An accidental blog

"If God is sovereign, then his lordship must extend over all of life, and it cannot be restricted to the walls of the church or within the Christian orbit." Abraham Kuyper Common Grace 1.1.

Saturday 30 November 2013

Calvinism: A History by D. G. Hart - an Anglocentric (re)view

Calvinism: A History
D. G. Hart
Yale: Yale University Press, 2013
xii + 339 pp, hbk, £25
ISBN 9780300148794

Publisher's website.

It was Bishop John Aylmer in his 1559 book An Harborowe for Faithfull and Trewe Subjects who identified the English roots of the Reformation he wrote: “Wycliffe begat Hus, who begat Luther”. Sadly, this Englishness of the Reformation is neglected in Hart.

Hart looks at how Calvinism has become a global faith (xii). He identifies three phases:

1. Calvinism took root in settings where church reform was tethered to efforts to establish political autonomy.
2. Calvinists adopted new models for extending their beliefs; and
3. Adjusted to the rise of secular political orders prompted by the 18th century.

Calvinism was most dominant in Switzerland, the German-speaking Palatinate, the Dutch Republic and Scotland. So, inevitably these geographical areas then have the most words. However, only a few pages are devoted to the English scene (primarily pp 35-41, 83-90). At least McNeill in his History and Character of Calvinism had a chapter on England and Ireland. David Creamans’s Reception of Calvinism in England - surprisingly absent from Hart’s bibliography - would fill in some of the gaps. Sadly, though, we still wait for the definitive history of Calvinism in England.

Hart’s take on the English Puritans is interesting and worth further investigation. Their emphasis on personal holiness and pursuit of a “vein of introspective piety” replaced the “zeal for a thoroughly reformed church” (p 84). He claims that it was then responsible for the “unintended consequence” of a “high-church sacramental Anglican reaction” (p 85). This may well explain why Jim Packer wasn't asked to write a Foreword! Here perhaps in Puritainism are the roots of a privatisation of the gospel.

Despite the title this book is more a history of Presbyterianism than Calvinism. Perhaps Hart thinks that Presbyterianism is Calvinism? Which would explain the lack of Anglican or Baptist emphases in the book. The gaps are easy to identify - Carl Trueman has already mentioned the lack of Baptists and Steven Wedgworth has highlighted the injustice done to Anglicans. There is no mention of Henry Atherton and the Sovereign Grace Union or D. Martyn Lloyd Jones his Calvinistic Methodist roots. Despite concentrating on Presbyterianism there is no mention of the formation of the URC in 1972 from the Presbyterian Church of England and the Congregational Church in England and Wales or even Thomas Cartwright, one of the first English Presbyterians. Or if we go more up to date there is no mention of the  aberration of Calvinism that is New Calvinism (perhaps justly so). Of course, to include all of these (and more) would probably mean that a separate volume would be needed for each country and that is not Hart’s aim. This is intended to be global and an overview - and as such it works.

Rather that the Diet of Worms it seems the Reformation started with another diet: sausage eating (in 1522)! And this is where Hart begins his narrative. He is correct that “Reformed Christianity existed before Calvin became a Protestant, and so calling the churches to which he belonged Calvinistic is anachronistic” (p 20). The story then finishes with a look at the geography of global Calvinism in the 21st century.

Sadly, there is a lack of footnotes - and the notes are few (8 pages) - so we are left to guess where some of the information has come from. There is however, a useful “Further reading” section.

Hart concludes with: “If it is not responsible for the blessings of democracy, liberty, and prosperity, in its own way Calvinism’s history qualifies as remarkable” (p 304). This book too qualifies as being remarkable in that Hart has been able to survey the complicated global history of Calvinism in less than 350 pages.

Luke (Teach the Text) by R. T. France

Luke
Teach the Text Commentary Series
R. T. France
General Editors: Mark L. Strauss and John H. Walton
Grand Rapids: Baker Books
ISBN9780801092350, hbk, 416pp,

Publisher's website here.

This book is part of a new commentary series: Teaching the Text, a commentary series aimed primarily at pastors and teachers. The series is designed to provide a ready reference for teaching the biblical text. Each chapter of Luke, like others in the series, has a section in the commentary and each chapter is divided in to sections:

1. The Big Idea - as a sub heading
2. Key themes - in a side box

And then the main three sections:

3. Understanding the text
4. Teaching the text
5. Illustrating the text.

The text is in two columns and is well illustrated with colour photographs and images.

