Christianizing the World: Reformed Calling or Ecclesiastical Suicide?
This book is a critique of Abraham Kuyper’s cultural theory of a common grace of God and of the grandiose mission of this grace, and of those who confess the theory and evidently intend to promote it so that it accomplishes the end Kuyper claimed. The book exposes Kuyper’s biblical basis for his theory and its practical mission.
The first and main part of the book is a much-expanded version of the public lecture given in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2014 under the auspices of the evangelism society of Southwest Protestant Reformed Church in Wyoming, Michigan. The second part of the book consists of questions raised by the audience at the conclusion of the lecture and of the answers by the speaker at the lecture.
What others are saying about the book:
"What a fresh and insightful book this is! As always, Prof. David Engelsma is thorough; in this case, his thoroughness is much to the chagrin of the (many) advocates of Abraham Kuyper’s common grace theory. Today we are witnesses to a sprawling, nebulous support for the idea of Christianizing the world, one that has seeped into the broader church world, crossing denominational lines and infecting a vast number with the vague conviction that it is the church’s cultural mandate to 'build the kingdom of heaven.' This development is the spiritual child of Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper, and has come to represent a kind of mad experiment that the broader church world has undertaken—some deliberately, others as unwitting followers. Engelsma is characteristically dogged and surgical. He begins as he means to go, illustrating first of all that common grace is not just some vague doctrine, but an entire worldview. Kuyper did not intend for his theory to be a small attachment to the Reformed worldview and confession; nor do his proponents today. Rather, he brought it forward as a redefinition of the fundamental truths that make up the foundation for the life of the Reformed Christian and work of the church. The question, therefore, that Prof. Engelsma brings to our attention is aptly captured in the title of this work: 'Is Christianizing the world a Reformed calling or is it ecclesiastical suicide?'" -Craig Ferguson
Read reviews by Robert Burford (Frankston South, Australia), Arie den Hartog, William Gibson (the English Churchman), Dr. Julian Kennedy, Craig Ferguson, and Gerry Wisz (Christian Renewal).
David J. Engelsma served as minister to several Protestant Reformed congregations until he was appointed to the Protestant Reformed Seminary in 1988 as professor of Dogmatics and Old Testament studies. He also served as editor of the "Standard Bearer" from 1988-2002. Prof. Engelsma has lectured and preached throughout the British Isles on behalf of the British Reformed Fellowship, which is devoted to the spread and defense of the Reformed faith in the United Kingdom. He lives in Grand Rapids, MI, with his wife and is the father of 9 children. He has authored many RFPA books.
- 192 pages
- hardcover
- ISBN 978-1-944555-02-3
- Release date: May 9, 2016
eBook version available