In his Reformed Dogmatics, Volume 1: Prolegomena, Herman Bavinck (1854-1921) demonstrated a rather negative attitude towards philosophy, or as some LDS would put it, “teachings of men mingled with scripture”:
The Triumph of Philosophy
In the nineteenth century Lutheran
dogmatics was characterized by the fact that it had almost completely fallen
under the influence of philosophy. (Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics,
4 vols. [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2003], 1:163)
Resistance and Revision of
Lutheran Orthodoxy
From the side of a churchly
orthodoxy, there naturally arose resistance against those various
minglings of theology and philosophy. After the theology of mediation, a
theology of separation was bound to follow. The study of the church’s
confessions and the historical dogmatics of de Wette, Bretschneider, Hase,
Schmid, and Schkeckenburger, strengthened confessional consciousness. . . .
Opposition to the mingling of philosophy and theology arose from still another
side. In philosophy Liebmann, through his work Kant und die Epigonen (Stuttgartt,
1865), and F.A. Lange in his Geschichte des Materialismus 1866), issued
a slogan: “Back to Kant.” The speculation of Hegal and Schelling had come to
nothing. The intellect must again come to a realization of its own finitude and
limitations and not presume to have knowledge of the supersensible. Alongside
of its room must be reserved for faith or imagination. Reason is restriction to
the sphere of sense perception. In dogmatics this neo-Kantianism was adopted by
Lipsius and Ritschel . . . (Ibid., 168, 169, emphasis added)
Zwingli laid down only the general
contours within which various strains in the Reformed churches later unfolded.
It took Calvin’s organization genius and systematic mind to give to the Swiss
Reformation its clearly defined doctrine and stable organization. Calvin’s
theology had already assumed firm shape in the first edition of his Institutes
(1536). There is expansion and development but not change. Calvin
differs from Zwingli in that he banishes all philosophical and humanistic ideas
and adheres as rigorously as possible to Scripture. Further, more
successfully than Zwingli, he maintains the objectivity of the Christian
religion, of the covenant o God, of the person and work of Christ, of
Scripture, church, and sacrament, and is therefore in a stronger position to
resist the Anabaptists. (Ibid., 178, emphasis added)
