The Sacrifice of Praise - Herman Bavinck (1854 - 1921)

This book is of an intensely practical nature. The subject, as the headings of the twelve chapters indicate, is "Confession." We do not hesitate to say that in practical church life there is still considerable misunderstanding as to confessing Christ. Throughout the book the fundamental significance of the Covenant of Grace with its attendant promises, conditions, and blessings is clearly set forth. In a word, "The Sacrifice of Praise" is a masterpiece on the subject of confessing Christ, both for instruction and comfort to those who intend to unite with the Church and to its members in full communion.

It is our humble and happy task to commend "The Sacrifice of Praise" to our churches, especially to the Reformed Church in America. We can do this most cheerfully because it is our personal conviction that Dr. H. Bavinck was, by the grace of God, the Prince of recent Reformed theologians. (From the Introduction)

Background
Bavinck was born on 13 December 1854 in the town of Hoogeveen in the Netherlands to a German father, Jan Bavinck (1826–1909), who was the minister of theologically conservative, ecclesiastically separatist Christian Reformed Church (Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerk). After his high school education, Bavinck first went to the Theological School in Kampen in 1873, but then moved on to Leiden for further training after one year in Kampen. He wrote in his student journal notes that he was motivated to transfer his studies by the preaching of the pastor Johannes Hendricus Donner [nl], who was also ministering in Leiden by that time. He studied under prominent faculties such as Johannes Scholten and Abraham Kuenen, and finally graduated in 1880 from the University of Leiden having completed a dissertation on the ethics of Ulrich Zwingli.

A year later, Bavinck was appointed Professor of Dogmatics at Theological School in Kampen. While serving there, he also