Henk Hart on Dooyeweerd

 

The Relevance of Kuyper to Asia Zoom Seminar

 

This event is sponsored by the Hwapyung Sujik church and supported by Arastamar Evangelical Seminary in Indonesia.

To register, please click the link below:

https://forms.gle/CpnycLpSfecM15Sg6

Reformational Journals

 

Philosophia Reformata

Pro Rege

Journal for Christian Scholarship

Koers: Bulletin for Christian Scholarship

Findings

No longer published 

(the archives of the journals are available on www.allofliferedeemed.co.uk)

Anakainosis

International Reformed Bulletin

Kuyper Newsletter

Look Out

More Digital Initiatives for Reformational Philosophy

Rudi Hayward’s Reformational Readings and Roots of Western Culture YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn-LoMSQ6ZXwwTPIqXK6G1Q

http://daniestrauss.com/

https://www.alanstorkey.com/

https://herunner.wordpress.com/

http://herman-dooyeweerd.blogspot.com/

https://jacobklapwijk.nl/

Dick Stafleu http://www.mdstafleu.nl/

Reformational Digital Library: https://reformationaldl.org/

Research gate:

https://www.researchgate.net/search.Search.html?type=publication&query=Reformational%20philosophy

Academia.edu: https://home.academia.edu/search?q=reformational%20philosophy

 

Digital Initiatives for Reformational Philosophy

 My slides for the Reformational Philosophy Conference Panel 8: Digital initiatives for Reformational philosophy:

AoLRDec2021Conf by stevebishop

Some Reformational digital initiatives

 

Dooyeweerd pages www.dooy.info/

All of life redeemed www.allofliferedeemed.co.uk

AoLR Seminars International https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD8SYsjvWgqIeUFDO5hR4TA

Reformational Scholarly Discussion info https://refoscholarship.blogspot.com

Social Theology http://socialtheology.com

Kirby Laing Centre https://kirbylaingcentre.co.uk/

Thinking Faith Network https://thinkfaith.net/

Thumbwidth Press https://www.thumbwidthpress.net/

Association for Reformational philosophy https://www.reformationalphilosophy.org/

Layman's Lounge - Neo-Calvinism strand https://thelaymenslounge.com/you-should-know-neo-calvinism/

Then and now: AoLR

 2005

2021

The Asia Kuyper Institute

 The Asia Kuyper Institute is now online: https://www.asiakuyper.org/home

Their aim is:

is to develop research on the possibilities of Kuyper’s thoughts for contemporary Asian Christians and appropriations of his ideas while pondering the uniqueness of each country in Asia.

Another variation on Dooyeweerd's modal aspects from John Paul Roberts Haine

 

Thanks to Eliel Morales

https://twitter.com/eliel_morales/status/1458564303842422795

Ref: Ramírez-Catalán, Jorge. 2003. Cosmovisión bíblica. Nociones esenciales. México: Seminario Teológico Juan Calvino International

Dooyeweerd's modal aspects - modifications that have been made

 

Some new and forthcoming books

 

Findings issue 2 published

 Thumbwidth Press and the All of Life Redeemed International Seminars Project is pleased to announce the publication of Findings, Issue 2. This is available free from

https://www.thumbwidthpress.net/shop

Contributions to this issue are:

Editorial: Bruce Wearne – Inspiration and Update

Isaac Njaramba Mutua – In Search of My True African Christian Identity: Journey from a dualistic to a holistic view of reality

Egbert Schuurman – Enlightenment of the Enlightenment

Mark Roques and Steve Bishop – Stewardship Epistemology

Chris Gousmett – Researching all that is “under the sun.” Creation order, the limits of science and the error of speculation in the thought of Antheunis Janse

Antheunis Janse – Translation: “The work of God that happens under the sun”

Bruce Wearne – Book Review: “The Frog and the Fish: Reflections on Work, Technology, Sex, Stuff, and Happiness.”

Issue 1 is still available, free at the same website.

Reformational Scholarship Discussion List

If you are interested in discussing the Reformational approach to philosophy and other academic disciplines, you are welcome to join the email list: 

https://groups.google.com/g/refoscholarship

Circa 1998 the Mythnet/Thinknet group was formed for such discussion. The Reformational Scholarship Discussion [RSD] list continues its purpose.

Important:

1) If you want to access the email list's google group website, you need to join with a gmail/google account.

2) Those using a non-gmail address can still join, be members of the list, send messages and replies, etc... but they can only do so from their email, not from the group website.

