Between the Beginning and the End: A Radical Kingdom Vision
Overview
Twentieth-century Dutch missiologist and prolific author J.H. Bavinck was committed to confronting the world with the saving message of Christ. In this first English translation of the Dutch work published in 1946, Bavinck presents a cosmic kingdom vision and champions the coming of the kingdom of Christ as the basic message of the gospel.
Bavinck eloquently challenges believers to live as kingdom people as he expresses a uniquely Reformed perspective on the eternal significance of our temporal world. His eschatological vision, which permeates the book, is now more relevant than ever as climate change, resource depletion, financial turmoil, and other issues increasingly threaten our world.
With Bert Hielema's skillful translation capturing the beauty and power of Bavinck's original text, Between the Beginning and the End calls all Christians to consider anew the entire scope of the church and Christ's kingdom.
- Challenges believers to live as kingdom people
- Provides a relevant eschatological vision
- Focuses on the basic message of the gospel
- The Eternal in History
- The Language of the Old Testament Symbols
- The Kingdom
- Christ, the Central Focus of Scripture
- Christ’s Arrest
- The High-Priestly Verdict
- “I Don’t Know the Man”
- The Sentence of the Governor
- The Death of Humanity
- Born Again
- The Road to Life
Top Highlights
“the Bible regards us both as being in history and standing before the face of God.” (Page 4)
“It is simply not possible to lift persons out of their time frame and milieu; we must regard them within the context of the totality of the particular period of history in which their lives were anchored. Only then do we see humans in their totality. After all, mankind is history. History is not an aspect of being human; it is at the very core of a person’s life. This is the outlook that modern Western people have developed concerning history and the individual person’s relationship to it.” (Page 3)
“All of our lives display a similar path. We may differ in strength and ability, and we may go our separate ways in education and development; yet, despite all these dissimilarities, there is the universal human condition that is always the same, the reason why we forever belong to each other.” (Page 2)
“I should point out that the entrance of the Temple faces east, where the sun rises, and thus points to the origin of life. Whoever enters the Temple turns his back to the east and proceeds to the west, the country where the sun sets, the region of death.” (Page 18)
“The book of Hebrews intimates that ‘the sanctuary made with hands’ (9:24) was a foreshadowing of heaven itself. And if the Holy of Holies represented heaven and made it real in the world, then it is logical to assume that the outer court around the Temple was a prototype of the world. Both the inner Temple and the outer court point back to the two hemispheres of heaven and earth and show in symbolic form the magnificent edifice that is God’s great world.” (Page 16)
J.H. Bavinck was not only one of the premier missiologists of the twentieth century; he was also, as this elegant set of meditations demonstrates, a gifted expositor of Scripture. . . . I don't know of another single book that provides such a reliable and inspiring guide to the panorama of biblical salvation history and its immediacy for us.
—John Bolt, professor of systematic theology, Calvin Theological Seminary
This moving meditation is a must-read for all church leaders. Bavinck's radical kingdom vision will revolutionize the reader's understanding of the Christian's place and role in God's mission from age to age. Bert Hielema's translation is outstanding — readable, fluid, clear, forceful, and compelling.
—Charles Van Engen, Arthur F. Glasser Professor of Biblical Theology of Mission School of Intercultural Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary
This excellent study will open the eyes of many people around the globe to the richness of Bavinck's mission theology.
—Jan A.B. Jongeneel, Ultrecht University
- Title: Between the Beginning and the End: A Radical Kingdom Vision
- Author: Johan Herman Bavinck
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Print Publication Date: 2014
- Logos Release Date: 2015
- Pages: 156
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Jesus Christ › Person and offices; Kingdom of God
- ISBNs: 9780802871305, 0802871305
- Resource ID: LLS:BGNNNGNDKNGDVSN
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T22:12:43Z
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