At the dawn of the modern age a debate took place that would determine the further course of Western and thus world civilization. This debate did not take place in any assembly or debating chamber. It took place in the hearts and minds of the trend-setting intelligentsia of the day.
Two figures engaged in this debate, acting as signposts at the crossroads which materialized in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, when a decision loomed and a path had not yet irrevocably been embarked upon. They functioned at the time and place destined to be the stage upon which this decision would become apparent: in and around the Dutch Republic in its struggle for freedom from the Spanish monarchy. They shared the same inheritance, constraints, and influences; the one fashioned it in a way that proved a resounding success which would be received as orthodoxy, the framework of right-thinking people for centuries to come; the other in a way that, although offering a coherent and constructive alternative, languished in obscurity, only in our day receiving renewed interest from the scattered flock of academics and churchmen (and women) who either make the knowledge of such things their business, or share a wistfulness for and inkling of this world we have lost.
The one is Hugo Grotius, world renowned, the so-called “Father of International Law.” Although the appropriateness of such an appellation has been drawn into well-deserved doubt in our time, what should not be in doubt is the paradigmatic role his work played in the course of our civilization. Grotius fashioned the synthesis of the socio-political-legal-constitutional materials, the harvest of centuries of scholarship, into the familiar modern shape, which this book will explore in extenso. It is his path that was chosen, his seed that has now reached harvest time.
The other is Johannes Althusius, forgotten by the Enlightenment but restored to honor in the 19th century by the German “revivalist” of associationalism Otto von Gierke. Althusius drew on the same source materials as Grotius to fashion his own synthesis of political, legal, and constitutional thought, a synthesis which then fell into abeyance as its competitor synthesis triumphed, but which in our day has enjoyed a renaissance that promises a theoretical renewal of our understanding of constitutionalism and the rule of law.
These two men encapsulate the conflict of Western civilization. The path of the one was taken, the path of the other eschewed. For at the crossroads of Western civilization the eventful, fateful choice was made to go down the path of rationalist individualism instead of the path of communitarian associationalism, the path of Grotius instead of the path of Althusius. It is their achievements which are elucidated in this book.

The Debate that Changed the West: Grotius versus Althusius

History

Alvarado, Ruben

World

Pantocrator Press

To this day, Abraham Kuyper stands as a shining example of responsible and effective Christian action in all areas of life. A leading journalist, theologian, churchman, and politician in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Kuyper effectuated, during a career spanning 50 years, an astonishing metamorphosis of the Dutch political and ecclesiastical landscape. Lifting high the banner of the universal lordship of Christ, he managed to revitalize a moribund political party and mobilize the so-called kleyne luyden, the “little guys,” into a social, ecclesiastical, educational, and political force to be reckoned with. And he did all of this while proclaiming, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” What is less well understood is the degree to which Kuyper spoke out of two sides of his mouth. In fact, Kuyper shortchanged his trumpeted Christocratic agenda in the interest of political expediency. From early on he redefined theological categories in order to implement a dualism between church and state that could allow him to harness the church as a political action committee in the secularized democratic environment, all the while posturing as a champion of historic Christian theopolitical civilization. The epicenter of this revaluation of Christian values was Article 36 of the Belgic Confession, which mandated that the civil magistrate “remove and prevent all idolatry and false worship; that the kingdom of anti-christ may be thus destroyed, and the kingdom of Christ promoted.” This, in the view of Kuyper and his movement, was a denial of true Calvinism, which championed freedom of conscience and religion. Hoedemaker disputed this, arguing that Kuyper had set up a straw man. Did Article 36 really entail violation of conscience and the elimination of religious freedom? No – this was a smokescreen. In fact, Kuyper’s solution was the problem, as it did not take the Bible seriously. Hoedemaker returned to the Reformed fathers to recover a sound Reformed political theology, capable of being defended and advanced in the modern world. Hoedemaker had once stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Kuyper to advance the very same agenda of Christ’s lordship over every area of life. But he came to realize that Kuyper’s practical agenda deviated fundamentally from this proclaimed agenda, starting with the separation from the national church and culminating in Kuyper’s “mutilation” (A. A. van Ruler) of Article 36. 

Article 36 of the Belgic Confession Vindicated against Dr. Abraham Kuyper: A Critique of His Series on Church and State in Common Grace

Hoedemaker, Philippus Jacobus

Reformed Ecclesiology in an Age of Denominationalism

On August 1st, 1901, a new government was installed in the Netherlands, formed by Antirevolutionary Party (ARP) leader Abraham Kuyper. The culmination of decades of relentless effort, it represented a new departure in Dutch politics: a government explicitly invoking the Christian revelation as the basis for its policy. "Revelation over Reason!" had been the battle cry of the campaign, and the majority-Christian Dutch electorate had answered the call. 
But would the policy results of this Christian coalition government answer to such a high ideal? This was the question posed by P. J. Hoedemaker shortly after the coalition's accession to power. In a series of lectures entitled A State with the Bible, he began to weigh the coalition in the balance, setting forth criteria to determine whether the result would answer to the promise. 
A second series of articles published just prior to the election campaign of 1905 had Hoedemaker drawing up the balance sheet. The conclusion was not encouraging: The coalition had fallen short precisely in the areas where a "state with the Bible" should have stood strong. For Hoedemaker, it had become clear that the question was not one of right or left in terms of party politics. No, it was Neither Right nor Left but the Royal Road, the way of a Christian public policy that transcends party politics. 
This conclusion was hammered home in a third publication promulgated after the election defeat for Kuyper in 1905. The title speaks volumes: The Birthright for a Mess of Pottage, an allusion to Esau's contemptible bargain with Jacob. This was what came of a Christian coalition pursuing the "politics of antithesis," and Hoedemaker's assessment hits home not only with regard to the politics of Abraham Kuyper but with the politics of today. For it is the same set of issues with which we still struggle, revolving as they do around the presupposition of the neutral state. 
The three titles translated here are set in their proper context and as such are allowed to disgorge the wealth of vision contained in them to a generation far downstream from these events, but still feeling their effects. The bottom line: electoral politics in their current configuration are a failure and cannot help but be a failure. The approach needs to be rethought from top to bottom. Hoedemaker offers us a place to start.

