{"id":5476,"date":"2010-02-05T05:39:56","date_gmt":"2010-02-05T05:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/law-at-the-jesus-creed-david-o-7.html"},"modified":"2010-02-05T05:39:56","modified_gmt":"2010-02-05T05:39:56","slug":"law-at-the-jesus-creed-david-o-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/law-at-the-jesus-creed-david-o-7.html","title":{"rendered":"Law at the Jesus Creed: David Opderbeck on Kuyper"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lawbook.jpg\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Kuyper, the State, and the American Revolution<\/p>\n

Many evangelicals interested in law and public policy appreciate Dutch Reformed theologian Abraham Kuyper’s<\/a> thought.  <\/span>Kuyper developed a rich theology of “common grace,” by which he believed God continually sustains the fallen creation.  <\/span>The idea of common grace allows for some combination of Calvinist-Puritan ideas about human depravity and a more positive appropriation of human culture. <\/span><\/p>\n

Kuyper also promoted the idea of “sphere sovereignty,” which suggests that political sovereignty inheres in intermediate structures  <\/span>such as the family, schools, the press, business, the arts, and the like, rather than primarily in the individual or the State.  <\/span>A central component of Kuyper’s political thought was the idea that the State exists only because of sin.  <\/span>Although the State is necessary to preserve fallen humanity, Kuyper forcefully argued that the State’s power and authority must be held carefully in check, particularly in relation to other spheres of society that possess their own inherent authority, such as the family.<\/p>\n

What do you think – does the State (government) exist only because of sin?  <\/span>Should we be inherently suspicious of government?<\/b><\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

Kuyper’s political theology supported a strong concept of
\nliberty.  <\/span>In his famous “Lectures
\non Calvinism<\/a>,” delivered at Princeton Seminary in 1898, for example, Kuyper
\nsaid:<\/p>\n

“All true conception of the nature
\nof the State and of the assumption of authority by the magistrate, and on the
\nother hand all true conception of the right and duty of the people to defend
\nliberty, depends on what Calvinism has here placed in the foreground, as the primordial
\ntruth – that God has instituted the
\nmagistrates, by reason of sin<\/i>.” 
\n<\/span>(Emphasis in Original)<\/p>\n

Because the State is a provisional institution necessitated
\nby sin, Kuyper argued, we must remember two things:<\/p>\n

“First – that we have gratefully to
\nreceive, from the hand of God, the institution of the State with its
\nmagistrates, as a means of preservation, now indeed indispensable.  <\/span>And on the other hand that, by virtue
\nof our natural impulse, we must ever watch against the danger which lurks, for
\nour personal liberty, in the power of the State.”<\/p>\n

This thinking led Kuyper to extol democratic revolutions
\nagainst what he viewed as excessive State power.  <\/span>In particular, he believed the American Revolution was a
\nprime example of Calvinistic politics in action.  <\/span>He noted that the Declaration of Independence referred to
\nrights derived from “the law of nature and of nature’s God” and thought the
\nU.S. Constitution reflected a “sovereignty derived from God,” which resulted in
\nproperly limited government (See<\/i>
\nLectures on Calvinism, “Calvinism and Politics”).  <\/span>Kuyper’s thought here obviously permeates conservative
\nAmerican Christian thinking about law and politics today.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Did Kuyper properly
\nunderstand the streams of thought underlying the American Revolution and
\nAmerica’s founding documents?  <\/span>Is
\nKuyper’s legacy for Christian public theology positive, negative, or something
\nin between?  <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kuyper, the State, and the American Revolution Many evangelicals interested in law and public policy appreciate Dutch Reformed theologian Abraham Kuyper’s thought.  Kuyper developed a rich theology of “common grace,” by which he believed God continually sustains the fallen creation.  The idea of common grace allows for some combination of Calvinist-Puritan ideas about human depravity and a more positive…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gospel"],"yoast_head":"\nLaw at the Jesus Creed: David Opderbeck on Kuyper - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/02\/law-at-the-jesus-creed-david-o-7.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Law at the Jesus Creed: David Opderbeck on Kuyper - 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