Document: S.U. Zuidema, Common Grace and Christian Action in Abraham Kuyper (n.d.).

Excerpt: Abraham Kuyper’s standard work on common grace, entitled De Gemeene Gratie, which first appeared in a series of weekly articles, could not fail to arrest the attention of his followers and contemporaries. In fact it captivated them, touching them in the depths of their minds and hearts. For this work, compelling in its broad sweep and irresistible in its central thrust, delivered them from an “Anabaptist isolationism”‘ by providing them with their eagerly awaited religious justification of Christian involvement, not only individually but also organizationally, “in all areas of life”; of Christian involvement not only in the affairs of the church but also “in state and society, in art and scholarship.” It both justified such involvement and encouraged it. And even though it is true that the Anti-Revolutionary Party had been in existence for more than ten years already, henceforward it would certainly also be from this three-volume work that the independent party formation by Dutch Calvinists in the sphere of politics would draw its inspiration and vision. If the Anti-Revolutionary Party does not stand or fall with the doctrine of common grace, its history cannot be written without a proper understanding of the great significance this doctrine has had — and still has — for its adherents.

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Common Grace and Christian Action in Abraham Kuyper – S.U. Zuidema.pdf