"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.
Michael F. Heyns & Renato Coletto. Reconciling science and faith: dialogues with Anton Van Niekerk.
Danie Strauss. Intelligent Design – A Descendant of Vitalism?
Albert Weideman. Autoethnography and the presentation of belief in scholarly work.
To recapitulate briefly: “every square inch” can be taken as our claim of possession—worse, of entitlement—as if all the earth belongs to us good Christians. In fact, Kuyper said, it belongs to Christ, a different proposition altogether. Plus, the philosophically informed physicist in the room this week pointed out that Kuyper’s original statement exercises a double negative which springs from a particular stream of continental thought and which is essential to its meaning: “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!”
My own pet peeve is that this quotation typically comes without a hint of Kuyper’s strategic thinking, or—far worse—of Jesus’ own directives on the matter. In the first instance, “every square inch” can be taken to rubber-stamp whatever I want to do; after all, it’s all God’s work, and if it fits my ambition and salary demands, all the better. As to the second, here’s how Jesus dispatched his disciples into square-inch land: “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” Finally, from Kuyper’s own angle, we should rehearse another word he uttered in the same speech in which the square-inch statement appears, so as to take due recognition of who occupies our brave new world: “It cannot be said often enough: money creates power for the one who gives over the one who receives.” American politics anyone?
In short, we cannot capture Kuyper in just one quotation, even if it’s his most famous.
Surveillance is much-discussed in the news media, especially after Edward Snowden's disclosures and following each new terrorist attack.
Snowden's disclosures suggest surveillance is carried out beyond ethics and law. Terrorist attacks prompt calls for intensified surveillance.
How do we assess surveillance today? What difference does Christian commitment make? And how do we act appropriately in our daily lives?
Come and explore one of the defining issues of today with one of its leading thinkers.
David Lyon is a Professor of Sciology and Law, and Director of the Surveillance Studies Centre at Queen's University, Ontario, Canada.
A founder member of WYSOCS, David has spent over 30 years studying surveillance, privacy, information, ID and social sorting. He now lives and works in Canada.
Venue: Outwood House, Outwood Lane, Horsforth, Leeds, LS18 4HR
Dates: Friday 29th January 2016
Time: 19.30-21.30
Cost: £8 per person (£5 for students/couples)
Booking: Please book online or contact us for more information.