In the "Understanding the text" section each chapter is placed in its context, there is usually an outline of the text, and brief discussion of the historical and cultural background and finally, the main focus, interpretative and theological insights.

The "Teaching the text" section offers helpful ideas on applying the passage. "Illustrating the text" offers appropriate suggestion from resources such as poetry, other scriptures, films, news stories, books and object lessons. The layout makes it accessible and easy to use.

R. T. France (1933-2012) was an excellent choice to write this commentary. He has already produced a superb commentaries on Mark and Matthew. He was an astute and wise commentator letting the biblical evidence shape his views and approach. He takes the traditional view that Luke-Acts is one work composed, most likely, by Luke, a non-Jewish physician who had excellent Greek and was an associate of the apostle Paul. He sees this Gospel as being more than a "simply revised version of Mark". He thinks that dating Luke is problematic. Acts was written before the Neroian persecution ( AD 64-65), which suggests the Gospel written before that; however, Luke (in ch 19-21) seems to be familiar with the Roman siege in AD 70 and if Luke was reliant upon Mark and Mark was written in AD 60 then a later date may be possible. On balance France favours the earlier date.

Luke is a man with a message - the message of salvation. A message that was for all that were lost including the marginalised and disadvantages, even for the tax collector and Gentiles. France successfully brings out these themes. This is particularly evident in Luke 4:14-30, what France terms “Jesus’s manifesto”. Here the Big Idea is:
Back in Nazareth, Jesus sets out his mission of deliverance, but his own townspeople in Nazareth reject him because of his vision for salvation of fall people everywhere, which includes the Gentiles.
France maintains that “the Nazareth sermon plays out in miniature the whole ministry of Jesus, including his proclamation of the gospel in the power of the spirit and his ultimate rejection by his own people.” He suggests that it would be helpful to go through the quoted Isaiah passage and “point out how each of the statements there find expression in Jesus’s later ministry”. To illustrate the text he provides vignettes of Martin Luther and Gandhi, anecdotes told by Leighton Ford and John Killinger regarding Mother Teresa and D. T. Niles respectively, as well as a quote from Extreme Righteousness by Tom Hovestol.

In many ways France’s description of Luke could also apply to France and this commentary: “his aim is to write reliable, accurate history, set out in an acceptable literary form, and he went to considerable pains to ensure that he was as well informed as he could be”. The literary form of this commentary and France’s reliability and considerable pains will certainly help preachers to be better informed before they go on to preach from Luke.

Thursday 28 November 2013

Recent Kuyperania (November 2013 part 2)

Brett McCraken (Gray Matters) is interviewed on the Acton blog and discusses the influence Kuyper has had on him.
Kuyper’s emphasis on God’s sovereignty over all creation has been huge in informing my own theology of culture. I grew up with a pretty defined sense of “sacred” vs. “secular,” and like many in my generation of evangelicals, I grew up consuming mostly “Christian” music, books, movies, etc. But Kuyper argues that we should have a broader view of what God can redeem.
Literacy Licensing, LLC have released reproduction of two of Kuyper's works: Lectures on Calvinism and The Implications of Public Confession. Both at rather inflated prices. 

Kuyper's Encyclopedia of Sacred Theology has also been reproduced by Nabu Press - again at an overinflated price, particularly as it's available free as a pdf on the Internet!



Bruce Wearne has reviewed two books by Richard Mouw and Kuyper in America in Zadok
Perspectives (Spring 2013): 23-25. Bruce asks some pertinent questions at the end of his reviews:

 These books lead us to ask: Has the failure of Kuyper’s world view to ‘take hold’ among North American evangelical and reformed Christians anything to do with the traditional tendency, endorsed ambiguously by Richard Mouw, that a ‘Christian world view’ is primarily a matter of theology? Does Kuyper’s exposition of a Calvinistic world view actually provide guidance to those wanting to understand why his views have not really caught on?

Saturday 23 November 2013

Why Study History? by John Fea

Why Study History?
Reflecting on the Importance of the Past

John Fea
Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013
ISBN 9780801039652
Publisher's website

What is history? Why bother studying it? John Fea has written this accessible and jargon-free book to address these questions. He helpfully focuses on “the pursuit of history as a vocation” (ix).

His aim is to provide a primer on the study of the past. Its intended audience is “Christian college students who are studying history” (ix), but it would be a shame if those were the only ones who read it.

Fea writes with wisdom and insight and provides a helpful introduction for history undergraduates and for those who would like to study history. Fea is a Professor of American history at Messiah College, he is also the author of Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?, and so it is inevitable that his illustrations draw from that country. This has the down-side of making it less accessible for those who study non-American history.

