G. H. Kersten's Reformed Dogmatics

T

Taylor

Puritan Board Post-Graduate
There are one or two very old threads (the latest one being about twelve years old) about G. H. Kersten. I just recently purchased his Reformed Dogmatics from RHB. I have read some of it, and have enjoyed it for its readability, understandability, and concision. He isn't as thorough as Berkhof, but he is more lively. Berkhof will put you to sleep, he is so dry.

For those of you who have read or consulted this work, what are your thoughts on it? Does Kersten offer anything that other dogmaticians do not? What are his strengths and weaknesses as a theologian? Does he have quirks? I am interested to hear!
 

Kersten's strength is that he is an experiential writer and brings this to bear when he wrote his systematics.
I can not think of any topic that Gerrit Hendrik Kersten handles better than what we find in Wilhelmus à Brakel four volume set: The Christian's Reasonable Service​

 
I also enjoy G. H. Kersten. If you can find a copy his sermons on the Heidelberg are fantastic.
 
Better than explaining, permit me to offer an example of Kersten's writing in his Dogmatics. After going through what we know about God, by examining the names and attributes of God, Kersten writes
A.Joseph said:
Could you flesh that out? Why was that a strength? What fruit has it wrought?
Click to expand...

: "...God has revealed Himself in His Word as the Triune God. In this revelation He reveals the great mystery, far beyond the comprehension of all creatures, that His simple Divine Essence consists in three Persons; and that not in such a way that each of the three persons would possess one part of the Divine Essence, so that by combining they would form the full God-head; but God is a simple Being, and thus is far from being a combination of parts. God consists not of three Persons, but in three Persons; the full Being of God is in the Father, and the same full Being is in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit. The Father is God; the Son is God, no less than the Father; and the Holy Spirit is God, of the same eternity, glory, and majesty as the Father and Son. Among the Divine Persons there is not a first or last, nor is one greater or less. And still there is but one, simple, Divine Being. God is Tri-une."
 
Kersten is good. No Bavinck but important for the ordinary church people and for building his denomination. His dogmatics was standard in many reformed houses here. It's in line with Comrie and the Further Reformation.

Here some of my Kersten books :-)
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