The Protestant Reformed Churches: Their beginnings (4): Common grace in the assemblies
This article examines the doctrinal controversy over common grace that divided the Christian Reformed Church in the 1920s, focusing on how protests against Herman Hoeksema and H. Danhof brought the issue before church assemblies and led to its official ecclesiastical adoption. Dykstra traces the fascinating and rapid progression from public theological debate in church publications to formal ecclesiastical decision-making, providing essential historical context for understanding the formation of the Protestant Reformed Churches.
The Christian Reformed Church (CRC) in the 1920s was divided over common grace and its implications. The doctrine of common grace had been developed by Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck in the Netherlands. It came to the CRC through their writings as well as by immigration of ministers and members. Ralph Janssen used it to support his erroneous teaching on Scripture and miracles. And various sectors of the churches were developing the doctrine toward more openness to the culture of America,...
Full article available on sb.rfpa.org