Particularly helpful was the discussion on providence and history. How are we to interpret history from a Christian perspective? Can we have a God-perspective on history? Some would claim to, Fea is more sceptical. God obviously intervenes in history, but can the historian be true to her calling and interpret events as God interventions? Fea believes in providence (p 67) but contra Steven Keillor, is sceptical about providential history. He looks at one contemporary popular providential history book, that of The Light and the Glory by Marshall and Manuel. These authors write a Christian history focused on the sovereignty of God (p 74). Fea maintains that “An appeal to providence in a historical narrative like that of the East River fog of 1776 fails to help us better understand what happened on that day, and one of the historian’s primary tasks is to aid our understanding of the past” (p 78). My concern is that this could lead to the historian practicing methodological naturalism but on the other hand the danger is that providence can become what is beneficial to the one describing it. (p 81) Fea is right though when he states that we need to approach history with a “sense of God’s transcendent mystery, a health does of humility, and a hope that one day soon, but not now, we will all understand the Almighty’s plan for the nations" (p 81). Again to quote Fea: “historians are not in the business of studying God; they are in the business of studying humans” (p 85).

Providence, may not then be a useful tool for the historian but there are others that Fea reveals; these include: the idea that humans are created in the image of God; the reality of human sin; an incarnational approach to the past; the role of moral reflection in historical work. There is a good emphasis on the need for the historian not to preach or moralise.

As Fea states “the Christian church is in need of a history lesson”. He obviously has a passion for history, and this passion comes through. He also has a very high regard for history for him history is: “a discipline …the art of reconstructing the past .. the exciting task of interpretation” (p 3); “more about competing perceptions of the past event or life than it is about nailing down a definitive account of a specific event of life” (p 16); “a discipline that requires interpretation, imagination, and even literary or artistic style” (p 29); “the glue that holds communities and nations together” (p 37); “like being swallowed up in an immense ocean or field and losing oneself in its midst” (p 60); “essential for producing the kind of informed citizen, with the necessary virtues and skills, needed for our society to thrive” (p 116). “Doing history is not unlike the kind of ‘disciplines’ we employ in our spiritual lives—disciplines that take the focus off of us and put it on God or others (p 132). History has the power to civilise us and to transform. Sometimes I think he overstates the case, but nevertheless he makes some excellent points.

The final chapter takes a look at what those with history degrees are doing now (adapted from here). History degrees obviously prepares people for a wide range of vocations. The epilogue is a heart-felt appeal for “historians who are willing to go into churches and listen to people” to the benefit of the historian and the church. To this end, in an appendix, he makes an appeal for a “Center for American history and a civil society”. I hope it comes to fruition.

This book will help all budding historians be better historians.



Contents
Prologue
1. What Do Historians Do?
2. In Search of a Usable Past
3. The Past Is a Foreign Country
4. Providence and History
5. Christian Resources for the Study of the Past
6. History for a Civil Society
7. The Power to Transform
8. So What Can You Do with a History Major?
Epilogue: History and the Church
Appendix: A Proposal for the Center for American History and a Civil Society
Index


For other resources on a Christian approach to history see here.

Monday 18 November 2013

Recent Kuyperania (November)

The first volume of Kuyper's De Gemeene Gratie has been translated and published: Common Grace vol 1 Part 1  Noah - Adam. Christian's Library Press, 2013.

David Carlson at Fresh Read reviews Kuyper's Wisdom and Wonder

James Bratt looks at "Transforming Kuyper" at The twelve

Abraham Cho reviews Bratt's biography of Kuyper at TGC.

The Emerging Scholars Network Blog has a review of Kuyper's Wisdom and Wonder by Dan Jesse and republishes the one by David Carlson from Fresh Read.

A. A. van Ruler on Kuyper's sphere sovereignty (translated by Ruben Alvarado - excerpted from Religie en Politiek, Nijkerk: Callenbach, 1945, pp. 373-379.)


Logos are releasing the Abraham Kuyper Studies Collection (6 vols.); a collection of five recent books on Kuyper and one by Kuyper.

The Kuyper Center Review Vol 4 has been announced it is subtitled: Calvinism and Democracy edited by John Bowlin. It will be published in April 2014.


Music for a Monday morning - Nit Project

Friday 15 November 2013

Kuyper's Common Grace 1.1

According to George Harink and Jordon Ballor on Twitter, the publication of the first volume (excluding Wisdom & Wonder) of Kuyper's Common Grace is now published.

