The Church Between Temple and Mosque

J. H. Bavinck, The Church Between Temple and Mosque (English translation, 2023)

Johan Herman Bavinck — Dutch missionary in Indonesia, then professor of missions, and nephew of Herman Bavinck

Gentle, well-travelled, and listening before anything else.

Catch rate: 62 / 255
Base research: 256
Stat total: 348

Base stats

Every stat is a checkable fact about the actual book, not a designer's mood. Bars are drawn against the highest value any book reaches.

Stamina88

Contend86

Defend90

Popularity84

Total348

Why these numbers

The game's own explanation, as a reader sees it in the backpack.

Stamina 88

STAMINA — Moderate. It is a careful study, and it is not padded.

Contend 86

CONTEND — Moderate. He begins by looking, and only then by judging.

Defend 90

DEFEND — Solid. He knows other religions from the inside, so it is hard to catch him out about them.

Popularity 84

POPULARITY — Fairly high. It has lately been brought back into English, and people are reading it.

Cited for this book

Johan Herman Bavinck was a missionary in Indonesia and later a professor of missions, and the nephew of the more famous Herman. He asked what every religion is reaching for, and gave a name to the questions nobody can dodge: the “magnetic points.” His method is called elenctics, and it starts with looking. Before any argument he says a missionary must stop and listen, first to the people, then to what God says about them.

Moves learned

By levelling up. A book that develops keeps what it knew and learns the rest on its new schedule.

Lv	Move	Type	Cat.	Pwr	Acc	PP
1	Random Verse	Bible	Argument	10	100%	30
1	A Vague Notion of Salvation	Natural Theology	Argument	88	100%	10
14	Affirm	—	Status	—	—	1
30	Chapter…	Bible	Scripture	—	—	12
38	First, Listen	Natural Theology	Argument	86	100%	15
50	Magnetic Points	Natural Theology	Argument	92	100%	10

The quotes behind its moves

How to read these. In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other. Each thing a book can do in a debate is a move, and most moves carry a real quotation — the words the book puts on the table when it uses that move.

Strong against lists the opposing books and arguments a move was written to answer. Used against one of them, it hits much harder than usual: ×2 means twice the normal force, ×4 four times. It is the game’s way of saying: this is the sentence that answers that argument. Open an entry to read why.

“It seems that man has had a vague notion all through the ages that there is something undefinable, something we cannot name, resting on human life and weighing it down, and that there must be salvation available in some way or other.”
J. H. Bavinck, The Church Between Temple and Mosque (Westminster Seminary Press, 2023), p. 90, as quoted by Luke Johnson, Themelios 49.1, “Salvation Without Spin” (2025). Short excerpt from an in-copyright work, used under fair use.in copyright · fair use

A Vague Notion of Salvation

Natural TheologyArgument · power 88 · 100% accurate

In the gameJohan Herman Bavinck, Herman’s nephew, asked what every religion is reaching for. His answer is that people have always felt a weight on human life that has no name, and a sense that there must be a rescue from it.

Strong against

×2.5The Absurdan argument · why?

J. H. Bavinck says people in every age have felt a weight on human life that has no name, and a sense that there must be a rescue. Camus described the weight exactly and refused the rescue. The reader may say that the ache was real before either of them wrote.

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being. As some of your own poets have said.”
Acts 17:28 (WEB) — Paul at the Areopagus, quoting the Athenians’ own poets back to them.

Affirm

Status

In the gamePick the part of the opponent’s case that is true and affirm it. That point can no longer be used against you, and the opponent’s Defend falls sharply. It deals no damage. Affirm something false and you have only agreed with an error.

“The first thing we must do now is listen. So far we have simply looked around and reflected, but now it is necessary to listen to what God says”
J. H. Bavinck, The Church Between Temple and Mosque (Westminster Seminary Press, 2023), p. 114, as quoted by Jeff A. Kelly, Themelios 48.3, review of the book. Short excerpt from an in-copyright work, used under fair use.in copyright · fair use

First, Listen

Natural TheologyArgument · power 86 · 100% accurate

In the gameBavinck’s method in one instruction. After looking around and reflecting on what people do, stop and listen to what God says about it. The order matters: look honestly at religion, and then let God’s word judge what you saw.

Strong against

×3Sheilaisman argument · why?

J. H. Bavinck’s instruction for anyone who wants to answer a person of another faith is to stop and listen first. She has told the reader, in her own words, what she believes and why. Nothing here needs to be won by force.

“demand our attention and which we cannot evade. We cannot help being confronted by them”
J. H. Bavinck, The Church Between Temple and Mosque (Westminster Seminary Press, 2023), p. 26, as quoted by Jeff A. Kelly, Themelios 48.3, review of the book. Short excerpt from an in-copyright work, used under fair use.in copyright · fair use

Magnetic Points

Natural TheologyArgument · power 92 · 100% accurate

In the gameBavinck’s name for the questions every person in every religion runs into: they cannot be avoided, so they pull. He says every religion is answering the same pressures, and that Scripture reads those answers as substitutes for the God people push away. So each religion is a place the gospel can begin, and none of them is the gospel.

Strong against

×3The Many Faiths, One Realan argument · why?

J. H. Bavinck agrees with Hick that people in every religion are reaching for something real, and calls the questions they cannot avoid magnetic points. Then he asks what the answers are. The reader may notice that the pull is one thing and the destination is another.