Rels. 205 Lecture 3.1Neo-Calvinism as a Political Tradition
Back to the Enlightenment
Kant(1724-1804)
Voltaire(1694-1778)
The Liberal view of Society
Society is an organism that must develop naturally
Revolutionary Europe
French Revolution 1789Revolution in the Netherlands 1793Execution of Louis XVI 21 January 1793The Netherlands absorbed by France 1793Invasion of Germany 1796Napoleonic Wars 1798-1815War against Prussia 1806-1807Battle of Jena 14 October 1806Treaty of Tilsit July 7-9, 1807
Revolutionary view of Society
Society is a mechanism
The Tide Turns
Napoleon invades Russia 1812Wars of Liberation 1813Battle of Leipzig 16-19 October 1813Congress of Vienna Sept. 1814- June 1815Final defeat of Napoleon 1815
Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790)
The conservative view of society
Society is an organism that must be cultivated
Frederick Denison Maurice(1805-1872)
The Kingdom of God(1838)
Christian Socialism
A church which was looked upon, and almost looked upon itself, as a tool of the aristocracy …The Liberal proclamation which says, “Teach them …” was more genial and humane ... More impressive far was the speech of the Methodist and the Evangelical …
Jews for Jesus
Dorothea Veit(1763-1839)
Felix Mendelssohn(1809-1947)
Johan AugustNeander
(David Mendel1789-1850 )
Friedrich Julus Stahl(1802-1861)
Friedrich Julus Stahl(1802-1861)
Parties in Church and State
Willem Bilderdijk (1756-1831)
Abraham Capadosa(1795-1874)
Isaac de Costa(1798-1860)
G. Groen van Prinsterer(1801-1876)
Christian Nationalism
van Prinsterer the LiberalSevice to William I1827-1827 Referendars to Cabinet of1829-1833 Secretary to the CabinetRevolt in Belgium 1830Breakdown and conversionHistorian and theroistPolitician
Anti-Revolutionary Party
Groen’s Co-Workers
Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer (1801-1876)
Unbelief and Revolution (1847)
Anti-Revolutionary Movement
Unbelief and Revolution (1847)Against the French Revolution
Christian Nationalism
van Prinsterer the LiberalService to William I1827-1827 Referendars to Cabinet of1829-1833 Secretary to the CabinetRevolt in Belgium 1830Breakdown and conversionHistorian and theoristPoliticianFounder of Anti-Revolutionary Movement
Anti-Revolutionary Thought
Unbelief leads to Revolution
Voltaire(1694-1778)
Revolution leads to Revolution
The problem of Sovereignty
Tyrant - KingMonarchy
Oligarchs Republic
PeopleDemocracy
Chaos
Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920)
Lectures on Calvinism (1898)
Kuyper’s Achievement
Charlotte Yonge The Heir of RedclyffePolitician – 1869, 1874 in parliamentFree University of Amsterdam – 1880Die Standaard De HarautUnions etc.
Kuyper’s Achievement
Author – numerous booksLectures on Calvinism (1898)
Politician – 1869, 1874Parliament – 1874Prime Minister – 1901-1904
Founded:Free University of Amsterdam – 1880Die Standaard De HarautUnions etc.
Kuyper’s Theory
The influence of Calvinism in our political development ... sprang from its root principle ... The Sovereignty of the Triune God over the whole Cosmos, in all its spheres and kingdoms, visible and invisible ...
Sphere Sovereignty
In a Calvinistic sense we understand hereby, that the family, the business, science, art and so forth are all social spheres, which do not owe their existence to the state, and which do not derive the law of their life from the superiority of the state, but obey a high authority within their own bosom; an authority which rules, by the grace of God, just as the sovereignty of the State does.
CollegeChurch
God
Arts Business
School Family
Trade
Church
Traditional View
StateState
Kuyper’s View
State Society
Mechanistic Organic
Kuyper’s Thesis
This involves the antithesis between State and Society, but upon this condition, that we do not conceive this society as a conglomerate, but as analyzed in its organic parts, to honor, in each of these parts, the independent character, which appertains to them ...
Mechanistic and Organic
These different developments of social life have nothing above themselves but God, and... the State cannot intrude here ... Keep in mind the difference in grade between the organic life of society and the mechanical character of the government. Whatever among men originates directly from creation is possessed of all the data for its development, in human nature as such. You see this at once in the family ...
Kuyper’s Co-Workers
Herman Bavinck (1854-1921)
Philosophy of Revelation,1909Our Reasonable Faith, 1906-1911
Herman Dooyeweerd (1894-1977)
a
Dooyeweerd’s Works
New Critique of Theoretical Thought, Nutley, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1953-1958
Roots of Western culture; Pagan, Secular and Christian options, Wedge Publishing Company, Toronto, Canada, 1979
http://www.isi.salford.ac.uk/dooy/index.htmlwww.freewebs.com/ reformational/http://www.redeemer.on.ca/Dooyeweerd-Centre/http://www.members.shaw.ca/jgfriesen/Mainheadings/Dooyeweerd.html
Cosmic Time
God
Cosmic Time
Creation
LAW
Naïve Experience
TimeExperience
Aspects of reality
Analysis and Synthesis
Rational analysis Lack of synthesis
The Archemedian Point
The Heart as the human center
The need for synthesis
The problem of diversity
Religious Ground Motives
Meaning is found in God
or
an aspect of created reality
Ground Motives
The point of synthesis for philosophers
Materialism
Vitalism
Aesthetics
Etc.
Christian Diversity
Ground Motives of Western Thought
MFGM - The Matter-Form motive of the ancient Greeks (dualistic).
CFR - The Creation-Fall-Redemption motive of Hebrew thought.
NGGM - The Nature-Grace motive of Mediaeval Roman Catholicism (dualistic).
NFGM - The Science-Personality motive of the Renaissance, Enlightenment and Modern times (dualistic).
The Problem of Dualism
FormNatureScience
MatterGracePersonality
Christian Complexity
Creation-Fall-Redemption
God is sovereign
Everything is under God’s Law
Creation is diverse
Human problems are moral
Law Spheres
R.J. Rushdoony1916-2001
Chalcedon Foundation- 1965
Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984)