Here's a glimpse of the front cover:


Update: More details on publisher's site here.

Here's the full contents of volume 1- the above is part 1 (Adam -Noah)

COMMON GRACE 

by 

Abraham Kuyper 

VOL. 1: THE HISTORICAL SECTION 

CONTENTS 
Part1?
 1. Introduction
 2. The starting point of the doctrine
 3. The Noahic covenant is not particular
 4. The spiritual and material significance of the Noahic covenant
 5. The blessings of the Noahic covenant
 6. The ordinances of the Noahic covenant
 7. The protection of human life
 8. The institution of capital punishment
 9. The institution of capital punishment (continued)
10. The institution of capital punishment (continued)
11. The institution of civil authority
12. The new dispensation

Part 2?
13. From Noah back to Paradise
14. The Paradise narrative history
15. The state of rectitude
16. The original lifespan
17. The Tree of Life
18. Natural or supernatural?
19. The crown of creation
20. Perfect integrity
21. Original righteousness
22. Conscience and the covenant of works
23. The starting point for further development
24. The language of Paradise
25. The probationary command
26. Being like God
27. Knowing as self-examination
28. Undergoing death
29. In that day
30. Forms of grace
31. Damnation and grace
32. Establishing enmity
33. Recreation
34. Decay unleashed in the heart
35. Decay unleashed in the body
36. Decay unleashed in nature
37. From Paradise to the Flood
38. From Paradise to the Flood (continued)
39. The Flood as an act of judgment and an act of grace
40. After the Flood
41. Babel’s tower building
42. The confusion of languages

Part 3?
43. Abraham’s universalist calling
44. Abraham’s history
45. Abraham and Melchizedek
46. Isolation as a merely temporary interlude
47. The great secret
48. No oasis in the wilderness
49. Symbol and type
50. Israel for the sake of the nations.
51. Jehovah and the nations
52. The Messiah and Israel
53. The light in the darkness
54. The Baptizer
55. The sparks in the pagan world
56. The sparks extinguished
57. Preference of the pagans
58. The continued effects of decay
59. Continued effects according to a fixed law
60. The process of sin
61. The final decision
62. Ongoing gains
63. Fruit for eternity
64. The connection between this and the future life
65. The relationship between this and eternal life
66. The connection of this life with the life to come
67. Review



Monday 11 November 2013

Review of Giberson's The Wonder of the Universe

The Wonder of the Universe: Hints of God in Our Fine-Tuned World
Karl W. Giberson
Downers Grove IL: IVP Books, 2012, 216 pp. pb. £10.72
ISBN 978-0-8308-3819-6


This book is, in part, a sequel to Giberson and Francis Collins’ book The Language of Science. It aims to be a faith-friendly “science and religion” book (202), and it largely succeeds in that it treats both science and faith with respect. However, it sometimes fails to deal explicitly with the faith commitments implicit within science.

It is an accessible, easy read with a lightness of touch as one would expect from Giberson who has written or co-written eight books dealing with the interaction between science and faith. As always, Giberson writes with the conviction that science is the ‘handiwork of the Creator’ (13). He seeks to show that, on the one hand, Christians need not fear science as a challenge to faith and, on the other, that science does not necessarily lead to, or promote, atheism. His main theme for this book is that ‘our expanding view of the world around provides us with a constant new source of wonder that motivates reflection on the Creator of this world’ (25).

The first part of the book tells the ‘story’ of science from the Greeks to the big bang and quantum theory. Giberson focuses on the cosmic coincidences that make ‘the Earth is such a great place to live’. In the second part he looks more at the design arguments. He avoids the inductive approach of moving from design to a designer and rightly suggests that design arguments are ‘all-too-often based on gaps in our knowledge’. But if we believe in a designer then we should see marks of design in the creation.

At times there is almost a tacit acceptance of the belief in the progress of science and in the scientific method. We are provided with an oversimplified view of the scientific method: observation and theory are the two legs of science. Much of the discussion of observation and theory is very good and he does acknowledge the ‘complex and idiosyncratic’ relationship between the two, but he sometimes doesn’t quite go far enough. There is little discussion of the theory-dependent nature of observation (we see what we want to see) and the role of worldviews in our understanding.

