Abraham Kuyper

Was Abraham Kuyper a Christian Realist?

Abraham Kuyper unquestionably had his failures and his blind spots. But he also labored to find balanced and faithful Christian realist positions on international affairs. We would do well to imitate those principles today.

Abraham Kuyper Among the Nations
Abraham Kuyper among the Nations

We have an introductory, if provisional, picture of anti-Revolutionary foreign policy and Abraham Kuyper’s platform coming into the highest political office in the Netherlands in the early twentieth century. How did this platform fair? What “necessary adjustments” (as Kuyper called them) did he need to make between his Calvinistic international theory and the actual work of foreign policy?

Abraham Kuyper Overseas Manifesto
Abraham Kuyper’s Overseas Manifesto

While much has been made of Abraham Kuyper’s Calvinistic contributions to domestic political theory, very little (in English) has been said of his foreign policy.

New Christian Realism from the Amsterdam School: Review of Simon Polinder & Govert Bujis’ Christian Faith, Philosophy, and International Relations: The Lamb and the Wolf
New Christian Realism from the Amsterdam School: Review of Simon Polinder & Govert Bujis’ Christian Faith, Philosophy, and International Relations: The Lamb and the Wolf

Simon Polinder and Govert Bujis advance a new school of Christian international relations thinking that they call “The Amsterdam School.” Time will tell if this distinctively Neo-Calvinist international relations approach is possible.

Render unto thy Neighbor what is thy Neighbor’s: The Neighborly Faith Conference at Wheaton College
Render unto Thy Neighbor What Is Thy Neighbor’s: The Neighborly Faith Conference at Wheaton College

It could be easy to be cynical about Neighborly Faith and the organization’s interfaith conference that took place on November 1 and 2 at Wheaton College.

Abraham Kuyper’s Christian Advice for Foreign Policy
Abraham Kuyper’s Christian Advice for Foreign Policy

For Kuyper, governance is an opportunity to plant Christian truth in another part of the world’s soil. It is about giving others a chance to flourish.