Dutch Neo-Calvinist Herman Bavinck’s Reception of Protestant Reformer John Calvin within the Doctrine of Christ’s Descent into Hell

This research project aims to explore the Dutch Reformed theologian Herman Bavinck’s reception of Protestant reformer
John Calvin’s theology within the Christian creedal doctrine of Christ’s descent into hell. Following Calvin and other Reformed theologians, Bavinck saw Christ’s descent into hell as an expression of the spiritual agony which he endured on the cross, and thus an indispensable aspect of the Christian theology of Christ’s atoning work. This project aims to contribute to scholarship on John Calvin’s theology, which remains indispensable to ongoing research on the Protestant Reformation (research which is taking place both at McGill University and at the University of Edinburgh). Additionally, this project seeks to join in a renewed wave of research on Herman Bavinck, a central figure in the Neo-Calvinism of the nineteenth to twentieth centuries (an area of research on which the University of Edinburgh has produced outstanding scholarship of late). More broadly, this research informs continuing scholarship on the history of the Reformed Protestant Church and the development of its view of the purpose of Christ’s death.

Faculty Supervisor:

Torrance Kirby

Student:

Partner:

University of Edinburgh

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

McGill University

Program: