Jacob Klapwijk

Reformational philosophy clarifies its own inner history, relation to Dutch society

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Another task that Klapwijk took upon himself was to analyze and evaluate differences between the university's two leading lights, both now long deceased but both with partisan followers who could live less with the leaders' differences than could those leaders themselves. One of Klapwijk's first attempts to articulate this critical stance for his philosophical community occurred in a widely-read volume edited by Hendrik Hart, Johan van der Hoeven, and Nicholas Wolterstorff, reviewed in Theology Today, by Eugene Oosterhoven: "An excellent chapter on 'Rationality in the Dutch Neo-Calvinist Tradition.' by Jacob Klapwijk, Professor of Philosophy at the Free University treats Abraham Kuyper's doctrines of common grace, and the antithesis, and his failure to harmonize the two, especially when he dealt with human reason. Kuyper's attempts to give the antithesis organizational form is shown to "lead to a dangerous identification of the Christian (or, if you will, Reformed) cause with God's cause" (p. 97). Although Kuyper intended Christian organizations to be a means for Christianizing society, 'the danger was that they were considered not as deficient instruments but as ends in the struggle for the kingdom of God'." http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/oct1984/v41-3-booknotes13.htm

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As mentioned by Oosterhaven, one major difference in ideas between Bavinck and Kuyper is formulated largely in theological terms that contrast a doctrine called "Common Grace" with a doctrine called "the Antithesis." Bavinck emphasized Common Grace, while Kuyper emphasized (sometimes severely) the Antithesis. A comparison of the two positions, which came to designate two interwoven and contentious traditions in the GKiN and the Christian social movements that flowed from its membership, is presented in one of the three chapters that Jacob Klapwijk contributed to a very important self-critical work of Reformational philosophy, entitled Bringing into Captivity Every Thought (1991). He was one of the three editors of the volume and among nearly a dozen contributors.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~