November 2007 - Protestant Reformed Churches in America

Book Reviews
eral of Witsius’ works, including
his Practical Theology and own judgment regarding the
The reader is left to make his
Grondstukken, which, literally movement.
translated, would be Groundpieces.
various men forcibly under-
Reading the writings of the
The last five of these men scores the great positive characteristic
of the Reformed pi-
lived in the seventeenth century
and were representative figures etistic movement—its insistence
that the faith by which we
of the Further Reformation (also
known as Dutch Pietism, or are justified is a faith that also
nadere reformatie). De Reuver sanctifies, so that the Christian
sets out to demonstrate the influence
that Clairvaux (twelfth that he is a child of God.
must manifest in all of his life
century) and à Kempis (fifteenth
century) had upon them: Reuver seems sensitive to the
Throughout the book, de
“The main question that plays charge that pietism led to a mystical
emphasis on feelings apart
an explicit role in this study is
that of the continuity or discontinuity
of the Further Refor-
repeatedly asserts that the mys-
from the Word of God, for he
mation’s spirituality with that of ticism of these men was proper.
the Middle Ages” (p. 19). The Of Teellinck’s mysticism he
conclusion is drawn that the piety
of the Further Reformation not give rise to faith, but one
says, “It is a mysticism that does
“has in common with Bernard’s which springs from faith and is
mysticism … the strong emphasis
on emotional love in the ex-
De Reuver defends Theodorus
always tied to faith” (p. 160).
perience of communion with à Brakel specifically regarding
God” (p. 281), and has in common
with à Kempis “a medita-
brand of mysticism strives for a
the question of “whether this
tive devotional attitude” (p. kind of contemplation that minimizes
the Word and faith” (p.
282).
Although De Reuver spends 197). Of the five Further Reformation
pietists, he says:
three pages introducing the Further
Reformation (16-18), he “Without exception they all promote
a spirituality in which the
offers no critical evaluation of
it. He acknowledges his own heart experiences communion
sympathy for it, being a product
of a pietistic environment. and Spirit” (p. 281). Yet, in
with God created by the word
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