Giberson has an optimistic view of science, though he does acknowledge that it ‘is a finite human enterprise with all the limitations that entails’ (125). He sees the progress of science as one that ‘extends, encompasses and absorbs rather than refutes old understandings’ (128). For him science works by consensus, but ‘there is no way to draw a clean boundary between science and nonscience’ (137) and yet he does draw boundaries when he asserts that astrology and dowsing are not science, though he is more circumspect where multiple universes are concerned. He sees science, then, in terms of a spectrum: presumably, the demarcation is by consensus; and we are encouraged to ‘trust the generally accepted picture of science’ (140). Is democracy a way of deciding truth or even science?

The book is well illustrated with black and white photographs and line drawings scattered through the text and with eight colour plates. There is a short bibliographic essay, but, surprisingly, there is no mention of Polkinghorne’s work in the bibliography – and that despite Giberson having previously written a book about him (which is mentioned; for a review see S&CB (2012)24 (1): 87; for my less effusive review see PSCF (2012) 64(4): 271).

Despite some of my reservations this is a helpful well-written introduction to the complex area of science and faith. Giberson succeeds in showing that science can be embraced as an encouragement rather than a threat to the Christian faith.



This review first appeared in Science & Christian Belief (2013)25(1).

Tuesday 5 November 2013

Interview with Colin Wright editor of Marcel's newly translated book.

Colin Wright is the editor and translator of two new important books by Pierrre Marcel on Herman Dooyeweerd. He graciously agreed to be interviewed here.


Colin could you please tell me something about yourself?

I took my degree in Mechanical Engineering (Birmingham, 1966), about as far from philosophical studies as you can get!

When I became a Christian just before my final year at university I began the life-long task the Scriptures refer to as metanoia or changing one's mindset (wrongly and disastrously translated in English versions as repentance). After working in industry (making grinding machines) for a couple of years I decided to go to Bible college where I discovered two recent additions in the library that opened up a whole new avenue of thought. They were Francis Schaeffer's Escape from Reason and Hebden Taylor's Christian Philosophy of Politics, Law, and the State.

But the atmosphere there was not conducive to such thought and I could carry it no further. Sometime shortly after (the details after all this time are now very hazy) I found myself listening to Arthur Jones, who had recently been awarded his PhD at Birmingham. His Lecture had a profound and striking effect upon me. For clarity, precision and cogency it was light years from anything I had ever heard (and still is). As a result I began investigating. From somewhere I obtained an early typewritten copy of what was later published as Dooyeweerd's Roots of Western Culture and by the early seventies I was poring over the New Critique.

I would regard my own thought as in some respects quite distinct from Dooyeweerd. I also have a profound respect for Rousas Rushdoony (who is vastly underestimated in reformationalist circles in my opinion) and Cornelius van Til. If I slavishly follow Dooyeweerd in anything it is in his insistence that no one follow him, that we all think out our own solutions within a broad community, listening to and learning from each other.

I should add that career-wise I became a maths teacher, then a bookseller and ended up with my own computer software company.

I am now retired and looking for moments of quiet study in between the demanding attention of three wonderful grandsons.


Who was Pierre Marcel and why your interest in him?

Marcel spent most of his career as pastor of the Reformed church in Saint Germain en Laye, north-west of Paris. He wrote and published mainly practical theological works, a number of which have been translated into English. I knew of these works, especially his book on Infant baptism, long before I discovered his Dooyeweerd studies. A serious biography is sadly lacking but there appears to be no interest; maybe I should try it myself!


How did you first become interested in him?

My good friend Jean-Marc Berthoud of Lausanne not only told me about Marcel's Dooyeweerd studies but kindly obtained copies for me. When I told him of my plans he was extremely encouraging and supportive, and put me in touch with a number of people who were able to help in various ways.


How did the translation project come about?

Really quite by accident. Originally my sole intention was to produce a translation in Word document form for my own use. But to do this I needed a reliable French text. All that was available was a poor photocopy of Marcel's original typed theses. So I set about creating an edited French text. I got it into my head somehow that it might be a good idea to share this with others, especially as Marcel had so much to offer to French Christians, who were unlikely ever to get a translation of the WdW or NC in their own language.


What were the highlights and low lights of the project?

This was an exhilarating project in every way.

-The translation itself forced me to think much more carefully and deeply about Dooyeweerd because there was no way to translate Marcel without fully understanding what every phrase, let alone sentence, meant. I had to make constant reference to the New Critique and the WdW, comparing them with each other and with Marcel. I made some interesting if not intriguing discoveries and my own grasp of Dooyeweerd's thought was deepened significantly.

-I have been told I should feel proud of the achievement but what I really feel is an intense satisfaction, especially at having been involved in completing Marcel's project for him. I hope he would have been pleased with it. It is a pity he did not live to see it.

