Prior to key recent developments in scholarship on the Dutch neo-Calvinist theologian Herman Bavinck (1854-1921), the dominant trend was to set his participation in orthodoxy and modernity in antithesis. This led to the creation of a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ view of Bavinck as a figure constantly torn between these poles. This tendency has now been replaced with a more united view, in which Bavinck is seen to have held modernity and orthodoxy in critical equipoise. This lecture will explore the historical and social circumstances which help explain and elucidate Bavinck’s orthodox Reformed participation in modern culture.