Richard J. Mouw on Abraham Kuyper

Richard J. Mouw, Abraham Kuyper: A Short and Personal Introduction (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011), 148pp., ISBN: 9780802866035.

No surprise that I’ve ordered this book, being something of a fan of both Richard Mouw and Abraham Kuyper...

Richard Mouw is President of Fuller Theological Seminary; Abraham Kupyer (1837-1920) was a Dutch politician, journalist, statesman, theologian, and more besides.

Eerdmans make available an excerpt of the book here. The book itself comes in two parts: (1) Kuyper on Theology and Culture: An Overview, and (2) Kuyper for the Twenty-First Century.

In the Introduction, Mouw provides some autobiographical background for his interest in Kuyper, noting this:

‘In Kuyper’s robust Calvinism I discovered what I had been looking for: a vision of active involvement in public life that would allow me to steer my way between a privatized evangelicalism on the one hand and the liberal Protestant or Catholic approaches to public discipleship on the other hand. I have attempted to walk in this way ever since’ (ix).

He notes the renaissance of interest in Kuyper, even beyond circles of Reformed theology, and he hopes that Kuyper might help evangelicals develop a ‘coherent theological-philosophical perspective on our efforts to influence the policies and practices of the larger society’ (xi).

Over at ‘Hearts & Minds Books’, Byron Borger (also a fan of Mouw and Kuyper) provides a lengthy and largely autobiographical perspective on the subject matter of the book.

Mouw also kicks off a series of posts on Kuyper at Cardus, which hopes to ‘explore how Kuyper's vision and the neocalvinist movement he inspired can offer the church an alternative way of engaging with cultural issues as diverse as racial relations, youth ministry, personal piety, sports, work, and more’.