Dutch neo-Calvinism and the roots for transformation: An introductory essay

DUTCH NEO-CALVINISM AND THE ROOTS FOR

TRANSFORMATION: AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY1

I. INTRODUCTION

In his famous lectures delivered at the Yale University School of Law in 1931, Carl Becker maintained that the prominent thinkers in the Enlightenment (e.g. Voltaire, Diderot and Rousseau) attempted to demolish the heavenly city of St. Augustine only to rebuilt it with modern materials.2 In my judgment, Becker's thesis correctly contrasted the eschatological approach to life found in medieval Christian Europe and the eschatological approach to life found in the French philosophes. For the common believer in medieval Europe, this world is not one's home; rather, the believer looks forward to final perfectibility in Christ in the next world. In contrast, the philosophes of the Enlightenment advanced their own doctrine of progress and perfectibility of humanity through a radical regeneration of morality and social institutions.3 For the philosophes the quest for modernity was to transform the Biblical notion of the Garden of Eden and the eternal heavenly city into an earthly egalitarian society and cultural utopia.4 In their estimation, the future (posterity) would rationally and naturally bring this transformation. For this reason, "posterity" was often reverently addressed by the philosophes as a divinity as well as an object of prayer.5 Indeed, the quest for modernity will be realized; the dominance of the medieval Christian world will be uprooted and transformed into the world of fraternity, liberty, and equality. For them, the process towards modernity had begun: the sun, not the earth, is the center of the universe (Copernican revolution), nature is controlled by its own inherent power (Newton following Lucretius), exploration focused human attention on this world and not the next world, the expulsion of original sin made the perfectibility of humanity a realized possibility, war can possibly cease by getting rid of religious sects or Christian Protestant denominations-creating an air of tolerance never experienced by humanity (Lord Herbert of Cherbury's proposal)-and hence, the new rational humanism has created the best of all possible worlds here on earth.6

As the Enlightenment fathers called for reconstruction of all social institutions on the basis of their vision of posterity, they left Christianity's foothold upon the European landscape in a defensive posture. The prominence of Christianity was now being attacked by enlightened modernity. In order to maintain a place of prominence, Christians throughout Europe accepted the challenge to defend themselves by attempting to reconstruct European culture and society upon Christian principles. In this battle for western culture, many Christians realized that they could not return to the feudal society of the ancien regime. Rather, in the context of the transition from mercantilism to capitalism, the rising tide of democratic ideals, the burst of industrialization, and the increasing benefits of a global market economy, many Christians adapted to the progressive tide of modernization in this world while minimizing any quest for reward in the next world.7 Herein, they began to stress the presence of the kingdom of God in the present age. Increasingly, the Christian conception of the eschatological future moved into the present world, not solely on the basis of exegetical and theological reasons, but for social-political-economic reasons.

Specifically, as Christianity accepted the challenge of enlightened secularism, many Christians tried to reclaim European culture by attempting to place their own eschatological socio-cultural theory upon the blueprint of the modern city. These Christians called for transforming the modern city into Zion by rediscovering, implementing and following the norms of the creation order. Hence, Becker's thesis advances one step: if the philosophes rebuilt St. Augustine's heavenly city with modern materials, then many Christians responded by attempting to rebuild the modern city with Christian materials. In this context, however, the Enlightenment had designed the foundational structures of the eschatological city. Even Christianity would relinquish her desire for the next world in order to claim the posterity of this world from the heathen. For many Christians, the new heaven and earth will take place in this world; the celestial city of Post-Enlightenment Christianity will exist in continuity with the present earth. Increasingly, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, both the legacy of the Enlightenment and the heritage of Christianity desired the thrill of possessing the culture-this world as we see it! Dutch neo-Calvinism has participated in this cultural battle, but it seems to me that the underpinnings of the eschatological vision of the Enlightenment have increasingly encompassed the eschatological vision of neo-Calvinism.

II. NINETEENTH-CENTURY DUTCH NEO-CALVINISM

The Dutch neo-Calvinist movement established its identity as a revival of historic Calvinism in an attempt to counter the social, cultural and religious effects of enlightened Europe. The movement was chiefly associated with the name of Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920). The term, neo-Calvinism, was originally coined, however, by Kuyper's opponents but was accepted by him and his followers, who viewed themselves as developing classical Calvinism in the culture surrounding them.8 In the nineteenth century the neoCalvinist movement posited its reformational principles over against Roman Catholic thought and modern secular thought, and it was characterized chiefly by its all-embracing worldview, shaped by the light of Scripture.9 Perhaps the key player at the initial stage of this movement was the historian and statesman, Guillaume Groen Van Prinsterer (1801-1876), who in his lectures Unbelief ond Revolution (1847) maintained that the intellectual revolution of the Enlightenment had subverted the spiritual foundation of European society.10 In his estimation, the Enlightenment had attacked the Christian foundations of European civilization with a new view of liberty which would reconstruct everything upon a new foundation of autonomous and individual rationality, including religion, morality, state and culture. Perhaps more importantly, the Enlightenment not only attacked the Christian foundations of European culture, but it also attacked the foundation of the entire scope of human history since Groen held that "Christianity is the source of all religious enlightenment."11