All Articles For Engelsma, David (D.E. / D.J.E.)

by Herman Bavinck, ed. John Bolt. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2025. Hardcover. Pp. xvi + 423. $57.99. ISBN 9780801098239. Reviewed by David J. Engelsma. With volume 3 of the Reformed Ethics, the Dutch Reformed Translation Society (DRTS), Baker Publishing, and John Bolt have completed a publishing project of great significance for Reformed theology in the English language. This consists of publishing the four volumes of Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics and then three volumes of the Reformed theologian’s semi-thorough study of Reformed ethics, “semi” because Bavinck died before he could finish his work on ethics. In light of Bavinck’s towering stature in...

The following book is reviewed by Prof. David Engelsma, former editor of the Standard Bearer, professor emeritus of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary, and member of Trinity PRC in Hudsonville, Michigan   Today’s Christian & the Church’s Bible: A Time to Return to the Authorized Version, by Theodore P. Letis. Winter Springs, FL: the Greater Heritage, 2023. Pp. 73. $13.99 soft. In the Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC), the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, or Authorized Version (AV), not only has pride of place, but also is exclusively the version of the Bible that...

The date of the original publication in the Standard Bearer of Gerrit Vos’ meditation brings back memories. The date was May 15, 1963. On that date, I was preparing for examination before synod as a graduate from the seminary of the Protestant Reformed Churches. I was the only graduate. For the first two years, I was the only student in seminary. This meant that there was no graduate in 1961 or in 1962. Only one had graduated in 1960. After 1963, there would not be another graduate and candidate for the ministry in the PRC until 1965. One graduate and...

member of Faith PRC in Jenison, Michigan, full-time librarian/registrar/archivist at the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary, and SB book review editor   The following book is reviewed by Prof. David Engelsma, former editor of the Standard Bearer, professor emeritus of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary, and member of Trinity PRC in Hudsonville, Michigan     The Justice & Goodness of God: A Biblical Case for the Final Judgment, by Thomas R. Schreiner. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2024. Pp xiv + 145. $13.49 soft. The book promises much, but delivers little. The opening line asks the promising question,...

by Douglas J. Douma. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2017. Pp. 292. $37 softcover. ISBN 9781532607240. Reviewed by David J. Engelsma. A correction of the title of this book that might increase its appeal to the average Presbyterian and Reformed reader (who ought to read the book) is The Presbyterian Theologian, or, The Presbyterian Philos­opher/Theologian. “Clark came to believe that all knowledge possible to man is limited to the propositions of the Bible and that which can be logically deduced from the Bible” (68). “Clark…claimed that the Bible is the sole source of all human knowledge.” Therefore, Clark’s philosophy later...

former editor of the Standard Bearer, professor emeritus of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary, and member of Trinity PRC in Hudsonville, Michigan The Standard Bearer (SB) is not a church-magazine. It is not published by, and under the auspices of, a church, or a denomination of churches, identified though it commonly, and rightly, is as the magazine of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America (PRCA). Rather, the magazine is published by an association of Reformed men that is free from church control: the Reformed Free Publishing Association (RFPA). At the same time, the magazine is...

by Douglas J. Douma. Unicoi, TN: The Trinity Foundation, 2023. Pp. xv + 271. $16.95. Paperback. ISBN 9781891777387. Reviewed by David J. Engelsma. The grand old doc of the book’s title was the Presbyterian philosopher/theologian Gordon H. Clark. In his day—Clark died in 1985—Clark was a well-known, controversial figure in conservative Presbyterian and evangelical circles, very much including the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC). Also the Protestant Reformed Churches in America (PRCA) have had a special interest in Clark’s theology. Clark denied the doctrine that is deceptively called the “free offer of the gospel” in the OPC and that is rightly,...

by Crawford Gribben. New York: Oxford University Press, 2024. Pp. xvi + 240. $23.99. Hardcover. ISBN 9780190932343. Reviewed by David J. Engelsma. John Nelson Darby was one of the most influential theologians who ever lived, especially regarding the doctrine of the last things— eschatology. According to the author of this superb study of Darby’s entire corpus of theology, Darby is also one of the most misunderstood and most misrepresented of prominent theologians. As the alleged father of dispensationalism, conceived as an eschatology centered on the rapture, Darby is regarded as the father of the eschatology of the vast majority of...

by Douglas Wilson. Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2019. Pp. ix + 272. $16.95 Softcover. ISBN 9781947644922. Reviewed by David J. Engelsma. Douglas Wilson, a prominent, contemporary figure in the Christian Reconstruction movement birthed by R. J. Rushdoony, has written a preterist reconstruction of the book of Revelation. “Preterist” means “past.” According to this Christian Reconstructionist, virtually all of Revelation is the account of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70. I qualify this description of Wilson’s work on Revelation with “virtually” because every once in a (rare) while the real, biblical, future end of all things forces...

Former editor of the Standard Bearer, professor emeritus of Dogmatics and Old Testament in the Protestant Reformed Theological Seminary and member of Trinity PRC in Hudsonville, Michigan Rarely does God give to His church a ministry of one of His servants like that of Herman C. Hanko. This includes the length of a ministry. Ordained into the gospel ministry in the Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC) in 1955, Hanko was declared emeritus (retired) in 2001. God gave him 46 years of official, active labor in His church. God made this ministry extraordinarily fruitful on behalf of the kingdom of Christ. The...