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

EPILOGUE

In light of recent events in Europe, Hopkins has come to realize that a synthesis of the egalitarian ideals of the Enlightenment and the tradition of neo-Calvinist democratic socialism are no longer sufficient for the liberation of the cultural and socio-economically oppressed throughout the world. The liberation of the oppressed is now dependent upon the maintenance of democratic socialistic ideals in the context of a post-modernist's world. Perhaps my original thesis continues to evolve. As neo-Calvinism enters the twentyfirst century, if the neo-Calvinist rebuilt the modern city with enlightenedChristian materials, then the neo-Calvinist of the twenty-first century will rebuilt the enlightened-Christian city in accommodation to post-modern materials. The restoration of the creation norms and shalom will accommodate the pluralistic and existential needs of every oppressive cultural and socioeconomic context. Finally, in a post-modern extension of eschatological restoration, Enlightenment, egalitarianism and the premise, grace restores nature, truly triumph without the foundation of a priori rational categories.108 Hence, in the context of this new and foreign Calvinistic religion, whatever happened to the believer's final inheritance in the eschatological glory of the person of God, especially the second person of the Trinity?

1 This essay was presented to the faculty of Covenant College in a faculty lecture series that addressed the issue: "what does it mean to be Kuyperian." The lecture was to present a brief historical sketch and an analysis of Dutch neo-Calvinism.

2 The Heavenly City of te Eighteenth-Century Philosophers (New Haven: Yale, 1932) 31.

3 See ibid. 139.

4 Matri Calinescu writes: directly linked to the decline of traditional Christianity's role is the powerful emergence of utopianism, perhaps the single most important event in the modern intellectual history of the West" (Five Faces of Modernity: Modernism, Avant-Garde, Decadence, Kitsch, Postmodernism [Durham: Duke, 1987] 63).

5 See Becker, Heavenly City 142. For example, on one occasion, Robespierre finished an invocation by saying, "Make haste, O Posterity, to bring to pass the hour of equality, of justice, of happiness!" (ibid. 143; cf. Peter Gay, The Enlightenment: An Interpretation: The Science of Freedom [New York: W. W. Norton, 1977] 90-91).

6 For these reasons, Peter Gay refers to the philosophes as "modern pagans" (ibid. 125).

7 A famous quote from Voltaire's Lettres philosophiques illustrates my point: "Enter the London Stock Exchange, that place more respectable than many a court. You will see the deputies of all nations gathered there for the service of mankind. There the Jew, the Mohammedan, and the Christian deal with each other as if they were of the same religion, and give the name of infidel only to those who go bankrupt; there, the Presbyterian trusts the Anabaptist, and the Anglican honors the Quaker's promise. On leaving these peaceful and free assemblies, some go to the synagogue, others to drink; this one goes to be baptized . . ; that one has his foreskin cut off and the Hebrew words mumbled over the child which he does not understand; others go to their church to await the inspiration of God, their hats on their heads, and all are content" (Gay, Enlightenment 50).