On Charity & Justice
Kuyper on a Theological Approach to Justice
The practical outworking of Kuyper’s doctrine of common grace demanded a commitment to seeking Christ’s glory in every sphere of human life. Christians are called to witness to the lordship of Christ through sacrificial service, not domination, and such service calls us to seek charity and justice for all people.
In this anthology of articles and reflections, Kuyper articulates a Christian vision for engaging with society. Though his analysis was intended for his late-nineteenth-century Dutch context, his thoughts remain strikingly relevant for Christians living in the modern world. For Kuyper, God’s law preserved civil justice, making humane life possible. However, the law itself could not save society—only the gospel can transform the heart. But the gospel is for all of life. Kuyper elaborated a social Christian approach to politics, resulting in a distinct perspective on property, human dignity, democracy, and justice.
Praise for On Charity & Justice
English-speaking inquirers into Kuyper’s formidable and influential social, economic, and political thought have so far had to rely on a restricted set of translated works mostly presenting his ideas in a general way. This collection offers us Kuyper in fine grain—steeped in the dynamics of European culture and politics, powerfully seized of the complex and fast-moving events of his day, and strikingly able to show how Scripture speaks effectively to those events. On social justice, poverty, labor, civil liberties, democracy, the place of the family, and much more, Kuyper is repeatedly a fresh and arresting read, even when we must depart from his specific analyses and prescriptions.
–Jonathan Chaplin, director, Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics; member of the divinity faculty, University of Cambridge
The Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology
Lexham Press is pleased to announce the publication of a major series of new translations of Kuyper’s writings in public theology. Created in partnership with the Abraham Kuyper Translation Society and the Acton Institute, the Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology will mark a historic moment in Kuyper studies, and we hope it will deepen and enrich the church’s interest and engagement in public theology.
- Editor’s Introduction by Matthew J. Tuininga
- Volume Introduction by John Witte, Jr.
- Christ and the Needy
- The Reefs of Democracy
- Not the Liberty Tree but the Cross!
- Sphere Sovereignty
- Is Error a Punishable Offense?
- Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press
- Celebrating Twenty-Five Years of De Standard
- The Press as the Apostle of Peace
- The Family, Society, and the State
- You Shall Not Covet
- Our Relationship to the Law
- Title: On Charity & Justice
- Author: Abraham Kuyper
- Translator: Harry Van Dyke
- Volume Editor: Matthew J. Tuininga
- Series Editors: Melvin Flikkema & Jordan J. Ballor
- Publisher: Lexham Press
- Publication Date: 2022
- Pages: 464
- Format: Logos Digital, Hardcover
- Trim Size: 7x10
- ISBN: 9781577996736
Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920) was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands between 1901 and 1905. He founded the Free University in Amsterdam and served as a professor of theology. At the invitation of B. B. Warfield, Kuyper traveled to the United States to deliver the Stone Lectures at Princeton and address Reformed congregations in Michigan and Iowa.
Kuyper studied at the University of Leiden, and received his doctorate there in 1863. He became a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church in 1863, and consistently called for the separation of church and state. He also led a secession from the Dutch Reformed Church and united several disparate Reformed churches in the Netherlands.
Kuyper also led an active political life. He served as a member of Parliament in the Netherlands beginning in 1874 and served as prime minister from 1901–1905.
Abraham Kuyper was instrumental in the development of Neocalvinism, and is remembered for his articulation of common grace and for popularizing the notion of a Reformed worldview. He has influenced such notable figures as Francis Schaeffer, Cornelius Van Til, Alvin Plantinga, Nicholas Wolterstorff, and Chuck Colson.
Some of Kuyper’s publications, which are available in Logos, include Wisdom & Wonder: Common Grace in Science & Art, The Antithesis between Symbolism and Revelation, and Encyclopedia of Sacred Theology: Its Principles.