Special thanks to Themelios for granting us permission to post a valuable editorial written by Carl Trueman titled “Some Advantages of Going Dutch.” It appeared in the opening pages of Themelios back in June 2000, and it has never appeared online.

In the editorial Trueman recounts his introduction to Bavinck’s writings and then asks a pointed question: Is Bavinck relevant today?

In conversation with theological students around the country, it often seems to me that one major problem faced by many is the development of a way of thinking theologically which neither retreats into a ghetto and adopts a ‘seek out and destroy’ mentality towards every new idea which crosses their path, nor capitulates unconditionally at the first objection to their faith which they cannot immediately answer. Such students need their theological confidence boosted by good role models of a kind provided neither by the tunnel-vision of the specialist scholars who epitomise the fragmented nature of the theological discipline today, nor the platitudes of self-appointed evangelical gurus whose latest blockbuster tells them what they know already. What they really need to do is to read someone like Bavinck…

Download the entire editorial here (pdf).