Remembering Abraham Kuyper

This year marks the 185th anniversary of Abraham Kuyper’s birth. Born Oct. 29, 1837, this Dutch Reformed theologian, statesman, and journalist would exercise a tremendous influence on the Netherlands and, indeed, the world. His is a legacy worth remembering and engaging.

A simple listing of his accomplishments would read like the achievements of the lives of a half dozen or so notable figures. Indeed, a Dutch biography of Kuyper uses one of his own autobiographical texts to describe Kuyper’s “seven lives,” as an outdoorsman, traveler, orator, scholar, activist, journalist, and statesman. In each of these areas and more Kuyper enjoyed success and recognition at the highest levels.

He helped found the first modern political party in Europe—a party identified with Reformed Christian political principles, no less. Kuyper helped form the creation of a new, independent Dutch Reformed denomination in the Netherlands. He published and edited two different newspapers, and served as the chairperson of the Dutch journalism association. He served in parliament and as prime minister of the Netherlands. Kuyper preached, lectured, wrote, taught, and founded a new Reformed educational institution, now famously known as the Free University in Amsterdam. He spent the better part of a year on a tour around the Mediterranean, penning a substantive and significant travel log marked by his encounter with Islam. Kuyper did all this and more in one lifetime.

In its centennial celebration of Kuyper’s death, the Free University described its founder as a “social entrepreneur,” a fitting summary of such a wide life marked by a diversity of interests and accomplishments.

Evangelicals in America came to know Kuyperian thought through his own works, particularly Lectures on Calvinism, which originated in lectures Kuyper gave at Princeton Theological Seminary. His most famous quote comes from a speech opening the Free University in 1880, introducing his concept of “sphere sovereignty.” As Kuyper put it, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not call out: ‘Mine!’” Proclaiming Christ’s lordship over all of creation, and living faithfully in light of that reality, was to be the defining feature of Kuyper’s life and work and the movement that followed after him.

Kuyper’s influence on evangelicals in the United States was also mediated through individuals and institutions. Francis Schaeffer, and later Charles Colson, borrowing from Kuyperian and neo-Calvinist themes, would champion the significance of “worldview” for evaluating political, cultural, and spiritual trends. Today neo-Calvinism and the Kuyperian tradition are truly global phenomena, with influence and enthusiasm across Europe and North America as well as Africa, South America, and Asia.

Earlier this year a major new translation project was completed, which brought 12 volumes of new and updated works by Kuyper into English, some for the first time. I had the honor to serve as a general editor of this project, and one significant goal of this endeavor was to bring the words and thoughts of this brilliant theologian and social reformer to a new, contemporary audience, on his own terms. Too much of what passes as Kuyperianism nowadays amounts to little more than the invocation of a slogan or simplistic formula, whether “every square inch” or “transforming culture.” There is now no excuse for avoiding direct engagement with Kuyper and his writings.

There remains much to learn from Abraham Kuyper and from the neo-Calvinist tradition he helped to create. The positive lessons from Kuyper are manifold, including his dynamism, courage, perseverance, and nuance. There are negative lessons to be learned as well, including some of his personality traits, his work ethic, and views on race and social equality that we recognize today as deeply mistaken.

Kuyper certainly wasn’t perfect. But there are few in the history of the Christian church who have manifested his combination of theological and intellectual acumen, practical and political savvy, and spiritual devotion and fortitude. Kuyper thought deeply about everything he did. And his thoughts are worth our appreciation and attention today.

As Kuyper once wrote: “If the believer’s God is at work in this world, then in this world the believer’s hand must take hold of the plow, and the name of the Lord must be glorified in that activity as well.” One of the best ways to remember Abraham Kuyper and celebrate his legacy is to attempt in our own way, according to our gifts and callings, to do precisely what he did. Our task is to answer the perennial call of Christian faithfulness and discipleship with everything we have—mind, body, soul, and spirit—and in everything we do—in church, in work, in our families, and in the world.