Bavinck was influential in four major areas:

• As an able dogmatician. Bavinck was recognized both within and outside of Reformed circles as a competent and exhaustive theologian. Comparing him to such contemporaries as Kuyper, Warfield, and Orr, Dosker viewed Bavinck as “the broadest and technically the most perfect” systematician of his day.¹
  Bavinck supplemented his Gereformeerde Dogmatiek with a 650-page compendium, Magnalia Dei (1909; Our Reasonable Faith, 1956), intended for the common people. The subtitle indicates its purpose: “Instruction in the Christian Religion in Accord with the Reformed Confession.” This volume covers the same ground as the Dogmatiek, but is more brief and practical, less technical and historical, and contains copious Scripture proofs.At both the academic and popular level, Bavinck’s dogmatics are marked by fidelity to Scripture, clarity of expression, erudition, and absolute honesty. His method in dogmatics is, first, to provide a thorough exposition of the relevant Scripture passages dealing with the doctrine being considered. Second, he offers a careful historical-theological survey of what other theologians, including ones from non-Reformed tra­ditions, have to say. Though Bavinck remained faithful throughout his life to the Reformed point of view, he was a broadminded scholar who appreciated the good in other points of view. His standard approach was to present his opponent’s viewpoint objectively, stressing its strong points before revealing its inadequacies. Finally, he concluded with his own position, which was often a synthesis of other viewpoints arrived at through painstaking scriptural exegesis and reason­ing. In this, Bavinck differed from Kuyper, who was more antithetical and less careful in his approach to problems. Bavinck habitually sought to incorporate elements of truth which he found in other theological systems. That is evident in his views on supra- and infralapsarianism, creationism and traducianism, and also on questions related to the covenant of grace and the ordo salutis.²

Bavinck’s theology was exhaustive and contemporary. His knowledge of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin was a great asset for exegetical and historical theology. He also read widely in French, German, and English sources, which is evident in his bibliographical and footnote references. He stayed current with the theological literature of his day; every successive volume of his dogmatics includes references to the articles and books published in that particular year.
Bavinck was a scrupulous, inductive theologian with an instinctive feel for problems. He offered no answers without thoroughly studying an issue. He considered all angles of a problem and addressed every pro and con before arriving at a definite conviction, which then could be powerfully stated and ably defended.

• As a practical church theologian. Bavinck’s practical influence on the Gereformeerde Kerken, established under the leadership of Abraham Kuyper in 1892, was invaluable. Though thousands of people followed Kuyper’s leadership through his writings and his weekly paper, De Heraut, a substantial number of people in the churches of the 1892 union, led by Kampen professors Lucas Lindeboom (1845-1933) and Maarten Noordtzij (1840-1915), felt that Kuyper’s theology was not sufficiently scriptural. They believed it was often too deductive and speculative, particularly his views of baptism as a basis of presumptive regeneration, justification from eternity, and the scientific character of theology.
  In several debates, Bavinck played a mediating role in modifying some of Kuyper’s viewpoints. In effect, he became the leader of a third group that modified dis­sidents on both fringes. The Conclusions of Utrecht of 1905, which brought into closer proximity the Afscheiding and the Doleantie, the two groups that had joined in 1892, reflected Bavinck’s approach.³Without Bavinck, there may well have been a split in the young denomination during those critical years.
• In later years, Bavinck provided leadership in the pressing problems of women suffrage, war, and education, all of which became important issues in ecclesiastical, social, and political life after World War I. He also became a member of the First Chamber and gave advice on these issues when they were discussed in the Dutch Parliament.
• As a biblical philosopher. One of Bavinck’s most influential works, Philosophy of Revelation, was translated into English already in 1909. Bremmer describes Bavinck’s philosophy as “critical realism.” In this, Bavinck followed Augustine, who had “christianized” Plato’s doctrine of ideas.⁴
• Bavinck viewed creation as the embodiment of divine ideas. By reason, believers are able to grasp the world of ideas and learn the reality behind the visible world, thus drawing out of the universe the divine ideas built into it. The task of philosophy and science is to arrange these ideas systematically into an ordered whole. Man’s reasoning capacity, however, is limited, for it is bound to reality; it cannot, as Kant taught, produce that reality. The heart of man can find rest only in God’s revelation through the cross.
  Bavinck’s philosophy was strongly apologetic. He zealously combated modern, post-Kantian autonomous thought. Later Dutch philosophers, such as Dooyeweerd and Vollenhoven, built upon Bavinck’s philosophical insights.
• As a pedagogue. Bavinck’s Paedagogische Beginselen (Pedagogical Principles, 1904) greatly influenced Dutch teachers and the nature of the Christian school movement in the Netherlands. During Bavinck’s time, Christian grade schools were given equal status with the public schools. This created a great need for leadership among the teachers. Bavinck filled this need by publishing several pedagogical studies, including De Opvoeding der Rijpere Jeugd (1916; The Education of the Adolescent) and De Nieuwe Opvoeding (1917; The New Education). He was an outspoken advocate of Christian education, who offered recommendations and advice to the government.
  Finally, Bavinck’s interest in education spilled over into psychology as well. His Beginselen der Psychologie (1897; Principles of Psychology) and Bijbelsche en Religieuse Psychologie (1920; Biblical and Religious Psychology) broke new ground in the Netherlands.

Today, Bavinck’s influence is being increasingly felt in English-speaking countries, particularly with the ongo­ing translation of his renowned Reformed Dogmatics, being readied for the press by the Dutch Reformed Translation Society and printed by Baker. Volumes 1 (on the prolegomena) and 2 (on God and creation) are now available, volume 3 is at the printer and should be available next September, and the concluding volume, a year later, D.V. The completion of this important dogmatics will impact the study of theology in English-speaking countries for generations to come.