3) If you want to join with a non-gmail email address, contact RSD list admins <refoscholarship+managers@googlegroups.com>

4) A day or so after joining, if you don't otherwise see it, check your spam/junk folder for the welcome message or confirmation.

More information is here:

https://refoscholarship.blogspot.com

 https://sites.google.com/view/refoscholarship

Recent Kuyperania

 Mike Wagenman has a great piece in the Banner:

 “Abraham Kuyper: Cancel or Celebrate?”

W. Robert Godfrey has a presentation on Kuyper 

Abraham Kuyper did not ignore the realities that the church faced in the modern world. In this last lesson, Dr. Godfrey maps out Kuyper's vision of a pluralistic society that would not hinder our freedom to be Christians.

Mark Roques utilising some Kuyperian insights looks at: 

Check it out here
 

Faith in Democracy – A series of webinars with Jonathan Chaplin

 We invite you to participate in a series of interactive seminars with Dr Jonathan Chaplin, Associate Fellow at the British public theology think tank Theos, a member of the Cambridge Divinity Faculty and former Director of the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics. He has recently published “Faith in Democracy: Framing a politics of deep diversity” (SCM Press, 2021), a discussion of how religious citizens can participate in society with integrity, and how secularism needs to recognise its own faith commitments which seek to exclude those of other faiths. Chaplin seeks to present a vision for how those of various (and conflicting) commitments can find a way of life together which does justice to everyone and allow for expression in public life of the many and varied faith convictions which make up today’s pluralist society.

Schedule: 

Thursday 30 September “Why Faith in Democracy?”

Thursday 14 October,  “Christianity and Secularism”

Thursday 28 October “Political Engagement by Faith Communities

8.00 am UK time

Full details and booking are available here

More details here [pdf]

Kuyper: From monarch butterfly ...to mightiest monarch

 

Save the Date: 8-11 December

Abraham Kuyper on Apologetics

Mike Wagenman and my paper on Kuyper’s apologetics has been published. 

This paper explores Abraham Kuyper’s view of apologetics, particularly in response to B.B. Warfield’s classical approach. It examines three key questions: Why did Warfield and Kuyper disagree over the questions of apologetics; Why did Kuyper have such a low view of apologetics; and What alternative did Kuyper propose to apologetics in Christian life and thought?

Bishop, S., & Wagenman, M. . (2021). Abraham Kuyper on Apologetics. Tydskrif Vir Christelike Wetenskap | Journal for Christian Scholarship, 57(No 1&2), 1-18. Retrieved from https://pubs.ufs.ac.za/index.php/tcw/article/view/540

The Big Picture Issue 2 is out

 

The Big Picture Issue 2 is now out - pdfs are available here

Highlights include:

5 reasons to read Bavinck

Kuyper's Conversion via Victorian Literature

Kuyperania 2020

 

My article on Kuyperania 2020 has now been published. https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.86.1.2504

In it I review the following:

Ashford, B.R. & Bartholomew, C.G. 2020. The Doctrine of Creation: A Constructive Kuyperian Approach. Downers’ Grove, Ill: IVP Academic.

Bishop, S. 2020. Abraham Kuyper: Cultural Transformer. Foundations, 79 (Autumn): Online: http://www. affinity.org.uk/foundations-issues/issue-79-article-4-abraham-kuyper-cultural-transformer.

Caudill, D.S. 2020.The Dutch Effect: Kuyper and Neo-Calvinism in Professor Cochran’s Scholarship. Pepperdine Law Review, 47(2):419-434. Available at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/plr/ vol47/iss2/13.

Ford, B. 2020. Neoliberalism and Four Spheres of Authority in American Education: Business, Class, Stratification, and Intimations of Marketization. Policy Futures in Education, 18(2):200-239. https:// doi.org/10.1177/1478210320903911.

Freire, L.G. 2020. Abraham Kuyper and Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer as Anti-Rationalist Liberals. Journal of Church and State, csaa029, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcs/csaa029.

Freire, L.G. 2020. Christian ethics and entrepreneurship in an interventionist economy. In Christian ethics and political economy: Markers for a developing South Africa (Reformed Theology in Africa Series Volume 3) CapeTown: AOSIS, p.137–149. https://doi. org/10.4102/aosis.2020.BK220.05.

Gay, J. 2020. On Education by Abraham Kuyper. Church Times, 28 August. Online https://www. churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2020/28-august/books-arts/book-reviews/on-education-by-abraham- kuyper. Date of access: 29 August 2020.

Harinck, G. 2020a. Abraham Kuyper’s Vision of a Plural Society as a Christian Answer to Secularization and Intolerance. (In V. Karpov, M. Svensson (eds.), Secularization, Desecularization and Toleration: Cross-Disciplinary Challenges to a Modern Myth. Palgrave MacMillan, 115-133.) https://doi. org/10.1007/978-3-030-54046-3_6.

Harinck, G. 2020b. On Doing What Is Just, Right and Fair: Essay on a Dutch Example. In die Skriflig, 54(1), a2646. https://doi.org/10.4102/ids. v54i1.2646.

Kristanto, D. 2020 Is the Creation Under Destruction? Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck on New creation. Veritas: Jurnal Teologi dan Pelayanan, 19(2):189–200.

Kuyper, A. 2020a. Ever in Thy Sight. 31 Devotions on the Psalms. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Kuyper, A. 2020b. Common Grace: God’s Gift for a Fallen World Volume 3. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Mouw, R. 2020. Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. In Michael Allen and Scott R. Swain (ed.) 2020. The Oxford Handbook of Reformed Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p.328-341. https:// doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198723912.013.2.

Oslington, P. 2020. The Kuyperian Dream of Reconstructing Economics on Christian Foundations. Faith & Economics, 75(Spring):7-36.

Schuurman, D.C. 2020. On Kuyper and Technology, or How a Voice From the Past Can Speak to our Digital Age. Christian Scholar’s Review, 49(2):161-174.

Stiemsma, S. 2020. The Presence of the Past: A Review of Abraham Kuyper’s On Education. Pro Rege, XLIX (1):43-47.

Sumpter, J. 2020. A Short Introduction to Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. Moscow, ID: Francis Drake Press.

Vander Stelt, J.C. 2020 Faith Life and Theology: A Reorientation. Jordan Station, ON: Paidiea Press.

Wagenman, M.R. 2020. The Power of the Church: The Sacramental Ecclesiology of Abraham Kuyper. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications.

Yoo, Jeong Mo 2020. How Is God Known?: General Revelation in the Theology of Abraham Kuyper. Reform & Revival. (Journal of Korean Institute for Reformed Studies), 26: 181-226. https://doi.org/10.36365/ kukirs.2020..26.181. 

The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter - updated and abridged by Tim Cooper

The Reformed Pastor

Richard Baxter; updated and abridged by Tim Cooper

Crossway Books

Hardback; 176 pp; £18.50

ISBN 978-1-4335-7318-7

Richard Baxter (1615-1691) was known as 'Scribbling Dick' because of his prodigious writings. He was born Rowton, Shropshire. When a teenager he was influenced by the works of William Perkins, Richard Sibbes and Edmund Bunny. In 1638 he became the master at the free grammar school in Dudley, where he was ordained by the bishop of Worcester, John Thornborough. The main part of his ministry took place in Kidderminster at St Mary and All Saint's Church (1647-1661).  During the Civil War he left Kidderminster as a chaplain to the parliamentary army, but later returned to Kidderminster. In 1662 he married and retired to Middlesex after being part of the Great Ejection bought about by the Act of Uniformity. 

He was a prolific writer and wrote over 140 books. It was during his first spell at Kidderminster that he wrote The Reformed Pastor in 1656. That is the book is still in print today is and merits a new abridged edition is a testimony to its impact and longevity. James I. Packer named it among one of the five books that have most influenced him. Packer described Baxter as “the most outstanding pastor, evangelist and writer on practical and devotional themes Puritanism has produced”. 

This is not the first time this book has been abridged - the standard edition was edited and abridged by William Brown in 1829 and republished by The Banner of Truth Trust in 1974. The BoT edition still used archaic language. What Tim Cooper has done is to make this book much more readable and accessible. It is also much shorter, but still keeps the key message of the book.

Cooper is no stranger to Baxter. He is author of Fear and Polemic in Seventeenth Century England: Richard Baxter and Antinomianism (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2001), John Owen, Richard Baxter and the Formation of Nonconformity (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2016), and co-editor of Richard Baxter: Reliquiæ Baxterianæ: Or, Mr Richard Baxter's Narrative of the Most Memorable Passages of his Life and Times (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020). Thus, he is well equipped to abridge and edit this book. 

Cooper has added a useful summary at the beginning of each chapter. A series of pertinent and challenging questions also conclude each chapter. This adds to the value of Baxter’s book. 

What Baxter puts forward in this book is a call for church ministers to take pastoral work seriously. This for Baxter entails, not only teaching and preaching from the pulpit but also daily visitation. Visitation includes private instruction with the use of a catechism - it is one-to-one personal discipleship. He stresses the need for pastors to know themselves and to know their flock.

What Baxter is very good at is exploring the motives behind the nature of pastoral work. He is both an encourager and an exhorter. He deals extremely well with possible objections to the nature of this type of ministry and pulls no punches. 

Baxter held to a view known as neo-nomianism, and there are traces of this that can be seen in his (over)emphasis on the need for faith and repentance and human autonomy; sometimes his exhortation comes close to legalism. This does not detract from the importance of this book - it should be required reading for all pastors. 

Thanks to Crossway for a review copy of this book.

Family Tree of Calvinistic philosophy

 Over at the Layman's Lounge is my family tree of Calvinistic philosophy - concentrating primarily on neo-Calvinists.

It has gone through several drafts - with helpful comments from Gregory Baus, Derek Schuurman and Jet Weigand-Timmer. 

This is the latest iteration (click on the image to enlarge it):

Mark Roques in the Baptist Times

 The Baptist Times has a piece by Mark Roques on his excellent new resource for creative faith sharing. You can read it here.

Groen Van Prinsterer on Laymen's Lounge

My introduction to Groen Van Prinsterer is now on Laymen's Lounge

 

Mark Roques on The Layman's Lounge Podcast

Listen to it here.

 

New books from Wordbridge Publishing

 Wordbridge Publishing has announced two new books:

Hoedemaker, P.J. 2021. The Politics of Antithesis

A translation of three short works by P. J. Hoedemaker that evaluate Abraham Kuyper’s prime ministry, along with Rudben Alvarado's commentary and contextualizing apparatus. Further information is available here  

Popma, K.J. 2021. Gospel and History

Translated and edited by Harry Van Dyke.

Further information is available here  

Abraham Kuyper's view of the natural sciences

 

My paper on Abraham Kuyper's view of the natural sciences has now been published in Koers. 

The pdf is available here.

Abraham Kuyper’s view of the natural sciences. KOERS — Bulletin for Christian Scholarship, 86(1). Available at: https://doi. org/10.19108/KOERS.86.1.2497

Four new and forthcoming neo-Calvinist books

 These four books will be coming soon:

Jonathan Chaplin 2021. Faith in Democracy. London: SCM

Jessica and Robert Joustra (eds) 2021. Calvinism for a Secular Age. Downers Grove: IVP

Hector Acero Ferrer et al. (eds) 2021. Seeking Stillness or the Sound of Wings. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock

Mathew Kaemingk (ed.) Reformed Public Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

Dooyeweerd's modal aspects

 Dooyeweerd identified 14 and later 15 modal aspects within creation.

Different terms have been used by Reformationals scholars over the years to describe these aspects - and some have modified the number and the order of them. I have attempted to show some of these changes in the diagram below.

(The order is from earlier to later aspects)

Nobody stands nowhere

Nobody stand nowhere - an excellent short YouTube on worldviews from the Theos Thinktank:

 

KLC's The Big Picture

 

The Kirby Laing Centre has produced the first issue of The Big Picture - and it is truly fantastic. It includes articles on Kuyper - what other reason is needed to read it?

KLC ONLINE CONCERT

KLC ONLINE CONCERT:

Full Circle: From Lament to Praise and Back Again

Zoom Event: Saturday 15 May, 7-9PM U.K. time 

Full details here:

https://kirbylaingcentre.co.uk/events/concert-full-circle/

Review of Work & Worship by Kaemingk and Willson from Baker Academic

My review of the excellent  Work and Worship: Reconnecting Our Labor and Liturgy by Matthew Kaemingk and Cory B. Willson has been published in the Spring 2021 edition of Foundations.

You can read it here:

On being a Christian stonemason

image source

James  C. Schaap on being a Christian [stone]mason:

... writing is no different from, say, laying cement. If a Christian mason wanted to witness to the Lord's saving grace in all that he did, and if he determined therefore that he would only fashion crosses in cement, eventually the poor guy wouldn't have many customers. If he wanted to be the best mason he could be he'd have to know every last thing there to know about laying concrete and erecting block walls. He'd have to ensure that his driveways would be flat and smooth, that they'd hold their set for decades. He'd have to know the very best mix. In short, he'd be far better off studying masonry than preaching. That's also true for bassoon players, garbage collectors, stand up comedians, and Zamboni drivers.