-On such a huge undertaking, even someone of Marcel's stature has to take shortcuts, and he did it where it was, seemingly, least likely to matter...in the footnotes. Unfortunately his reliance on Dooyeweerd's footnotes was a trust badly placed. In this area at least, Dooyeweerd seems to have taken little care to be accurate. Sometimes he even quotes his own work wrongly! I had to spend an inordinate amount of time checking references and expanding them; sometimes spending as much as a couple of days on a single footnote.

-The project kept opening up new vistas and it has been frustrating having to limit what I could do. I think it would have been a much better work, in English and French, if I had had the time and resources to research archives in Amsterdam, Aix-en-Provence and elsewhere. I do not doubt that there is a substantial correspondence that took place in the writing of the theses. Marcel's aim was to give the French the WdW in their own language. Lecerf had put him up to it and secured grants to enable him to go to the Netherlands to study with this as the sole aim. His interest in Marcel's progress surely did not stop there. Also, Marcel must have consulted Dooyeweerd on such a major undertaking.

-I would have liked to include a short biography in the first volume, with something of the history and development of Marcel's project. I did approach someone eminently suitable to do this for me but he was unfortunately far too busy to even contemplate it and, as I have said, I had neither the time nor the resources to do it myself.


How was Marcel's work received originally? 

Marcel appears to have made no effort to get these theses published. He gave copies to a few friends, but his pre-occupation was more theological than philosophical, more ecclesiastical than academic. He wrote and published a great deal on practical theological issues. Those who did look into his Dooyeweerd theses, such as Pierre Courthial, remarked on how brilliant they were.

How do Marcel and Dooyeweerd differ?

In his theses Marcel went out of his way to present a truly faithful exposition of Dooyewerd's thought, doing so in Dooyeweerd's own words as much as possible. He offers no critique or criticism of the Master. His intention was to bring Dooyeweerd to the attention of his fellow Frenchmen, not to teach his own slant on it. His only remark was to the effect that in so far as he understood Dooyeweerd he was in full agreement with him.


If Marcel were alive today what would he say to the church?

I haven't a clue. This is one if the many questions that could have been answered if research into the archives had been possible. There is an untold story here that opens up possibilities for research by postgraduate students of French church history.


Why should we read Marcel?

To the French I would say, this is about as near as you will get for a long time to Dooyeweerd's authentic voice in French. It is not complete, Marcel never got around to the sections on epistemology and individuality structures.

To the English I would say, don't expect anything novel here, but you will find a much better written book than the New Critique on the topics it does discuss (the transcendental critique and modal theory). If Marcel had been Dooyeweerd's editor, I believe the WdW would have been a much better book. Marcel not only carefully selected all the truly salient features; at times he quietly rearranged them and presented a much better argument.


How can we get hold of the books?

Easiest is through Amazon. In the UK that means through their subsidiary Book Depository for the best deals.

Are there anymore projects in the pipeline?

Yes, for sure. Marcel wrote a prize winning 'essay' when he was only 26. It has never been published either, and the only copy I can find is in the VU library. I am trying to get a copy to edit and translate. I have also had an ongoing project in the background for some years translating Pierre Duhem's ten volume Systeme du Monde that I would like to complete. And if God spares me, and I can get my German up to scratch, I would like to tackle Anneliese Maier's brilliant works on medieval science (also 10 vols!). Why this work has never appeared in English is one of the great mysteries - and scandals - of our time.



For more details on the books see here.





Saturday 2 November 2013

Recent Kuyperania (Oct 2013)

James Bratt was recently interviewed about his Kuyper biography at the Reformed Forum.

Comment magazine has had a Kuyper month with these articles:

An Eclectic Inheritance: Kuyper's Politics Today by Tracy Kuperus
MINE! Kuyper for a new century by Richard Mouw
Casting Call: Abraham Kuyper and the Drama of History by Eric Miller
The Full Weight of our Convictions: The Point of Kuyperian Pluralism by Jonathan Chaplin

Joe Carter looks at "What the poor need most" with help from Kuyper

Anthony Bradley on "Kuyper on higher education"

Anthony Bradley "Presuppositions matter, so let's work together"

Two articles in Philosophia Reformata 78(1) (2013):
Roger Henderson "Gum and Wire, a Time for Everything under the Sun. From Kuyperian Root to Dooyeweerdian Fruit and Back"
Jaap Klapwijk "Abraham Kuyper on Science, Theology and University". This also appeared in On Kuyper.