Book Review: God and Humanity

By Dr Steve Bishop

An independent researcher based in Wales, UK. He is a trustee of ThinkingFaith Network, maintains the website allofliferedeemed.co.uk and is an Associate Fellow of the Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology. He is co-editor of On Kuyper (Sioux Center, IO: Dordt Press, 2013).

Nathaniel Gray Sutanto, God and Humanity: Herman Bavinck and Theological Anthropology.
T&T Clark, 2024, 220pp, £85 h/b (wordery.com)

Nathaniel Gray Sutanto, of the Reformed Theological Seminary in North America, has dealt with Bavinck’s epistemology in his Edinburgh doctoral dissertation.[1] In this volume, he provides an in-depth examination of Bavinck’s anthropology. In God and Humanity, part of the “T&T Clark Explorations in Reformed Theology” series, he seeks to show that Bavinck’s anthropology offers a holistic vision, which transcends the “binaries” of affect/ reason, this-worldly/ other-worldly, body/ soul – Bavinck views the soul to be distinct from the body, but deeply intertwined with it.

This is not merely an exposition of Bavinck’s anthropology; it is also an application of his insights to contemporary conversations such as phenomenology, affect theory, and the cognitive science of religion.  As Sutanto put it, “this work is the first scholarly monograph on Bavinck’s theological anthropology taken as a systematic whole and as applied to contemporary conversations.” As such, this is a scholarly work aimed at academics rather than general readers or pastors.

Sutanto presents Bavinck’s view of humanity as an organic unity of body, soul, and spirit, and he emphasises the interplay between these components.

He argues that Bavinck’s view shows that human beings are intrinsically religious creatures, and as such, responsive to divine revelation in both conscious and unconscious ways.

Surprisingly, the heart receives little attention, especially as Bavinck regarded the heart as the “most hidden essence, the innermost core of the human being”.[2] It would be churlish to suggest there are some lacunae in the book; suffice to say there is nothing on identity and gender, but the important topic of race and racism is well covered in two chapters. Helpful is Sutanto’s observation that Bavinck saw that racism emerged from relativism and historicism and from the grounding of morality in humanity and not in God. He argues that Bavinck’s view of racism was more developed and consistent than that of Kuyper’s.

The final two chapters explore the final consummation of all things and Bavinck’s view of the beatific vision. He argues that Bavinck’s view leads to a life of worship, faith, hope, and love.

Sutanto states that Bavinck’s Foundations of Psychology is consistent with his later work, and yet Bavinck suggests otherwise. There is little discussion of Bavinck’s later work on psychology, such as the recently translated Biblical and Religious Psychology, which some have suggested is less scholastic than Bavinck’s previous work.

Nonetheless, Sutanto’s work is a worthy contribution to Bavinck studies. He provides an analysis that is both fascinating and thought-provoking. Overall, God and Humanity is a valuable resource for those engaged in theological anthropology. It offers original insights and engages with Bavinck’s thought in a way that contributes to ongoing theological discussions. It is a demanding read. I hope a more accessible presentation of these important ideas will emerge in the future.

Footnotes:

[1] N. G. Sutanto, God and Knowledge: Herman Bavinck’s Theological Epistemology. (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2020).

[2] Herman Bavinck, Biblical and Religious Psychology (Jenison, MI: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 2024).

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