There has been a recent surge in interest in neo-Calvinism – not least in the works of two of the fathers of neo-Calvinism Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920) and Herman Bavinck (1854-1921). This is due, in part, to the recent English translations of their works. The translators are often unknown heroes. This...

By Steve Bishop Almost all of Kuyper’s writings were in Dutch. Until the Abraham Kuyper Translation Project was launched in 2011 only a small selection of Kuyper’s works was available in English. Kuyper has had many translators over the years. These are often the unsung heroes of the Kuyperian tradition....

by Steve Bishop. Reality is multi-aspectual. Consider a garden and a gardener. A gardener is faced with many decisions when beginning to garden. How many plants will be planted (numerical), what space will the garden take up (spatial), what changes will need to take place – what seasonal elements will...

Common grace is usually associated with the Dutch theologian and statesman Abraham Kuyper. Henry Van Til even described him as the theologian of common grace. Yet it was Herman Bavinck who first to developed the doctrine theologically. Kuyper later produced three volumes on it (1904 onwards). But Bavinck, in his...

It was autumn of 1978. I was just beginning two years of graduate education at Toronto's Institute for Christian Studies (ICS). Because my chosen field was political theory, I intended to study primarily under Bernard Zylstra (1934-1986), who had completed his own dissertation at the Free University under philosopher and...

Arnold A. van Ruler (1908–1970) was a predikant (preacher) in the national Dutch Reformed church (“Hervormd” as opposed to, e.g., the Kuyperian “Gereformeerde Kerken”). In 1947 he became a professor of theology at the University of Utrecht. He was known for his broad cultural orientation and for his “public” approach...

"Gordon, in my view, has been, perhaps the most outstanding neo-Calvinist theologian within the Christian Reformed community." - John Vander Stelt

Rookmaaker's impact on artists can be summed up in the words of Peter Smith. Remembering the Dutchman's first visit to Birmingham College of Art in 1967, he confided that, "I was considering leaving Fine Art for pietist reasons but a late night discussion with Rookmaaker kept me painting." A single evening of...

Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck were the main instigators of the movement that became known as neo-Calvinism, however, they stood on the shoulders of others. One of these was Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer (1801–1876). Harry van Dyke describes him as a “godfather” to both Kuyper and Bavinck; and Bratt describes...

Herman Dooyeweerd (1894-1977) and his brother-in-law Dirk Vollenhoven (1892-1978) developed a neo-Calvinist philosophymore commonly known as Reformational philosophy. Dooyeweerd’s philosophy stresses the sovereignty of God over all reality. God is sovereign as Creator and Sustainer, revealed in the creation, and sovereign as Redeemer in Christ, revealed in Scripture. Dooyeweerd’s philosophy...