Apocalyptic Kuyperianism

[RamistThomist]

This is a suggestion by Russell Moore on how to appropriate the best of Abraham Kuyper and his followers (antithesis, worldview, Lectures on Calvinism) while avoiding some of the weaker aspects (using common-grace to baptise secular policy, lack of apocalyptic confrontation).

"Dispensationalists have rightly interpreted Scripture to indicate that the mission of the church is to proclaim a coming apocalyptic judgment on the entire world system" (p. 176).

The Kuyperian and postmillennial strands of Reformed theology have also added the biblical truth that the Kingdom is not just about personal salvation...but is also about the vocation of the believing community, the worldview of the church, and the salvation of the cosmos...Thus, evangelical theology has an opportunity to move toward...an "apocalyptic Kuyperianism," a viewpoint that holds in tension the Kingdom realities of a church truly militant but not yet visibly triumphant.

The Kingdom of Christ, p. 177.

Moore makes the argument that Evangelicals and Reformed people have reached an unspoken consensus on "kingdom theology," incorporating the biblical-theological insights of GE Ladd, G Vos, and H Ridderbos. It notes how Covenant Theologians Gaffin and Poythress are making similar-sounding arguments to Progressive Dispensationalists. And all of this without a conference.