J.H. Bavinck (1895–1964)

This review was also posted here - https://cavetothecross.com/blog/personality-and-worldview/

It's interesting to read presuppositional apologetic topics pre-1970s. Cornelius Van Til was writing around 1950s and usually (before the 2000s) you really needed a decade or two before people started interacting with the subject well enough (one could argue that's needed these days as well).

Here, Bavinck isn't so much a presuppositionalist per se, but a lot of this book has a number of elements that will be familiar to those in the presup camp. First of all the translation and the explanation of the translation is top notch. Reasons givens for choices and inclusions or editing are made right off the bat and more translated works could use this type of rigor. I applaud James Eglinton for it.

Bavinck starts where I believe all people should start and that's defining his terms. Worldview, personality, and worldvision are his starting points and descriptions of them are the necessary lifeblood in understanding where he's coming from and the points he's trying to make. Here, I think many VanTil/Bahnsen presuppositionalists will find useful the distinction between "worldvision" and "worldview" and it's something to ponder. What Bavinck looks at when it comes to personality is something I was excited to read about and it is where I think the book falters the most as he doesn't really come back to this part and leaves it underdeveloped and focuses more on the worldvision/worldview components.

The proceeding chapters covers the gamut of philosophical revolutions and eras - empiricism, rationalism, mysticism, East/West divide, and atheistic materialism are laid out in depth. In fact, I would say there'd be no way to charge Bavinck with surface-level undertaking of the topics in such a small amount of space.

However, I do think Bavinck gets too caught up in informing his audience of these worldviews that the personality - the bridging between worldvision and worldview is almost lost in the pages. Even in the last chapter where I thought he might tie everything together, while I would have made for a messy display, wasn't done and again it's as if Bavinck only cooked one side of the pancake.

I think this is a worthwhile book to have on the topic of different worldviews, especially from the time period in which Bavinck is writing. I don't think you are given what the title suggests by half but I think this is something presuppositionalists could use as a springboard to talk about how personality forms the bridge between worldvision into a worldview - even if one were to claim to have never formed one before. Final Grade - C-… (mere)

In this influential posthumous masterpiece, Dutch missiologist J. H. Bavinck guides readers in a candid, eloquent, and eye-opening exploration of religion, revelation, and the distinctness of the Christian faith in the context of global religions. Bavinck’s five ‘magnetic points’ (cosmic relationship, religious norm, the riddle of existence, our craving for salvation, and our awareness of a supreme power) are a transformative rubric for bringing Christ to the world, including those identifying as religious “nones.” Now for the first time in hardcover, with a luminary introduction by Daniel Strange, a new generation of Christians, pastors, and theologians can benefit from J. H. Bavinck’s must-read study of the contrast between Christianity and world religions.… (mere)

"This book offers an English translation of the 1928 Dutch volume by J. H. Bavinck titled (in English translation) Personality and Worldview. Bavinck provides an Augustinian account of the relationship between the soul, each human's unique personality, and worldview. He argues for the importance of worldview, while also recognizing the dangers of worldview-based thinking gone wrong. Central to Bavinck's argument is that the gospel itself reshapes our personalities and provides us with a worldview that opposes any other worldview developed by man. By probing these philosophical questions, Bavinck helps readers think critically about the forces forming them and about how to live life with intentional thoughtfulness"-- Provided by publisher.… (mere)