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Abraham Kuyper among the Nations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 September 2017

Robert J. Joustra
Robert J. Joustra*
Affiliation:
Redeemer University College
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Robert J. Joustra, Department of History, Politics and International Studies, Redeemer University College, 777 Garner Road East, Ancaster, Ontario L9 K 1J4, Canada. E-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

Abraham Kuyper, Dutch Prime Minister (1901–1905) and modern Calvinist, was a controversial figure, not least in his foreign affairs. Yet while Kuyper's legacy has been felt in the world of religious, especially Christian, political, and social theory, very little has been made of Kuyper's actual record as a foreign policy maker and a Prime Minister. So, what was Kuyper's “Christian” perspective and policy on foreign affairs? Using newly available English translations, this article outlines Kuyper's “overseas manifesto” made most plain in Our Program, and compares it against Kuyper's commentary and policy in three major foreign crises: the Boer Cause, in South Africa; the “pacification” of Aceh, in modern-day Indonesia; and finally, the calamity of the Great War in Europe. From these I will paint an introductory, if general, picture of a serious, religious foreign policy maker, and a commentator on world affairs; a complex picture of religiously inflected policy in the early 20th century, with lessons and warnings for scholars of religion and foreign policy today.

Type
Articles
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , March 2018 , pp. 146 - 168
Copyright
Copyright © Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2017 

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Footnotes

Versions of this article were presented at the Religion & Politics Symposium at Calvin College and the biannual International Reformed Theological Institute conference in Hong Kong. My thanks to James Bratt, Jonathan Chaplin, George Harinck, Mel Flikkema, Richard Mouw, Harry Van Dyke, Matthew Kaemingk, Hans Van Der Jagt, and the two anonymous peer reviewers for their feedback on this article and their work pointing me toward available resources.

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