Natural Law and the Two Kingdoms: A Study in the Development of Reformed Social Thought (Emory University Studies in Law and Religion (Eerdmans)) by David VanDrunen

Author:David VanDrunen [VanDrunen, David]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Eerdmans Publishing Co - A
Published: 2010-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

Conclusion

Abraham Kuyper’s theological vision of cultural and political life is arguably the most thorough and complex ever constructed in the history of Reformed Christianity. In this chapter I have attempted to explicate important aspects of this vision as they pertain to the development of the Reformed traditions of natural law and the two kingdoms. My conclusion, as perhaps befits the subject matter, is itself somewhat complex. I have argued that Kuyper, contrary to what is often taken to be characteristically “Kuyperian,” in fact laid a great deal of theological foundation that placed him squarely and comfortably in the Reformed natural law and two kingdoms traditions, particularly through his doctrines of the divine ordinances and common grace. He not only affirmed many traditional Reformed categories but also developed these in constructive ways, often paralleling the developments of the American Presbyterians considered in Chapter 6. But I have also claimed that Kuyper, in both his practical political rhetoric and his theological handling of matters such as the Christianization of culture and Christ’s two mediatorships, acted and reasoned in ways that are in tension with his traditional Reformed foundations.

My claim that theological coherence militates against the co-existence of both of these aspects of Kuyper’s thought and therefore demands the choosing of one rather than the other seems to be borne out by subsequent Reformed reflection on cultural and political matters. Both Karl Barth and the ongoing development of neo-Calvinism have rejected a traditional Reformed two kingdoms theological foundation and pursued various visions of a Christian culture. Kuyper may have grounded cultural endeavors in the creation order, but he did so ambiguously. Much subsequent thought in Reformed circles has resolved the ambiguity in ways unfriendly to this traditional creation order approach. Thus it now lies for the next two chapters to unravel the decisive turn in Reformed social thought accomplished by Barth and the neo-Calvinists.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.