The Calvinist International
In a 1973 article on the social contract tradition, Patrick Riley notes an important distinction in how we understand “the state”. He notes that “the mere excellence of an institution would no longer be enough; it would now require authorization by individual men understood as “authors”‘. Riley then notes the key distinction in the conception […]
In his 1911 volume which began the trilogy of Pro Rege, Abraham Kuyper reflects on the importance of Matthew 11:20–30 for our understanding of the kingship of Christ. In that passage, Jesus is denouncing the cities where he worked and preached and then affirms the authority that has been given to him by the Father. In verses […]
In volume 1 of Pro Rege, Kuyper expounds upon the theme of the origins and nature of authority. In his exposition, he shows himself to be quite the political theologian. As a side note, this is one of the virtues of taking the effort to read these new Lexham Press translations of Kuyper’s public theology; they […]
In the midst of a discussion about the connection between common grace and particular, or special, grace, Kuyper sets out to make clear that Christ is the telos of all things. He does so by distinguishing between Christ himself, and then his ‘body’, the Church. Both are important for Kuyper, but Christ is the ultimate aim of universal […]
In Common Grace, Kuyper combines the questions of God’s institution of capital punishment and the institution of civil government into one moment. He understands God’s command to Noah in Genesis 9:6 as the moment when God instituted civil government. He also rejects outright the modern liberal conception of the origins of civil government as founded upon […]
In Common Grace (Lexham/Acton Institute: 2015), Kuyper spends a number of chapters examining Genesis 9:5 and Genesis 9:6 in relation to capital punishment and, therefore, the instituting of civil government. Genesis 9:5-6 reads as follows: And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow […]
In the preface to his three-volume Common Grace, Abraham Kuyper writes of the deflation of Reformed thought since the seventeenth century. His historical analysis might be debatable, but there is something prescient about his critique for our own day. The quote is from the new Lexham Press/Acton Institute translation of volume one of De Gemene Gratie (1902). What […]
In his De Regno Christi (1550), Martin Bucer propagates a number of laws for the establishment of a Christian commonwealth. One is that there ought to be education for all young people. This was, in part, to prevent idleness, which was an evident concern to Bucer. But it was also the case that Bucer wanted to improve […]
My recent essay on the extant tensions between political liberalism and Christianity, published in the October issue of the Australian cultural and political journal Quadrant, is now available online. In it, I attempt to demonstrate the historical links between Christianity and liberalism, vis-a-vis Larry Siedentop. The article is also my effort to persuade a secular audience about the necessity […]
King James I on the need for a ruler to have a virtuous life (archaic spelling updated): But it is not enough to be a good King, by the scepter of good Laws well execute to govern, and by force of arms to protect his people; if he join not therewith his virtuous life in […]