2020 Reading Project: G.C. Berkouwer
I started a tradition in 2018 of selecting a theologian and attempting to read most of their works over the course of a year, as well as reading some commentaries on their work. Last year I got ambitious and selected two theologians. But in 2020 I’m scaling back to one, and am selecting someone more modern: G.C. Berkouwer.
Berkouwer (1903-1996) was Dutch Reformed theologian who taught systematic theology at VU Amsterdam, holding the same chair previously occupied by Herman Bavinck. He was a prominent interlocutor of Karl Barth, and was a formal observer of the Second Vatican Council. His 14 volume (in English) dogmatics remain very influential. They are,
1. Faith and Justification
2. Faith and Sanctification
3. Faith and Perseverance
4. The Providence of God
5. General Revelation
6. The Person of Christ
7. The Work of Christ
8. The Sacraments
9. Divine Election
10. Man: The Image of God
11. Sin
12. The Return of Christ
13. Holy Scripture
14. The Church
Other major works of his which I will be reading include The Triumph of Grace in the Theology of Karl Barth, The Second Vatican Council and the New Catholicism, Modern Uncertainty and Christian Faith, and A Half Century of Theology: Movement and Motives. The supplementary works I’ll read are The Sovereignty of God: An Appraisal of G.C. Berkhouwer’s View of Dordt by Cornelius Van Til, Berkhouwer and Catholicism: Disputed Questions by Eduardo Echeverria, and ‘Berkouwer: A Hole in the Dike?‘ by Carl Bogue.
The general schedule I am following will be this:
January
Faith and Justification
February
Faith and Sanctification
March
Faith and Perseverance
The Providence of God
April
General Revelation
The Person of Christ
May
The Work of Christ
The Sacraments
June
Divine Election
The Triumph of Grace in the Theology of Karl Barth
July
Man: The Image of God
The Second Vatican Council and the New Catholicism
August
Sin
Modern Uncertainty and Christian Faith
The Sovereignty of God: An Appraisal of G.C. Berkhouwer’s View of Dordt
September
The Return of Christ
Holy Scripture
October
A Half Century of Theology: Movement and Motives
‘Berkouwer: A Hole in the Dike?’
November
The Church
Berkhouwer and Catholicism: Disputed Questions
December
Catch up if needed
