How Abraham Kuyper Changed My Life

If it weren't for Abraham Kuyper, I'd be stuck in a two-kingdom world where the faith does not touch politics, nor is politics engaged with the faith. Kuyper woke me up from theological coma.

The Charm of the White Horse Inn

I came to the Reformed faith primarily through Christian Reconstructionist writings. But another man was quite influential in my thinking in those days, Dr. Michael Horton. I didn’t know then, but both groups would offer starkly different visions of cultural engagement.

I read Horton’s Putting Amazing Back into Grace, which had me in a Genevan spell. I didn’t read much beyond that until around 2003, when I reacquainted myself with other works from Dr. Horton.

He was a Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Seminary in Escondido, California. He was prolific 20 years ago, and since then, he has added several books, including a massive Systematic Theology, where he develops his views on ethics and redemptive history.

Dr. Michael Horton

So, in 2003, I was reading Horton and listening to his well-known White Horse Inn podcast. The White Horse Inn was an excellent show of catholicity. It included Horton, a Dutch Reformed theologian; Rod Rosenbladt, a Lutheran pastor; and Ken Jones, a Baptist pastor.

The whole podcast was charming because it carried this strong Christo-centric emphasis. Christ was the center of every Biblical passage. Sermons are designed to lead us back to Jesus. Yes, Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Theology was a neat division between Law and Gospel. The Law taught us how to live, and the Gospel taught us who already lived for us. They talked about how evangelicals are legalists, telling people what to do when the Gospel promises us rest in Jesus and how the Spirit would do the hard work of sanctification in us. They would repeat this refrain: “Stop talking about what we must do and tell the world what Christ has done.” The Church needs to communicate this one message. It was a very comforting word, especially for someone coming out of a fundamentalist background.