Abraham Kuyper and John Calvin: Calvinism and Neo-Calvinism compared

Type :

Term papers

Pages :

4 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

07/10/2009

Category :

Philosophy & literature

Sub category :

Humanities/philosophy

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Summary :

Introduction
The close relationship between Christianity and social improvement
The three ways in which Christ spoke about the social problems
Failure of the church to accomplish its mission
Context and comparisons
Cultural activities and influences
Conclusion
References

Abstract

On November 9, 1891, the Dutch pastor and statesman abraham kuyper spoke to the first Christian Social Congress in the Netherlands on a profound and continually relevant subject-poverty. The address was peculiarly relevant to that time, even past-due, as kuyper himself announced in his opening remarks. The squalor in which much of the population of modern nations lived had become a glaring problem . It could not be ignored and responses were numerous and varied. Among these responses were a large number that claimed to be specifically Christian in origin and idea . As a leading Christian statesman-and one, as we shall see, who was already known for advocating the universal application of a religious view of life-kuyper felt that the Dutch Christians were addressing the issue none too soon; moreover, it was becoming a vital matter for the reputation and purity of Christianity itself, as Socialism, a movement designed chiefly to deal with this social problem of poverty, began to claim that it was the Christian response.

kuyper agreed that there was substance in this claim, that although Socialism's method of dealing with poverty was not the Christian one, it could not be denied that Christ has demonstrated in his own life, and in his commission through revelation in the New Testament, a fundamental responsibility toward the suffering of the poor . In fact, kuyper said, "we should feel ashamed that the voice of conscience has not spoken more loudly within us before now, or at least that it did not stir us to earlier action."