Recent Kuyperania: update on the Kuyper Translation project

The following  is a description of the status of the translation projects as of April, 2015:

1. Pro Rege: Kuyper’s three-volume work on the lordship of Christ will be published and edited precisely as Kuyper viewed them, i.e. as the application of his common grace principles. These volumes are being translated by Albert Gootjes and Nelson Kloosterman. Nelson Kloosterman is doing the editing and annotation for these volumes. Clifford Anderson is writing the introduction.

2. Common Grace: Kuyper’s seminal work comprising three volumes and totaling 1700 pages in the Dutch is being translated for the first time into English. The series is being translated by Nelson D. Kloosterman and Ed M. van der Maas and annotated/edited by Dr. Jordon Ballor and Dr. Stephen Grabill. Dr. Richard Mouw has provided the introduction. Volume one is completed and available for purchase.

3. Abraham Kuyper Church Anthology: key essays and speeches that Kuyer gave on the church have been translated. The anthology will include selections from Kuyper’s doctoral dissertation on the theology of John Calvin and John a Lasco; various treatises and sermons such as the Twofold Fatherland and Address on Missions; and selections from Kuyper’s larger works on the church, such as Kuyper’s commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism. The centerpiece will be Kuyper’s programmatic statement Tract on the Reformation of the Churches, which takes a unique approach to ecclesiology. Dr. John Halsey Woods, author of the award winning book titled Going Dutch in the Modern Age: Abraham Kuyper’s Struggle for a Free Church in the Nineteen Century Netherlands, is editing this anthology.

4. Abraham Kuyper and Islam: this volume will provide an English translation of the significant pieces that Kuyper wrote about Islam, together with one or more essays of commentary on the context and import of his thought. Dr. Jim Bratt, Professor of History at Calvin College, in conjunction with other scholars, has selected various sections from Abraham Kuyper’s two travel volumes: Om de Oude Werelde-Zee for translation. Dr. Jan van Vliet, Professor of Economics at Dordt College, is doing the translation work for this project. Dr. Bratt is serving as the editor.

 This book will provide students, scholars, pastors, and interested laity with an instructive model for observing another faith and its cultural ramifications from an informed Christian point of view. The importance of this anthology is underscored in that we are not discussing just any faith but that of Islam, when at this moment its role on the global scene is so visible and controversial, its future so significant, and its relationships with Christianity so crucial for both faiths.

5. Abraham Kuyper Business, Economics, and Care of the Poor anthologies. Plans are to translate and publish Kuyper’s major speeches and essays on these subjects in two separate anthologies. The first anthology will contain material on business, ecomonics, and personal social ethics. The second volume will include material on the care of the poor. Dr.Peter Heslam, Dr. Harry VanDyke, and Dr. Jim Bratt are assisting in the selection of material to be included in these two anthologies. Dr. Harry VanDyke will translate and annotate the material for these two volumes.

6. Abraham Kuyper on Christian Education: An Anthology of Essays is a translation of a number of Kuyper’s important essays and speeches on education. In anticipation of this anthology, we have translated and published as a teaser volume Kuyper’s Scolastica I and II-- two convocations addresses that Abraham Kuyper gave as rector of the Vrije Universiteit (Free University) in Amsterdam. In these two important addresses Kuyper shares his view of the divine purpose of scholarship for human culture. Additionally, the reader will encounter a human side of Kuyper that is not always readily apparent in his other works.

The education anthology will include Kuyper’s important essay entitled “Bound to the Word,” which discusses the topic of what being bound by the word of God means within the entire world of human thought. The Kuyper education anthology will also include extracts from important parliamentary speeches by Kuyper on the subject of education, plus a translation of Kuyper’s sixteenth article about schooling that appeared in his daily newspaper in 1880 under the title of “Antirevolutionary Also in Your Household.” Other important speeches and essays that Kuyper gave on education are included as well as material on Kuyper’s views on vouchers. Dr. Wendy Naylor and Dr. Harry Van Dyke will serve as co-editors for the Kuyper Education Anthology. Dr. Naylor, Dr. Van Dyke, Dr. John Bolt, and Dr. Nelson Kloosterman have all assisted in the selection and translation of material for this important anthology.