Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Abraham Kuyper on ECT
Abraham Kuyper on ECT
Mar 18, 2025 6:21 PM

Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT) is celebratingitstwentieth anniversary. First Things, whose first publisher Richard John Neuhaus was a founding ECT member, is hosting a variety of reflections on ECT’s two decades, and in its latest issue published a new ECT statement, “The Two Shall e One Flesh: Reclaiming Marriage.”

The first ECT statement was put out in 1994. But as recalled by Charles W. Colson, another founding member of ECT, the foundations of evangelical and Roman Catholic dialogue go back much further. The Dutch Reformed theologian and statesman Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920) was a major influence on the thinking of Colson, and as Colson argues, “Evangelicals and Catholics Together, which created such controversy, was launched actually by Kuyper a century ago. It is not new.”

Colson made this bold claim in a speech in 1998, at a conference at Calvin College (co-sponsored by the Acton Institute), on the legacies of two great modern representatives of these traditions, Kuyper and Leo XIII.

In his closing address to the conference(as part of the proceedings published in the Journal of Markets & Morality; video of Colson’s address is available here), Colson pointed to the idea ofworldview as determinative for both confessions:

Worldview was the key. And, again, Kuyper understood this better than anyone. Speaking of the association of Evangelicals and Catholics in his own day, Kuyper said, “By this unity of conception alone given in Calvinism, that is a worldview, we may once again be able to stand side by side of Romanism in opposition to modern pantheism.” What Kuyper said a hundred years ago is that Christians have e together to define and defend our worldview, and that is precisely what the document “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” is all about.

Colson goes on to quote Kuyper’s Stone Lectures at length:

A so-called orthodox Protestant need only mark in his confession and catechism

such doctrines of religion and morals as are not subject to controversy between Rome and ourselves, to perceive immediately that what we have mon with Rome, such concerns that are precisely those fundamentals of our Christian creed, now most fiercely assaulted by the modern spirit. In this conflict [that is of worldviews in conflict a century ago, just asthey are today], Rome is not an antagonist but stands on our side, inasmuch as she also recognizes and then maintains the Trinity, the Deity of Christ, the Cross as an atoning sacrifice, the Scriptures as the Word of God, and the Ten Commandments as a divinely imposed rule of life. Therefore, let me ask, If Roman Catholic theologians take up the sword to do valiant and skillful battle against the same tendency that we ourselves mean to fight to the death, is it not the part of wisdom to accept their valuable help.

Kuyper became Prime Minister of the Netherlands in large part to a Reformed Protestant/Roman Catholic political coalitionbasedprecisely on these shared “fundamentals of our Christian creed.”

That Kuyper found much worthwhile and challenging in the Roman Catholic church is indisputable. The Roman Catholic church was a constant touchstone and foil for his work. For instance, in Kuyper’s 1891 speech at the First Christian Social Congress in the Netherlands, he notes the appearance of Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum that same year, which inaugurated the tradition of modern Roman Catholic social teaching. In this case, Kuyper uses Roman Catholicism as an inspiration for the Reformed to do better, to achieve more:

We must admit, to our shame, that the Roman Catholics are far ahead of us in their study of the social problem. Indeed, very far ahead. The action of the Roman Catholics should spur us to show more dynamism. The encyclical Rerum novarum of Leo XIII states the principles that mon to all Christians, and which we share with our Roman patriots.

So in this way, Colson is right to argue that ECT was launched in spirit, if not in fact, “by Kuyper a century ago.”

For more on Colson and Kuyper, check out this excerpt from Chuck’s last recorded interview, in which he recounts the seminal role Kuyper played in his own intellectual and spiritual development:

