Let Christ Be King
I just finished re-reading this little book by Louis Praamsma. It’s an excellent and fairly reliable introduction to Abraham Kuyper. There are just a couple of places where I placed question marks.
One of them is in regard to his discussion of common grace. He quotes the synodical declaration of 1942 in the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands on the subject and then states: “What must be stressed, however, is that in 1942 there was unanimity in the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands with regard to the common grace issue, and that this unanimity was in line with Kuyper’s insights” (144). That’s not a fair representation of the history. A synodical declaration does not equal unanimity. The page before this he mentions Schilder’s critique of Kuyper on common grace, so even Praamsma acknowledged that there was dissent. So far as I know, Schilder didn’t abandon his critique of Kuyper because of the synodical declaration in 1942.
That being what it is, this is still a helpful read. You can find a free electronic copy in .pdf format right here.
