'A theater of God's grace and glory': Abraham Kuyper and the Reformed Tradition on Natural Revelation, Theology, and Science (original) (raw)
Related papers
Creating a Christian Worldview: Abraham Kuyper's Lectures on Calvinism
1998
For too long, the English-speaking world has been without easy access to the abundant corpus of Abraham Kuyper. Publishings spawned by this year's centennial commemorations of his Stone Lectures at Princeton, however, remedy that lacuna. Two outstanding volumes have been released in the past year that will end that theological drought. Prior to 1980, besides Kuyper's devotional works (To Be Near to God and The Work of the Holy Spirit) and the massive Principles of Sacred Theology, only a few selections by Kuyper were widely available. Although Kuyper's 1898 Lectures on Calvinism were released earlier (1931), copies were often difficult to locate. The year 1991 saw the reissue of his The Problem of Poverty, formerly Christianity and the Social Question, and translations of selections on science and politics. Yet, prior to 1998, it would have been difficult to provide English-language texts for studies on Kuyper's own voluminous works-a corpus comprising 223 separate publishing entries exclusive of his newspaper editorials. With these two new books, classes on Kuyper's thought and Christian worldview now have adequate primary sourcing. James Bratt and Peter Heslam have provided two very different books that work well in tandem. Bratt's volume contains primary resource material that has long been out of print or never before translated. He has reproduced representative samples from various periods of Kuyper's writings and also from a variety of disciplines. Bratt attempts to complement the Stone Lectures (which present the mature conclusions of "the statesmanlike scholar") with documents from speeches, newspaper columns, sermons, party speeches, and other academic addresses to round out more of Kuyper's "nuances of thought, his pragmatic applications of principle, the
European Calvinists and the Study of Nature: Some Historical Patterns and Problems
Calvinism and the Making of the European Mind, 2014
Hungary, The Netherlands, England and Scotland. 3 As recent historians of science have said, scientists are often heterodox either in their science or in their theology or both. 4 This also applies to scientists who are Calvinists. I raise the issue of diversity among Calvinists engaged in the study of nature as a caution against easy identification of Calvinism with unique features. This mistake has been thoroughly exposed for Merton's claim about the relationship of puritanism and science. 5 Yet, some of the most recent studies still frame questions or claims about Calvinists and the study of nature in terms of Calvinism as a homogeneous movement. 6 This ignores the variety of views held by individual Calvinists on matters scientific, theological and otherwise. 7 For instance, it would be difficult to explain why the Calvinist astronomer
Church history, 2012
The Netherlands is, besides the United States, one of the few countries where debates about creationism have been raging for decades. Strict creationism has become deeply rooted in traditional Reformed (Calvinist) circles, which is all the more remarkable as it stemmed from a very different culture and theological tradition. This essay analyses the historical implantation of this foreign element in Dutch soil by investigating the long-term interaction between American creationism and Dutch "neo-Calvinism," a movement emerging in the late nineteenth century, which attempted to bring classical Calvinism into rapport with modern times. The heated debates about evolution in the interbellum period as well as in the sixties-periods characterized by a cultural reorientation of the Dutch Calvinists-turn out to have played a crucial role. In the interbellum period, leading Dutch theologians-fiercely challenged by Calvinist scientists-imported US "flood geology" in an attempt to stem the process of modernisation in the Calvinist subculture. In the sixties many Calvinists abandoned their resistance to evolutionary theory, but creationism continued to play a prominent role as the neo-Calvinist tradition was upheld by an orthodox minority, who (re-)embraced the reviving "Genesis Flood" creationism. The appropriation of American creationism was eased by the earlier Calvinist-creationist connection, but also by "inventing" a Calvinist-creationist tradition, suggesting continuity with the ideas of the founding fathers of neo-Calvinism. This article aims to contribute to a better understanding of what Ronald L. Numbers has recently called the "globalization" of the "science-and-religion dialogue."
Abraham Kuyper on Faith and Science
1999
This paper offers an interpretation of Kuyper's views on the relation between faith and science. The first section analyzes Kuyper's claim that 'every science in a certain degree starts from faith'. The second section argues that Kuyper is an epistemological foundationalist, much in the spirit of Thomas Reid, the 18th century Scottish philosopher and founding father of the school of common sense realism.
John Calvin and the Limits of Natural Theology
Puritan Reformed Journal, 2016
The purpose of this study is to explore whether Calvin’s theology offers a sufficient basis for a Reformed approach to natural theology. The question I ask is, does Calvin offer a possibility for a Reformed approach to natural theology instead of an objection? In this study, I will examine specifically at Calvin’s Institutes, commentaries, and sermons to understand his view of general revelation and the natural knowledge of God. My purpose is to demonstrate that Calvin’s view of natural knowledge of God is defined by his view of divine revelation, and that it is possible to develop a reformed approach to natural theology within its own limits.
Reformed Approach to the Interactions of Science and Religion (cont'd)
2015
The relationship between faith and science is not just a scientific or theological topic." Posting about conflicts between science and religion from In All Things an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world. http://inallthings.org/a-reformed-approach-to-the-interactions-of-science-and-religion-contd/