Kuyper, Abraham

(1837-1920)

   A Dutch statesman, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1901-5), educator, Reformed theologian and leader of a break-away denomination from the Dutch state church, Kuyper developed a systematic appeal for a Christian worldview in his Stone Lectures (delivered at Princeton in 1898) on Calvinism. In contrast to other Calvinists like Charles Hodge, who, following the Princeton tradition of common-sense philosophy derived from Thomas Reid, emphasised the continuity between the reasoning of non-Christians and Christians, Kuyper believed that there was a sharp divergence between the two owing to their very different worldview presuppositions and the noetic effects of regeneration. Kuyper sought to realise these convictions when he founded the Free University of Amsterdam by including in its constitution (changed in the 1960s) the principle that all dimensions of scholarship would be developed in accord with the principles of Calvinism. Kuyper's views influenced Dutch-Reformed philosophers Herman Dooyeweerd, Alvin Plantinga and Nicholas Wolterstorff, all of whom argued for the importance of reflecting philosophically from a Christian perspective and for Christian interests.

   See Calvinism; Dooyeweerd, Herman; Plantinga, Alvin

   Further reading: Dooyeweerd 1975, Kuyper 1932 and 1998; Plantinga 2000