Bøger af G.C. Berkouwer

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable. The Sacraments is the tenth work to appear in the American edition of Berkouwer's monumental Studies in Dogmatics. In it the author examines, explicates, and defends the Reformed teaching on the sacraments in the light of the Word of God and church theology. In the process, Berkouwer discusses and evaluates the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and various contemporary views of the sacraments. His method is to construct a general concept of the "sacraments" first, during which he takes into consideration the sacraments proper (baptism and the Lord's Supper). He does not seek to analyze the essence of "the sacraments" apart from a consideration of the individual sacraments, for, Berkouwer contends, the nature of the sacraments turns precisely upon the concrete givenness of baptism and the Lord's Supper in the historical revelation in Christ. The study proceeds to deal with the questions of: the number of sacraments, the relation between Word and sacrament, the efficacy of the sacraments in relation to faith, the nature of Christ's presence in the sacrament, the meaning of "sign and seal," and the controversial questions of infant baptism and open communion. In treating these issues, Berkouwer sorts out the massive complications that have developed over the years and, with devout faith and unfaltering logic, threads his way between confusion and oversimplification.

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable. Berkouwer is known for the tone of praise and worship that runs throughout his entire theology. As he states in this volume, "The purpose of a song of praise is obviously that we should sing along and not get bogged down in extraneous and speculative problems. For the man who is mired deeply in problems can only relativize and disharmonize his song of victory." That statement is a key for understanding this truly remarkable book on the utterly somber and serious business of man's sin. Joy, doxology, and biblical piety are the earmarks of Berkouwer's discussion from cover to cover. He argues, in the light of Scripture, that there can be no meaning in the meaningless or sense in the senseless, or rationality in that which is intrinsically irrational. To say that there can be can only detract from the awfulness of sin and the magnitude of God's forgiveness. Therefore it can only impinge upon our piety. The proper response to sin is a true confession of my guilt; for the man who truly confesses is truly forgiven. Joy and doxology find place when sin is taken with a real, very biblical seriousness. From this vantage point the author rejects the notions of monism, dualism, and a demonological explanation for man's sin. He wants nothing to do with a "phenomenology of evil" which sees sin as self-evident. In the light of the salvation that has come we can only speak of our sins that remain as a riddle. Berkouwer's view is a wholesome foil to contemporary concepts that refers to man's "estrangement," "alienation," and "incompacity," and have little or nothing to say about his guilt. He eschews the language of causality, since "self-exculpation dogs the heels of any explanation for our sin." His interests are biblical and doxological, and precisely therefore he denies the concepts of realism and federalism as developed in Reformed orthodox theology. "Original sin" is no datum that is "with us," and is certainly no "alien guilt"; much rather, it is known in our own involvement in sin. Nothing, not even faith, can shed a particle of light on the truly enigmatic character of evil. Thus piety and doxology unlock the door for understanding why Berkouwer rejects a number of false alternatives or problems in this book. Typical are the problems of monism and dualism, inactual and actual wills of God, the law and the gospel, cum verbo and per verbum, the wrath of God and his love, his justice and his mercy, Adam and Christ. God's wrath is seen in the service of his grace and not as the coordinate of his love: and precisely in his intolerance for sin the act of his mercy is revealed. In a similar way, we cannot discuss the law as the source of the knowledge of sin apart from the gospel, or the gospel apart from the law. We cannot see Adam apart from Jesus Christ. Insights abound in this volume, which is certainly one of the very best of Berkouwer's works.

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable.In this volume Berkouwer treats a broad range of topics related to the doctrine of Scripture, including the testimony of the Spirit, Holy Scripture as canon, the doctrine of inspiration, and the authority and interpretation of Scripture.

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable. Asserting that there is no more significant question in the whole of theology than that of the nature and reality of revelation, Berkouwer examines this question along with the claims of natural theology and the radical character of the history of religion since the nineteenth century.

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable. Following the order of the Apostles' Creed, Berkouwer discusses at length Christ's incarnation, passion, resurrection, ascension, and rule, concluding with a thorough discussion of four aspects of Christ's work -- reconciliation, sacrifice, obedience, and victory.

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable. This study in theological anthropology considers man as the image of God, the meaning of the image, immortality, and human freedom, dealing always with living, actual man and his inescapable relation to God.

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable.

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable.

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable.

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable. In times when men's hearts are failing them for fear, in a period when many voices are clamoring for a hearing, the esteemed G. C. Berkouwer aptly commences his penetrating study by drawing attention to the timeliness and relevance of the doctrine of perseverance. He writes, "There is something very strange about this doctrine, something which confronts us with the problem of permanence in a unique way, because we are so conscious of our own changeableness. Our lives are subject to numberless variations and fluctuations. In the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints do we not have merely a projection of human desires, a hope which flies in the face of life's realities? Does it not grasp after something that is denied us as changeable men?" Facing this paradoxical nature of his subject, Berkouwer shows that the perseverance of the saints is unbreakably connected with the assurance of faith and warns us against speaking of constancy without standing in faith. To separate the doctrine of perseverance from its living and existential relationship to the gospel, to Word and sacrament, to promise and demand, petrifies it into a mere play of concepts drained of all life. The thoroughness with which Berkouwer treats the history of the discussions affecting this important subject (from the days of Tertullian and Augustine, through the Reformers, Ritschl, and Schleiermacher, down to Edmund Schlink and Karl Barth) gives this book a special value to all students of theology.