There is much to be unpacked in even that one statement, and most of my quarter will be spent trying to understand and articulate the nuances and implications of Kuyper's and his colleague Herman Bavinck's thought. I'm hopeful that I will have some time to work through some of the ideas that I am confronted with here on this blog in the coming months. And I should mention that I am especially looking forward to working with the president of Fuller Seminary, Dr Richard Mouw, in this course. He is my professor and Neo-Calvinism is his specialty - so I'm definitely in for a good ride.
In addition to Neo-Calvinism, I'm going to be turning my attention once again to Bonhoeffer. I'm counting on some of the issues from this seminar to spur further questions and insight into how I might approach Bonhoeffer's thinking on theology and discipleship. As a German Lutheran, Bonhoeffer is definitely not in the same camp as the Dutch Neo-Calvinists Kuyper and Bavinck. But I have a hunch that in many ways they are after the same thing - creating a way to faithfully bear witness to the truth of Jesus Christ in every aspect of life.
It will be interesting to see where my research on Bonhoeffer takes me this quarter. Is there a Neo-Calvinist influence in Bonhoeffer - perhaps that depends on Barth's connection to the movement...? But, whether or not I engage with Neo-Calvinism and Bonhoeffer's thought, I am planning on pursuing Bonhoeffer's formation of a "Christian worldview" in his Ethics. I am also beginning to mine volume 16 of the Bonhoeffer Works collection, Conspiracy and Imprisonment: 1940-1945 in hopes of substantiating the interplay of the concepts of discipleship and ethics in Bonhoeffer. In a very real sense, ethics is discipleship for Bonhoeffer; participating in the conspiracy against Hitler was discipleship for Bonhoeffer. Our theology of discipleship in effect creates our Christian worldview. How Kuyper, Bavinck and Bonhoeffer converse around these issues will be an interesting, and fun, exercise.
Oh, and one last note... I'm currently working through Kuyper's Lectures on Calvinism for discussion in my seminar. Kuyper (who was also prime minister of the Netherlands from 1901-1905) delivered this series of six lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary in October of 1898, in Miller Chapel. This picture was taken in October of 2009, with my wife Jackie, when our daughter Maddie Mae was four months old. Miller Chapel is the white building. Pretty cool.
Well, would you look at that! I enjoyed reading through your post, and what a treat to see a picture of us at the end! :) We certainly were surrounded by some rich history back east, huh?
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