The Herman Bavinck body of work keeps growing! As every new title drops, our stores become fuller. To my mind, he’s one of the real master intellectuals out there. If he’s written on a subject, it was be a crime not to consult it if that’s the subject you’re working through.

You have surely heard of his Reformed Dogmatics. There are scholars who are devoting their career, like editor John Bolt here, to uncovering and freshly translating his work. I’ve only recently heard of a new set called Reformed Ethics and it looks like many are considering this work on Social Ethics as part of that set. Still, it’s unique enough to have this separate title.

We must commend the editors for taking mere notes, filling them out with careful honesty to make sure they’re authentic Bavinck, and even pulling in his other writings to fill the gaps. Your ideas must be valuable to get a group of editors to invest that kind of time to bring them to light.

The first section talks society. It approaches issues that dominate on some level political debate today. Its gift is its utterly dispassionate portrayal of politics as if what God said is all that matters. His argument that Jesus is not a social reformer, that is, He doesn’t work directly through larger social structures, is profound.

Next, he addresses art and scholarship. The section on art is less interesting to me, but others will appreciate it. Scholarship would do well to fall in line with him today.

When he next turns to the state, we find something desperately lacking today. He speaks calmly about issues that should be informed biblically rather than with our flavor of politics. The caldron of public debate today is so toxic that this book seems as if it comes from a distant time. The views explained, however, have more of a timeless quality. He is so judicious in his comments, yet so true to principle.

The next section on “the church” is stated to be different that his ecclesiology one in his Reformed Dogmatics. Here it’s more missions and its social impact. Perhaps we could say he’s arguing for the gospel over a mere social gospel.

When he approaches humanity and the kingdom of God, he defines the Kingdom as the highest good. Your views of prophecy might lead you away from him, but there are nuggets here for any viewpoint.

This completes what will likely be the last set of books by Bavinck to come out. His name is sufficient to suggest you will want it.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.