Since 2008, we have been taking time around New Year’s Day to bring you some of the top moments from the preceding year. We have several great clips lined up for you today.

The Top Episodes of 2023 (by YouTube views)

1. Dan Ragusa — Preterism and 2 Peter 3 (YouTube)
2. Gray Sutanto and Cory Brock — A Theological Introduction to Neo-Calvinism (YouTube)
3. Greg Beale — The New Testament Use of the Old Testament (YouTube)
4. Carlton Wynne — Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (YouTube)
5. Camden Bucey — The Importance of Cornelius Van Til for Today (YouTube)
6. Jim Cassidy — Introducing and Interpreting Karl Barth (YouTube)
7. Danny Olinger — Christianity and Liberalism: Introduction (YouTube)
8. Lane Tipton — Exitus and Reditus in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas (YouTube)
9. Jonathan Master — Reformed Theology (YouTube)
10. Michael Beck — Covenant Theology and Cultural Engagement in the Thought of Meredith G. Kline (YouTube)

Chapters

• 00:00:07 Introduction
• 00:03:26 The Top 10 Episodes of 2023
• 00:15:13 [Dan Ragusa] Preterism and 2 Peter 3
• 00:24:22 [Gray Sutanto and Cory Brock] A Theological Introduction to Neo-Calvinism
• 00:30:14 [Greg Beale] The New Testament Use of the Old Testament
• 00:39:28 [Carlton Wynne] Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion
• 00:46:58 [Camden Bucey] The Importance of Cornelius Van Til for Today
• 01:00:24 [Jim Cassidy] Introducing and Interpreting Karl Barth
• 01:12:16 [Danny Olinger] Christianity and Liberalism: Introduction
• 01:16:59 [Lane Tipton] Exitus and Reditus in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas
• 01:25:09 [Jonathan Master] Reformed Theology
• 01:34:52 [Michael Beck] Covenant Theology and Cultural Engagement in the Thought of Meredith G. Kline
• 01:40:52 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Carlton Wynne, Cory Brock, Dan Ragusa, Danny Olinger, Greg Beale, Jim Cassidy, Jonathan Master, Lane G. Tipton, Michael Beck, Nathaniel Gray Sutanto

Today we welcome Cory C. Brock and N. Gray Sutanto to speak about their book, Neo-Calvinism: A Theological Introduction (Lexham Academic), which is an excellent initiation and explication of neo-Calvinism as a nineteenth- and early twentieth-century movement in the Netherlands. It was “a revival of Reformed confessionalist theology in the Netherlands roughly beginning with the rise of Kuyper as a theology, with the founding of the Vrije Universiteit in 1880, the formation of the Gereformeerde Kerken in 1892, and its systematization in the theological output of Herman Bavinck (p. 4).”

Cory C. Brock is minister at St. Columba’s Free Church of Scotland in Edinburgh and adjunct lecturer in theology at Edinburgh Theological Seminary and Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi. Heh is the author of Orthodox yet Modern: Herman Bavinck’s Use of Friedrich Schleiermacher.

N. Gray Sutanto is assistant professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., and the author of God and Knowledge: Herman Bavinck’s Theological Epistemology of God. He is an associate fellow at the Neo-Calvinism Research Institute.

Links

• Along with James Eglinton and Marinus DeJong, Drs. Brock and Sutanto host the Grace in Common podcast.
• N. Gray Sutanto, “Consummation Anyway” Journal of Analytic Theology, Vol. 9, Summer 2021

Chapters

• 00:00:07 Introduction
• 00:01:24 Grace in Common
• 00:04:26 Defining Neo-Calvinism
• 00:15:08 What Is “Neo” about Neo-Calvinism?
• 00:21:37 Grace Restores/Perfects Nature
• 00:32:13 Anonymous Neo-Calvinists
• 00:40:54 Catholicity and Ecumenicity
• 00:48:45 Worldview
• 01:00:34 Developing a Global View of Christianity
• 01:08:45 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Cory Brock, Nathaniel Gray Sutanto

In 1904, the same year Herman Bavinck published Christian Worldview, Bavinck published a book titled Christelijke wetenschap (Christian Science) in which he commented on a movement to “build science . . . on the foundation of the Christian faith.” Cory Brock joins us to speak about this book and Bavinck’s views on the subject.

Dr. Cory C. Brock is assistant minister of St. Columba’s Free Church and part-time lecturer in theology at Edinburgh Theological Seminary. He is the author of Orthodox yet Modern: Herman Bavinck’s Use of Friedrich Schleiermacher and co-author of Neo-Calvinism: A Theological Introduction.

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction
• 06:22 A Different Type of “Christian Science”
• 15:38 The Antithesis and Scientific Presuppositions
• 19:42 The Trinity and Creation
• 23:58 The Image of God and the Hope of Christian Science
• 31:12 Theology as Queen and Servant of Science
• 38:40 Science in the New Heavens and New Earth
• 43:14 Sin, Knowledge, and the Christian University
• 49:01 Non-Christians and Science
• 59:03 Conclusion

Participants: Camden Bucey, Cory Brock, Ryan Noha

Cory Brock describes how Herman Bavinck interacted with and appropriated the theology of Friedrich Schleiermacher throughout his academic career. There is a significant shift toward a more pronounced and direct use of Schleiermacher later in his life. But any appropriation of Schleiermacher by Bavinck may surprise people.

