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)