The Politics of Antithesis: The Antirevolutionary Government of Abraham Kuyper 1901-1905

Hoedemaker, P J

Europe

Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer 
"Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer. I heard that you don't know who Stahl is. And I could not help wondering - please pardon my incivility, but ... what rock have you been hiding under? Never heard of Stahl? Why, he is simply one of the greatest statesmen and legal scholars that Germany ever produced. 
"Everyone knows Stahl - usually without wanting to. For he has many opponents, who execrated what he stood for. They had a host of names for him: 'a friend of compulsion, of princely absolutism, of medieval prejudices and misconceptions, a thoughtless fanatic, attached to obsolete forms, who foolishly mixes politics with religion; an ultra-Lutheran, Puseyite, head of the Junker party, proponent of feudal abuses, sophist in scientific outfit, dreamer about whose metaphysical speculations one reluctantly racks one's brains.' When he died, they were happy to see him go: 'Every sane person gladly sends such wicked men as this crusader chasing the holy cross, when heaven pleases to call them.' Crusader! And they say that of someone who is Jewish! That's right, Stahl was a convert to Christianity. And then, about his legacy - they are certain it will not follow after him: 'It does not look as if Stahl will rise from the dead anymore.' 
"But it will. I - we - will make sure that it does. Stahl was a voice crying in the wilderness, but his message is timeless. The kingdom of God and of His Christ will be recognized, on earth as it is in heaven. Here and now, among the rulers and powers, among the nations. 'Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.' That is Stahl's message, not only in private, among the congregation and around the dinner table, but in public, in the halls of power, the groves of academia, the popular consciousness, the public's opinion. The gospel is an affair of public interest, it is a message to the nations. It concerns their weal and woe, their destiny. Such is by no means a matter of indifference to the kingdom of God. 
"That has been my message as well. Believe me, it is not a popular one in this day and age. The entire Zeitgeist is running against it. No one wants to hear of 'the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth' - not even His followers! But does that mean that we are to be silenced? Or worse yet, to silence ourselves? Forbid it, Almighty God! 
"It is time men like Stahl were recognized for their work, their achievement, and their vision for the church, the nations, and the kingdom of God. It is past time to embrace and build upon their legacies, especially Stahl's, which is so rich, profitable, rewarding. Read this memorial and acquaint yourself with someone who well deserves your undivided attention."

In Memory of Stahl

Biographies & Memoirs

Groen Van Prinsterer, Guillaume

Professionals & Academics

The Bible, Theology, and the Sciences: Addresses at the Free University 1880-1886

Religion & Spirituality

Christian Books & Bibles

Radical Two-Kingdom theology would have us believe that God has created a divided world. This world is bifurcated into two realms, one of "nature" and the other of "grace," whereby the things common to believer and unbeliever are understood to occupy a distinct and autonomous realm, "nature," while the things particular to believers are located in a separate, "higher," "spiritual" realm, the realm of "grace." Supposedly, the latter is to be kept unsoiled by contact with the natural realm, which then goes by the name of "the world." 
The Christian as Christian is therefore only responsible for the realm of grace; but as human being, undistinguished from unbelievers, he is responsible to act in the realm of nature. By what criterion? Something that goes under the name of natural law. The crux of the issue is, the two realms have nothing in common, the better to preserve the spiritual realm from contamination from below. 
This may sound pious and spiritually pure, but it is in fact a recipe for human autonomy and nothing less than a betrayal of the Christian's calling to pursue the kingdom of Christ in and through the work of everyday, "natural" life. For one day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is King of Kings, Lord of Lords; and the glory and honor of the nations will be brought into His kingdom. This includes culture and politics, for there are no such Two Kingdoms.\n"Woe unto the preacher who does not sound the alarm when the Good News is attacked from within the church, when the Law is pitted against the Gospel, and when Christ's Crown Rights over all of life is disputed. Especially in this day and age when unity is elevated far above purity and when virtue signaling seems to be the order of the day, I am most grateful for this excellent contribution by Rev. Bret McAtee. This work robs the serious reader of every excuse not to stand up against a false and dangerous doctrine - one that is by no means a minor issue, but an assault on the Gospel of Jesus Christ itself. I am most thankful that McAtee has answered the call and dealt with the assailants, not with cheap rhetoric, but by biblically interacting with their own words." Rev. Sacha Walicord

Saved to be Warriors: Exposing the Errors of Radical Two-Kingdom Theology

McAtee, Bret

The Gospel in the Old Covenant: Essays on the Revelation of God under the Old Covenant

The Gospel in the Age of the Judges

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