This article offers some statistics from Heinrich Bullinger’s The Decades with a brief analysis as evidence that Bullinger must be understood as the forerunner, not the father, of federal theology, due to his discussion of the covenant doctrine is limited, inconsistent, exploratory, and slightly integrated with the rest of his theological thought. Having tested Baker and McCoy’s thesis that Bullinger’s doctrine of the covenant is an organizing and central principle in most of his published works (especially in The Decades), one arrives at the conclusion that their thesis is not totally accurate. One might observe that Bullinger cannot be considered …

In his discussion of evolution, Bavinck offers a modified theory of development, rooted not under a mechanistic and naturalistic worldview, as Darwin does, but under a ‘theistic-friendly’ framework. This paper argues that Bavinck’s discussion of evolution as whole endorses a modified Aristotelian/Thomistic framework in order to understand the theory of development, and thus overcoming the challenges raised by Darwin’s naturalistic worldview to biblical revelation. Bavinck’s engagement with the theory of evolution is noteworthy. Unlike his general criticism to Darwinism in his discussion of human origins in RD §279-83, the essays studied here analyze the theory of evolution in a further …

In dealing with arguments against the Christian faith in his book The Philosophy of Religion, Bavinck uses a series of argumentative strategies. One of these strategies is the apologetics of despair. This study tries to figure out whether this strategy tends to be observed in most essays of the book or its use is only circumstantial. Bavinck does not reject at once and for all the ideas that may be detrimental to the faith, but instead, he engages with them in order to discover if they can offer some truth worth noting. In this respect, in the three essays discussed …

Despite the methodological usefulness of some recent scholarship, Max Weber’s sociology of authority may still prove fruitful for biblical and leadership studies. This paper explores Gideon’s judgeship from such a perspective in order to broaden our understanding of the Gideon narrative as depicted in Judges 6-8 and reclaim Gideon’s portrayal as a competent and strong leader in spite of his initial state of hesitation and faith struggle. Notwithstanding the methodological usefulness of some of the more recent scholarship, Weber’s sociology of authority may still prove fruitful for biblical studies or leadership studies. By engaging Gideon’s narrative using Weber’s sociology of …