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
The American family needs a Miracle on 34th Street now
The ultimate Christmas classic has proved over time to be both prophetic and bitterly realistic. Read More… My Christmas movies series has hitherto considered church (The Bishop’s Wife), work (The Shop Around the Corner), and family (Christmas in Connecticut), munities that constitute America. I’ll conclude with the most famous American Christmas fairy tale of all, Miracle on 34th Street (1947), in which merce, and even marriage are all in trouble, as they are today. The story is straightforward but unpredictable:...
Pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai charged with another violation of Hong Kong’s repressive NSL
Newspaper publisher Lai and six colleagues were charged with printing, publishing, and selling “seditious publications,” this after being convicted on a variety of charges for their anti-Beijing, pro-freedom activities. Read More… Prominent Hong Kong media mogul and pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai, along with six of his former staff members, were charged by prosecutors with an additional National Security Law (NSL) violation, this time regarding “seditious publications,” as part of their ongoing trial. Seventy-four-year-old Lai has already been convicted under the...
Pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai wins one in court, as Hong Kong prosecutor’s appeal is denied
In 2020, entrepreneur and Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai beat back an attempt to prosecute him for “intimidating” a pro-Beijing reporter during a Tiananmen Square Massacre vigil. The prosecution appealed, and has now lost, even as Lai remains in prison convicted on other charges. Read More… Hong Kong prosecutors lost their appeal against a magistrate’s decision in September 2020 that cleared charges against media tycoon Jimmy Lai on “intimidating a reporter from a rival newspaper,” according to the South China...
Acton Rome Fellow is making a difference in Africa
The Rev. Dr. Nicholas Chisongo is just one of many Acton fellows setting out to bring reform to the church and hope to the world. Hear what he has to say on the subject of church finance and canon law. Read More… For over 20 years, the Acton Institute’s Rome office has enjoyed a number of extremely impressive academic fellows as part of its prestigious scholarship programs offered to graduate students at pontifical universities. Aiding in the study of theology,...
Facebook is a symptom of a much deeper Big Tech problem
Facebook changing its name to Meta will not change the fact that all social media platforms make promises they can’t keep. Read More… At this point, most have heard about Frances Haugen, the whistleblower who leaked documents to the Wall Street Journal this fall detailing how Facebook knew about many of the downsides of its platform, yet chose to prioritize engagement. The documents outline, among other things, how Facebook introduced new reactions in addition to the Like button and then...
Resolve this New Year to visit Billy Wilder’s The Apartment
The Big City can be a great place to lose yourself among a crowd, and too often lose your soul. Only love of another can help you find yourself again. Read More… Christmas movies tend to be sentimental, to emphasize the struggles that define our society and our souls, but ultimately they are hopeful and even joyful. Humanity triumphs at the end of the story—for evidence, read my series of essays on The Bishop’s Wife, The Shop Around the Corner,...
As SCOTUS mulls Maine religious discrimination case, anxious parents wait across the U.S.
The arguments in Carson v. Malkin have been heard but no decision has yet been made. Will families in Maine receive equal access to funding for private religious schools? Will the religious use/status distinction be abolished? Or will the ghost of James G. Blaine raise its eerie head? Read More… Earlier this month the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Carson v. Makin. The appellants in this case, co-represented by the Institute for Justice and my...
This billionaire from Hong Kong is standing up to China’s oppression behind bars
Jimmy Lai remains strongly rooted: first in his fervent Catholic faith, and second in his unshakable support of freedom. Read More… Hong Kong was once a beacon of opportunity, of democracy. It was a political refuge, a blip in a territory controlled munist China. Seemingly overnight, 7.5 million Hong Kongers have had their freedoms stripped from them by an oppressive Chinese regime intentsilencing any voice of dissent — and that doesn’t mean revoking the odd Twitter account. It means imprisonment...
This Advent, the Christmas child calls you and me
Mary’s call and response is a powerful reminder of how Advent calls us to model her in humble obedience and service, whatever our vocation. Read More… We arrive at the Christmas stable. We have prepared. The Christ child e to us—Immanuel. We begin by taking a step back. The candle that is lit for the final Sunday of Advent reminds us of Mary, the one who brings the Lord into the world. The Protestant Reformers reacted against Catholic overemphasis on...
North Korea’s economic and cultural reversals mark Kim Jong-un’s 10th anniversary
COVID and failures at international summits have caused Pyongyang to reverse economic reforms and openness to South Koran pop culture. The future is beginning to look a lot like his father’s past. Read More… Communism has spawned only one full-scale monarchy: the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. On December 17, 2011, 70-year-old Dear Leader Kim Jong-il died. That very same day, Kim’s 27-year-old son, Kim Jong-un, was put forth as the “Great Successor” and surrounded by elderly “mentors” who were...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved