Die ‘suiwer’ gereformeerde teologie van 1625 sonder ? ‘suiwer’ filosofiese grondslag: Is dit moontlik?

? Christelik-wysgerige ondersoek

Abstract

For a long time the Synopsis Purioris Theologiae (1625) played an important role in reformed theology. The Synod of Dordt (1618-1619) requested four theological professors at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands to write it. Against the Remonstrants (the followers of inter alia Arminius) it should clearly indicate the reformed perspective about the exact relationship between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. It should, as its title indicates, contain the purer (purioris) doctrine of the Reformed churches. The Synopsis furthermore served as a textbook for theological training in the 19th century when H. Bavinck edited a sixth edition in 1881. But till today no one has tried to dig out the philosophical presuppositions underlying its theology. This essay is an effort to do so, employing a Christian historiography of philosophy.
The study is divided into the following parts: (1) The introduction pro vides information about the origin, contents, influence and continued relevance of the Synopsis. (2) According to the problem-historical method, section 2 tries to trace the general philosophical framework or cluster of ideas which characterized the Reformed Orthodoxy at the time of the Synopsis. The agreements and differences between various theologians from this period are mentioned. All this information serves as a hypothetical guess to tackle the main part of the essay in which the following aspects of the Synopsis are analysed: (3) its cosmological and dualistic thinking; (4) its ideas about God; (5) about the cosmos or created reality; (6) the relationship between God (the Transcendent) and the cosmos (the non-transcendent), (7) the central place of its law-idea, which is closely related to (8) its partial, vertical universalistic conception. Next (9) its distinction between the natural and supernatural (grace) in the cosmos as well as its implications are reviewed. A brief conclusion (10) follows. (A follow-up article will analyse the anthropology, theory of knowledge and view on the relation between philosophy and theology of the Synopsis.)