Luther taught that every time you insist that I am a sinner, just so often do you call me to remember the benefit of Christ my Redeemer, upon whose shoulders, and not upon mine, lie all my sins. So, when you say that I am a sinner, you do not terrify, but comfort me immeasurably. -Thomas Oden, The Justification Reader (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 5

Of First Importance

1. The key to understanding this whole vision is to understand western culture from the standpoint of the gospel rather than the gospel from within the presuppositions of modernity. In other words, the worldview baggage that we all carry from our lives prior to believing the Gospel combined with our daily struggle with competing worldviews cannot supplant the gospel as the foundation for understanding culture. We understand the world through the gospel, not the gospel through the world.
2. This vision is centered in the confession of the Lordship of Jesus Christ over all of life. There is not one molecule or atom outside the authority and sovereignty of God.
3. To understand salvation to be restorative and comprehensive. The Kuyperian tradition has developed over against the Platonizing of salvation. Platonic thought understands salvation to be an escape from this world while the vision laid out by Kuyper and others saw that redemption had come, is coming, and will come to the world.
4. To understand the church to be more than a “religious” community, but rather the church as gospel community which represents a new humankind that shares in the comprehensive redemptive purposes of the kingdom of God.
5. To recognize the antithesis—the struggle between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness—even in this already/not yet time of the kingdom. Since redemption and sin are comprehensive in scope, there is an encounter at every point in creation. Recognizing this reality protects us from running from the enemy as well as the false hope that we can barricade out the darkness. Sin is too comprehensive to run from, redemption is too comprehensive to be walled by tradition.
6. The vision holds a high view of Biblical authority. If the church is not to be absorbed into the reigning idolatry of culture, the Biblical story must become the starting line and the finish line. This does not mean a fundamentalist surrender. Rather to recognize that the Bible tells one story about the whole creation (universal history) with a creation, fall, redemption, new creation story line.
7. A recognition of the creational good and the distortions of idolatry in the public square lead to an understanding of the missional task of the church. In the public square this means that the people of God are subversive agents who neither pursue revolution nor conservatism. Rather “inner reformation” seeks to preserve what is good (by it’s nature as being created by God) and to oppose what has been distorted by idolatry.

When studying The Kuyperian vision it quickly becomes apparent that the vision stresses the doctrine of creation which has enabled a much more positive and defined agenda in politics, education, art and other areas of public life. And while the original vision is beautiful in and of itself, it has deepened since Kuyper. More thought has been given regarding the Cross of Christ as well as more developed eschatology and a deeper understanding of how both the cross and eschatology influence our daily encounters in the public square. Also the vision has evolved with a greater emphasis on the local church as the primary instrument of the church’s mission in the public life instead of specialized organizations disconnected from the local body. The glaring weakness in the Kuyperian vision was a lack of connection with the local congregation, a weakness that has been recognized and hopefully corrected.

Have you ever heard this vision presented? Thoughts?

Part 1: I Brew Because Jesus is Lord

Part 2: Jesus is Lord So What?

Missionary theologian Lesslie Newbigin commented in 1996 that the “Reformational, Kuyperian tradition has obviously been at work long ago spelling out concretely in the various spheres of society what it means to say, ‘Jesus is Lord.’” So what is the Reformational Kuyperian tradition?

Some today have called this tradition neo-Calvinism. While I don’t necessarily agree the Kuyperian tradition is a new version of anything, but perhaps more of an emphasis on the issues of daily living out of the faith.  It originated many years ago as a response to the secularization of culture, as represented in the French Revolution and introduced in the Netherlands after 1795. Reformational Kuyperian tradition became a powerful force in the Netherlands led by Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920) who was influenced by a host of men prior. Distinctive to the Kuyperian tradition was departure from theological liberalism and scholastic orthodoxy seeing each of them as accommodations and surrenders to the Enlightenment. In other words the tradition began to see that the conversation and daily life of Christianity was being lived in response to something rather than distinct itself. The tradition evolved and embraced a commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His kingdom as a foundational point for understanding and living in the world. Its chief concern was to incarnate/embody the comprehensive claim that Jesus is Lord in all of life, including societal life. This emphasis is seen in one of Kuyper’s most quoted statements, “There is not a square inch within the entire domain of human life of which Christ, the Sovereign of all, does not claim: ‘Mine’”. It’s with this presupposition that the Kuyperian worldview is built.

From Holland, this worldview grew to influence much of the world. Kuyperian tradition identified with the struggle of being a witness to the gospel in the public square, whether it be art, politics, business,  farming, or education. Its influence upon higher education is perhaps it greatest influence as noted by George Marsden who spoke of “the triumph of Kuyperian presuppositionalism” in the North American evangelical scholarly community. By the invitation of B.B. Warfield, Kuyper delivered the Stone Lectures at Princeton titled, “Lectures on Calvinism” which launched the Kuyperian tradition to an American audience and and marked the beginning of his influence in the States.

Next Post: What is the Kuyperian Vision?

I love Jesus, I am a minister, unashamedly so. But labels are sometimes constricting. I am human. I have interest in seeing every square inch of human life redeemed by what I love most. I live in a religious wasteland where “preachers” are suppose to fit nicely under trees or in church offices under their desks praying for the heathen and being right. If that’s what I must live up to, I will have to pass.

Jesus is Lord. In the church and in the public square.

Over the next few days I will be sharing more about Abraham Kuyper and his influence.

  When you are satisfied with God’s presence and approval in your life, you will no longer obsess about what everyone else thinks about you. You can quit hiding your faults and start living with authenticity, letting people see the real you — the ‘you’ with all the faults and warts — because you no longer depend on their admiration for personal fulfillment.

It is a revolutionary, liberating truth: in Christ, you have all you need for everlasting joy. His approval and presence are all that you need for life and happiness.— J. D. Greear
Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary
(Nashville, Tn.: B & H Publishing, 2011), 85

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10 years later, I have azalea blooms. Victory over the deer!

Oh, I think I got a fish.

The body of Christ is comprised of unique, diverse members who have different gifts and strengths, and we are intended to work together, bringing all that we have, for the glory of God. We are of different cultures, genders, social status, and temperaments. My book

explores in depth the introverted temperament, and how the church doesn’t always value what introverts bring to the table. People who fall on the introverted side of the personality spectrum can love God and love others authentically, bringing their God-given gifts to bear on their communities.

@Christianity.com

If you love a person whose life is all put together and has no major needs, it costs you nothing. It’s delightful. There are probably four or five people like that where you live. You ought to find them and become their friend. But if you ever try to love somebody who has needs, someone who is in trouble or who is persecuted or emotionally wounded, it’s going to cost you. You can’t love them without taking a hit yourself. A transfer of some kind is required, so that somehow their troubles, their problems, transfer to you.

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