Calvinism for a Secular Age

The contributors to Calvinism for a Secular Age: A Twenty-first Century Reading of Abrahan Kuyper’s Stone Lectures represent a superb group of scholars, one that includes Richard Mouw, George Harnick, James Eglington, and James Bratt, along with the volume editors Jessica Joustra and Robert Joustra,. For those unfamiliar with Kuyper and/or his Stone Lectures, the book commences with an excellent preface and introduction that delves into the details of Kuyper’s life and work, as well the lectures and their place within the Reformed community. They also set out the rationale behind the volume, which is to answer this question: Is there any use in an age as secular as the 21^st-century for lectures delivered 125 years ago by a man who victoriously declared that every “square inch” of human existence is reigned over by Jesus Christ, the sovereign Lord of the universe? There are also several sub-questions probed in this collection. These questions relate primarily to racism, which was common enough at the turn of the 20^th century, and which Kuyper and so many others of that era are guilty of.

Abraham Kuyper’s Stone Lectures are on the reading list of almost every student in the United States and Europe (and likely portions of South America, India, and Asia as well) who is attending a Reformed seminary. He is one of those Dutch thinkers whose name has been etched into Calvinist history. Herman Bavinck, Cornelius Van Til, Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, and others within the Dutch Calvinist tradition could be mentioned as well, but a case can certainly be made that none of them are as important as Kuyper. His Stone Lectures ably set out extremely important aspects of his thought in an engaging form.

Very appropriately, Richard Mouw, arguably the doyen of Neo-Calvinist and Kuyperian scholarship, begins the substantive portion of the volume with an analysis of Kuyper’s thought on Calvinism as a “Life-System.” A superb writer, Mouw captures his readers by acknowledging some weaknesses in Kuyper’s approach and use of technical language. This should reassure readers who also found some of Kuyper’s language annoyingly abstruse. Mouw then goes on to provide a fine, clear, and engaging consideration of what it means for Calvinism to be a “Life-System”—namely,  that the Christian faith is about more than merely personal matters. Continuing, Mouw works through Kuyper’s analyses of different worldviews that, in Kuyper’s judgement, are inferior to Calvinism. In particular, he mentions Islam and Roman Catholicism, and it is here where Mouw, touches on Kuyper’s racism. Mouw handles it in the way I think is most intelligent. (Vincent Bacote’s essay on Kuyper and Race [chapter 7] in this volume is also very good on this topic). He acknowledges that some of Kuyper’s statements about the African continent are entirely unacceptable. He also acknowledges the complexity of the issue briefly but very helpfully, noting that Kuyper lived during a time when such views were commonplace among Europeans. Yet, Mouw goes on to note that Kuyper’s thought was employed positively and constructively by black theologians like Russell Botman and Allan Boesak precisely for the purpose of fighting racism in South African’s Apartheid regime. Mouw’s chapter is a model of clarity and insight and does a very good job of demonstrating how useful the work of Kuyper is for our present day.

Also excellent is James Eglinton’s essay on Kuyper and religion (chapter 2). Eglinton organizes his essay around four questions that Kuyper addressed in his second lecture: 1) Who is religion about?; 2) Must all people be religious?; 3) Is religion only about matters of the heart or is it also about morals?; 4) Can religion be a positive force for good in the world? Eglinton does a fine job not only working through Kuyper’s answers to these questions, but also setting Kuyper’s thought within its original context in his life and struggles. One of the keys that comes to the fore in Eglinton’s analysis is how Calvinism changes the world. He carefully presents the insight of Kuyper and its deep significance for the world, both Kuyper’s own and ours.

Another superb chapter is written by Adrienne Dengerink Chaplin and covers the arts. Exceptionally clear and inviting, Chaplin begins chapter 5 with the very appropriate point that it will be a surprise to some to find Kuyper devoting a chapter to the arts. She then carries the reader through Kuyper’s train of thought, explaining why in fact it makes plenty of sense for him to devote a lecture to this subject. Not only clear, the essay is also perceptive and wide-ranging, as Chaplin works intelligently through some of the thinking of Kuyper himself, and also of Kuyperians like Hans Rookmaaker, Calvin Seerveld, and Lambert Zuidervaart

Each chapter ends with sections that focus on “what Kuyper or Kuyperians did” and “what we should do” today. In this way, the chapters exhibit a practical bent. These sections are not focused on practical suggestions per se, but rather (as they should be in my judgement) reflections on what Kuyper’s thought means for people today. They are generally excellent, with, again, Chaplin’s treatment being outstanding. I was planning merely to skim over it, but found myself pausing to read it more carefully due to the depth and care it exhibited.

The contributions in this volume are excellent. I will say, if a reviewer is tasked with finding shortcomings with a book, that given Kuyper’s acceptance of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s primary insights on history, it would have been nice to see a bit more engagement in this volume with the question of how Kuyper could be useful in dealing with modern developments in Hegelian thought, as seen in critical race theory, feminist theory, and various forms of Neo-Marxism alive and thriving today. The volume is, this weakness not withstanding, a careful, scholarly, and engaging discussion of Kuyper’s Stone Lecturers which will be of interest to a wide-range of readers.

Jon Balserak is a visiting lecturer at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Jon Balserak

Date Of Review:

August 16, 2024