Is anyone familiar with Schilder's (1890-1952) trilogy on the sufferings and crucifixion of Christ? I ran across a set at a local library (the original Eerdman's 3-volume set from 1938-1940) and was going to check out the first volume, but hesitated.

It seems to me that I've heard that Schilder's trilogy is too "mystical" or "speculative" or "imaginative" or something along that line. I've also heard that, even within the Dutch tradition, his theology is a little "different", somehow.

Sorry I'm so vague about all this, but that's why I'm asking. So: are his books worth reading?

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Richard T. Zuelch, M.Div
Ruling Elder, OPC (not currently serving)
Westminster Presbyterian Church, CA (OPC)
www.reiterations.wordpress.com
www.foft.wordpress.com

"If anyone cries at my funeral I'll never speak to him again!" - Stan Laurel (1890-1965)

I have some friends at my school that think it is a valuable read (and trying to sell me a used copy of his Trilogy). He was an influential theologian in the Dutch world -- but you are right in sensing that his views are "a little 'different' somehow." I'm not entirely sure how, since I haven't read him. (I think he denied the visible/invisible church distinction, for example.)

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Casey Bessette
Westminster OPC • West Suburbs of Chicago • My Blog: Paradise Regained

"It is part of the calling of the ekklesia to learn to know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge and also to make known within the world of science 'the manifold wisdom of God' in order that the final end of theology, as of all things, may be that the name of the Lord is glorified. Theology and dogmatics, too, exist for the Lord's sake." — Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 1, p. 46

I have the Trilogy. In some of the sermons Schilder is quite speculative, imagining what individuals may have been thinking etc. Nevertheless, I enjoy most of the sermons a lot. You will easily be able to distinguish the strange ones (not too many) from the sermons that are quite edifying. Schilder arranges the sermons chronologically through the week leading up to the crucifixion, thus giving a sampling of sermons from each of the gospels.

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Rev. Adam King
Minister without a call (WPCUS)
Stated Supply: Reformed Presbyterian Church
Sterling, KS