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 review of Vos' Reformed Dogmatics

Geerhardus Vos was a Dutch theologian who taught in American seminaries for over four decades spanning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He’s probably best known for his Biblical Theology, but that’s changing now that his work in systematic theology has been translated into English by Richard B. Gaffin Jr. Lexham Press has just published Reformed Dogmatics: A System of Christian Theology (Single Volume Edition). Dogmatics is synonymous with systematic theology. This is a book of systematic theology. And, if you’ve never heard of Vos before, just think of him as one of the Three Ninjas of Dutch Reformed theology along with Herman Bavinck and Abraham Kuyper. They were all on friendly terms with one another. Kuyper tried to get Vos to come to teach at his institution. Bavinck did the same. So if you like one, you’ll probably like the rest of the bunch.

This edition of Reformed Dogmatics was originally released in a steady stream of five single volumes as Gaffin translated them. And Lexham has done us a tremendous service by compiling these into a single convenient and affordable volume. At over 1,200 pages, it’s surprisingly slim. But there’s a tradeoff when it comes to ghosting from the print on the other side of the page. The paper isn’t opaque, but you will be keenly aware that there is text behind the piece of paper you’re reading. I like to write notes while reading. In contrast to most other systematic theologies, Vos writes in the form of questions and answers. This dialectic method serves the content well, giving it a precision and clarity that is sometimes missed. Each theological subject is developed from general to specific as Vos anticipates objections and clarifications. Vos misses the opportunity to offer a concise, quotable definition for each doctrine. However the scope of the discussion makes up for this weakness.

Not only does Vos show that he knows his contemporaries well, but he is equally at home with both the reformers and early church fathers. Special attention is given to exploring the differences between the Reformed Protestant view and the Roman Catholic view. Those who know Vos’ later writings may be surprised that his presentation of eschatology follows a more traditional perspective without the robust understanding he subsequently explores. Vos has given us a careful and systematic presentation of many important doctrines of the Christian faith. These volumes are a valuable resource for anyone interested in Reformed Christian doctrine. Above all, Vos’s Reformed Dogmatics is profoundly biblical. Vos the systematic theologian offers a healthy combination of sober proof-texting and extended theological commentary (e.g., he devotes seventeen pages to Romans 9 in his discussion of predestination), always cognizant that being biblical requires discerning and displaying the internal logic of special revelation, not simply collating a series of texts. All in all, Vos does a wonderful job in this text. 

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