Schleiermacher (1768–1834) is recognized as the father of modern liberal theology. It would appear that any incorporation of Schleiermacher’s theology or philosophy would compromise Bavinck’s Calvinist orthodoxy. Indeed, this manner of reading Bavinck gave rise to a so-called “two Bavincks hypothesis.” Brock builds a case for the relation of these two aspects in Bavinck in his book, Orthodox yet Modern: Herman Bavinck’s Use of Friedrich Schleiermacher (Lexham Press). Cory Brock serves as pastor of college and career at First Presbyterian Church (PCA), Jackson, Mississippi.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Cory Brock, Jim Cassidy

James Eglinton, Nathaniel Gray Sutanto, and Cory Brock speak about Herman Bavinck’s book, Christian Worldview. Sutanto, Eglinton, and Brock together have translated and edited this work and Crossway has brought it to print for the first time in English.

In the book, Herman Bavinck deals with pastoral concerns that arose within a culture that exchanged modernistic certainty for an appreciation of the unrecognizable and unknowable. Apart from the triune God revealed in Scripture, the culture was grasping for meaning.

Christian Worldview marks a new phase in his theological development. He spent the 1880s and 90s in Kampen wherein his main dialogue partners were liberal Protestants or materialist atheists. In 1900, two years before Bavinck moved to the Free University in Amsterdam, Friedrich Nietzsche died and something of a cult of his ideas developed in the Netherlands. Bavinck sought to address these new theological concerns. He developed a wholistic vision of all things and a wholistic way of living. He situated science and wisdom under a broader category of “worldview.”

Nathaniel Gray Sutanto is a teaching elder at Covenant City Church in Jakarta, Indonesia, and an adjunct faculty member at Westminster Theological Seminary. He is the author of God and Knowledge: Herman Bavinck’s Theological Epistemology.

James Eglinton is the Meldrum Lecturer in Reformed Theology at New College, University of Edinburgh. He is the author of Trinity and Organism, Herman Bavinck on Preaching and Preachers and Bavinck: A Critical Biography (forthcoming from Baker Academic).

Cory C. Brock serves as minister of young adults and college at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Mississippi, and is an adjunct professor of theology at Belhaven University.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Cory Brock, James Eglinton, Jim Cassidy, Nathaniel Gray Sutanto

Thank you to everyone who visited reformedforum.org/donate throughout the year. We are tremendously grateful for your generous support. Be assured that we’re setting the stage for another big year as our board continues to think and pray about our next steps.

We’re looking forward to another full year of Christ the Center. January 25 marked our 10th anniversary. Jeff, Jim, and I recorded that first episode during my first year in seminary—three homes and three children ago. Things have changed over the years, but our goal has stayed the same. Our mission is to present every person mature in Christ (Col. 1:28).

Episodes

• 524 — Marcus Mininger, Uncovering the Theme of Revelation in Romans 1:16–3:26
• 533 — Michael Kruger, How the Second Century Shaped the Future of the Church
• 540 — The Nature of Apostasy in Hebrews 6
• 542 — Bill Dennison, Karl Marx
• 551 — The Impeccability of Jesus Christ
• 555 — Darryl Hart, Still Protesting
• 556 — The Deeper Protestant Conception
• 566 — Glen Clary, The Liturgies of Bucer, Calvin, and Knox
• 570 — Danny Olinger, Geerhardus Vos: Reformed Biblical Theologian, Confessional Presbyterian
• 571 — Cory Brock and Nathaniel Gray Sutanto, Bavinck’s Philosophy of Revelation

Participants: Adam York, Bill Dennison, Camden Bucey, Cory Brock, Dan Ragusa, Danny Olinger, Darryl G. Hart, Glen Clary, Jared Oliphint, Jeff Waddington, Jim Cassidy, Lane G. Tipton, Marcus Mininger, Michael Kruger, Nathaniel Gray Sutanto

Cory Brock and Nathaniel Gray Sutanto speak about Herman Bavinck’s Philosophy of Revelation (Hendrickson Publishers). Drs. Brock and Sutanto have edited a new annotated edition of Bavinck’s Stone Lectures, which were delivered at Princeton in 1908. Other than his Reformed Dogmatics, this is Bavinck’s most important work. We are blessed to welcome new editions and translations of these works. Along with James Eglinton, Brock and Sutanto are also editing Bavinck’s Christian Worldview, scheduled to be published by Crossway next year.

Cory Brock is Minister of Young Adults and College at First Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Jackson, MS. He also serves on the faculty of Belhaven University teaching biblical studies. Nathaniel Gray Sutanto is Assistant Pastor at Covenant City Church in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Participants: Camden Bucey, Cory Brock, Dan Ragusa, Nathaniel Gray Sutanto

James Baird speaks with Cory Brock and Nathaniel Gray Sutanto about Friedrich Schleiermacher’s philosophical influences and their effect upon his theology. Brock and Sutanto are both PhD candidates at the University of Edinburgh, studying the theology of Herman Bavinck under Dr. James Eglinton. Cory Brock is writing a thesis on Bavinck’s appropriation of Schleiermacher. Gray Sutanto is writing on Bavinck’s theological epistemology. Together, they have co-authored an article titled, “Herman Bavinck’s Reformed Eclecticism: On Catholicity, Consciousness, and Theological Epistemology” forthcoming in The Scottish Journal of Theology.

Participants: Cory Brock, James Baird, Nathaniel Gray Sutanto