Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'abraham kuyper'

A Great Reversal of the Church & the Welfare State

Over at the IFWE blog, Elise Amyx takes a look at Brian Fikkert’s argument about the origins of the modern American welfare state: According to Fikkert, the evangelical church’s retreat from poverty alleviation between 1900 and 1930 encouraged the welfare state to grow to its size today. Continue Reading...

New Abraham Kuyper Volume: ‘Rooted and Grounded’

Christian’s Library Press has released Rooted & Grounded by Abraham Kuyper. This short volume includes first-ever translated sermons by Kuyper showing his passion to the church. While he’s well known for his writings on theology and common grace, this book demonstrates Kuyper’s enthusiasm for the church as well.  Continue Reading...

Divine Creativity in Business, Art, and Everything Else

The High Calling recently posted a helpful video about creativity in the workplace, drawing insights from innovation consultant Barry Saunders. Saunders notes that, despite our tendency to think of creativity only in terms of artistic expression, creativity is simply about “building ideas.” Continue Reading...

Work Is More Than a Means to Evangelism

As already discussed, Matthew Lee Anderson’s recent Christianity Today cover story on “radical Christianity” has been making waves. This week at The High Calling, Marcus Goodyear offers a healthy critique of one of Anderson’s key subjects, David Platt, aligning quite closely with Anderson’s analysis about the ultimate challenges such movements face when it comes to long-term cultural cultivation. Continue Reading...

Lecrae Urges Christians to Move Beyond a ‘Sacred-Secular Divide’

At last fall’s evangelical-oriented Resurgence Conference, Grammy award-winning hip-hop artist Lecrae Moore encouraged the American church to rethink how it engages culture, urging Christians to move beyond what has become a narrow, overly introverted “sacred-secular divide” (HT): We are great at talking about salvation and sanctification. Continue Reading...

Legal Constraint and True Liberty

In today’s Acton Commentary, I explore the Christian conception of law as a necessary palliative to the anti-social effects of sin. “Since we do not always govern ourselves as we ought to, in accord with the moral order, there must be some external checks and limits on our behavior,” I write. Continue Reading...

When Little Government Foxes Spoil the Vines of Business and Ministry

Joe Carter has done a marvelous job of outlining the details surrounding the Obama administration’s abortion/contraceptive mandate. In a recent cover story for WORLD Magazine, these details are brought to life through a series of snapshots of real businesses and non-profits facing a real choice to either violate their Christian consciences or become economic martyrs. Continue Reading...

Abraham Kuyper: Vampire Hunter

However history remembers me … it shall only remember a fraction of the truth. The multi-talented Abraham Kuyper is sometimes difficult to introduce. I often use the descriptors, “theologian, statesman, journalist” to highlight his many interests and talents. Continue Reading...

Wisdom & Wonder & Interdisciplinary Studies

I was recently invited to write an essay on the importance of interdisciplinary studies for the Calvin Seminary student publication Kerux. In my essay “The Truth is One,” I reflect on the famous quote of Abraham Kuyper, [N]o single piece of our mental world is to be hermetically sealed off from the rest, and 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!” Continue Reading...