            Schaap, James C. 1998. Our Family Album. Grand Rapids, MI: CRC Publications

You Should Know ... Dooyeweerd: The YouTube Version

 Gregory Baus has produced a YouTube based on the article he and I wrote on Herman Dooyeweerd:

 

ICS Online courses

 

You Should Know: Dooyeweerd

 

An introduction to Dooyeweerd by Gregory Baus and me is now live on Laymen's Lounge.

https://thelaymenslounge.com/you-should-know-dooyeweerd/

Mark Roques - Mary's worldview (Luke 1)

Mark Roques explores Mary's Biblical worldview (Luke 1)

You should know Vollenhoven

 Laymen's Lounge have posted my piece introducing the Dutch Christian philosopher D.H.Th. Vollenhoven - check it out here

Mark Roques on Goliath's worldview

 

Book reviews: Cotherman's To Think Christianly and Basden's Foundations and Practice of Research

The Journal for Christian Scholarship have posted online two of my book reviews:

Charles E. Cotherman To Think Christianly: A History of L'Abri, Regent College, and the Christian Study Center Movement

Andrew Basden Foundations and Practice of Research: Adventures with Dooyeweerd’s Philosophy

You should know about "sphere sovereignty"

 

The Laymen's Lounge has posted an excellent article by Rudi Hayward on sphere sovereignty. 

It is well worth checking out.

Mark Roques discusses Iron Sharpens iron

 Mark Roques introduces Iron Sharpens Iron, and our new evangelism resource Slave Chronicles and Dangerous Faith.

   

For more information https://thinkfaith.net/events/iron-sharpens-iron

You should know neo-Calvinism

 The wonderful Laymen's Lounge has posted my short introduction to neo-Calvinism - you can read it here:  https://thelaymenslounge.com/you-should-know-neo-calvinism/

Also included is a tentative analysis of strands of Christianity and how they would answer key questions:

New Resource Helps Christians Story-tell Their Faith

 

Mark Roques has been busy working on a new course to help Christians to become confident evangelists - some details below

Author, teacher and working philosopher Mark Roques has developed an accessible online course to help Christians disciple others using creative storytelling.  Slave Chronicles and Dangerous Beliefs offers twenty short stories plus study material on the theme of historic and modern slavery. The material can be used in everyday conversations, religious education or talks.  

Each Chronicle contrasts Christian and materialist worldviews and demonstrates how to have  respectful conversations while telling a story. While most people wouldn’t confess to supporting slavery, many acquiesce to its ongoing evils through complacency or ignorance. Alongside each narrative the evils of slavery are shown to have their roots in wrong thinking about the value of all human beings.

Commissioned by Thinking Faith Network, this short course which launches online February 2021, demonstrates how to discuss a biblical response which challenges this social evil. It can be studied by individuals, student or other small groups working at their own pace over six-eight weeks and supported by an online peer-learning community. 

Mark first developed a worldview approach as an RE high school teacher in 1990s to attract the attention of dIsengaged sixth-formers:

 “I immediately saw that neither pious homilies or straightforward religious education were cutting it. Instead I brought in albums, video and newspaper clips. What story was Madonna inhabiting in Material Girl, or Roy Keane telling when he wrote that pro-footballers were just ‘pieces of meat’? By exploring the stories behind pop music, entertainment and sports reporting with them I was able to unpack the underlying worldview. 

I named and shamed the individualistic and materialist belief system that mugs so many today. Only by understanding this dark faith can we make sense of human trafficking. I pointed out that trafficked people are not just ‘pieces of meat’ for sexual consumption or slave labour, but precious creatures made in God’s image and likeness.The students hung on my every word. No sneering and smirking and excellent end-of-term feedback. Not only does this approach work, it works in every setting without any complaints of preaching or indoctrination. Vital in today’s pluralist society. You are sharing about something people know very little of through stories. Materialism is almost never scrutinised as a dangerous and destructive belief system . Many today ignore the Christian faith because they have never thought about the materialist mindset that has captivated their lives and imaginations.”

Talking about Mark’s method, the Right Reverend Dr John B Thomson, Bishop of Selby, said:

“This is a very impressive approach to evangelism. I like the way you deconstruct the assumed beliefs people rarely examine. I keep saying wherever I go that I have yet to meet a non-religious person in my life. Everyone has beliefs. The question I’m interested in is which religion or beliefs really hold water when faced with the big meaning questions of life? Your resources address this head on.” 

Co-developer Patricia Gray said: “Mark has a great track record of holding neighbours, audiences and readers enthralled. His lively and humorous storytelling has captivated thousands over the years. Yet all the while, he’s dealing with some of the most difficult and fundamental aspects of what and why people believe as they do. With Slave Chronicles and Dangerous Beliefs Mark brings a much-needed and useful online resource to the Christian community, educating and enabling both discipleship and evangelism at a time when meeting physically is still challenging for many.”