiritual Life
§19 The First and Basic Activity of the Spiritual Life

8. Life in the Spirit in the Church’s History

§20 Mysticism, Pietism, and Methodism

9. The Shape and Maturation of the Christian Life

§21 The Shape of the Christian Life: The Imitation of Christ
§22 The Growth of the Spiritual Life

10. Persevering in the Christian Life

§23 Security and Sealing

11. Pathologies of the Christian Life

§24 Diseases of the Spiritual Life and Their Roots

12. Restoration and Consummation of the Christian Life

§25 Means of Restoration
§26 Consummation of the Spiritual Life; Meditation on Death

Indexes

Reformed Ethics, Volume 2: The Duties of the Christian Life (2021) by Herman Bavinck, edited by John Bolt

This book, the second of three planned volumes, covers the duties of the Christian life and includes Bavinck’s exposition of the Ten Commandments.

Contents

Continued from Volume 1

Book III Humanity after Conversion

13. Duties, Precepts and Counsels, Adiaphora

§27 The Doctrine (Theory) of Duty
§28 Precepts and Counsels
§29 Duties and the Permissible; Adiaphora

14. Collision and Classification of Duties

§30 Collision of Duties
§31 Classification of Duties

Part A. Our Duties toward God

15. No Other Gods; No Images

§32 The First Commandment
§33 The Second Commandment

16. The Honor of God’s Name

§34 The Third Commandment

17. The Sabbath

§35 The Fourth Commandment

Part B. Our Duties toward Ourselves

18. General Bodily Duties to Self

§36 General Duties (Self-Preservation)
§37 Duties toward Bodily Life

19. Basic Necessities of Bodily Life

§38 Food and Nourishment
§39 Clothing

20. Bodily Duties to Our Souls

§40 Our Duty to Life Itself
§41 Attending to Bodily Life in the Seventh through Ninth Commandments
§42 Duties toward the Soul

Part C. Duties toward Our Neighbor

21. Loving Our Neighbor

§43 Neighbor Love in General
§44 Degrees of Neighbor Love (Fifth Commandment)
§45 Concern for Our Neighbor’s Life (Sixth Commandment)
§46 Duties toward Our Neighbor’s Chastity (Seventh Commandment)
§47 Duties toward Our Neighbor’s Property (Eighth Commandment)
§48 Duties toward Our Neighbor’s Reputation (Ninth Commandment)
§49 Covetousness (Tenth Commandment)

Indexes